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The
Rant
May 1, 2004
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Hans Christian Anderson movie songbook |
How many of you remember Danny Kaye? When I was a kid I loved to watch him. He was funny, unpredictable, hyperkinetic, and loveable, like a quirky uncle. He could sing pretty good too (better than Jerry Lewis), as in the movie, Hans Christian Andersen. I still have my copy of a children's songbook that came out with the film. It has a picture of Danny Kaye on the cover playing an imaginary flute as he leads the cast off into the sunset a la the Pied Piper of Hamblyn. I remember staring at that cover, time and time again, while I recreated scenes from the movie in my head. I suppose today we'd say that Kaye was in touch with his 'inner child', and that's why he connected so well with youngsters, like me. Sounds reasonable enough.
Despite his obvious gift for entertaining, Danny Kaye, believe it or not, probably missed his real vocation...What would that have been?...Well, first, let me tell you something about the man.
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Danny Kaye in 1963 |
Kaye was born David Daniel Kaminsky on January 18, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York. New York City was where his showbiz career got fast-tracked when he caught the eye of composer Moss Hart. Hart was visiting a Manhattan night club, saw Kaye perform, and decided to write him into a play he was developing called Musical Lady in the Dark. The song Danny Kaye performed was called 'Tchaikovsky' and every time he did it, he brought the house down. He played the part of a photographer with a talent for tongue-twisters and in the song he named 54 Russian composers in 38 seconds!
He married Sylvia Fine, a talented composer-lyricist. (I remember Sylvia Fine Kaye very well from a wonderful series of specials she hosted and helped produce for PBS on American musical theatre called, Musical Comedy Tonight.) The team of Fine and Kaye were a great match professionally (if not romantically) because she, with her wicked sense of humour, wrote most of his material. Then, after much hard work by both, Danny Kaye was finally noticed by movie mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. Starting in 1944 he put Kaye in movies like, Up in Arms, Wonderman, the Kid From Brooklyn, The Court Jester, Merry Andrew, Me and the Colonel, The Inspector General, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hans Christian Andersen, White Christmas, and The Five Pennies.
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The Court Jester, 1956 |
Merry Andrew, 1958 |
His movie career flourished for about ten years, followed by many busy years of concerts and television shows. He 'guest' conducted symphony orchestras all over the world to raise money for musicians' pension funds. These events were popular because of the zany antics he would get up to during a performance, like lying on his back and keeping time with his leg, or conducting a tuxedo clad orchestra with a fly swatter. From 1963 to 1967 he did The Danny Kaye Show on CBS, winning an Emmy for the show to go with the special Oscar he'd received during his movie days. Later he added a Peabody that he won mainly for his portrayal of a Nazi concentration camp survivor in the television movie, Skokie.
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The Inspector General, 1949 |
I imagine one of his best trips to an award podium happened in Oslo, Norway in 1965 when he was given the honour of accepting the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNICEF. His association with that organization began many years earlier when he was made a permanent ambassador-at-large to children. He logged thousands upon thousands of miles flying all over the globe to help them. (If my memory is correct, I remember a time back in the seventies when Kaye made a visit to Newfoundland to speak on behalf of UNICEF.)
Now you know something about the professional career of Danny Kaye. He was one of the world's preeminent entertainers. But is that the career path he would have chosen if given a second chance? Maybe. Maybe not. Because, at the same time he was making people laugh their heads off in movie theatres across the planet, he was also considered by many culinary professionals, to be one of the world's great chefs, as well as pâtissiers (pastry chefs). Surprised? Well, so was I.
His interest in the culinary arts began when he was a young man. A good story from that period involves the Greek shipping magnate, Stavros Niarchos. After sampling Kaye's cooking, Niarchos offered him a job as his personal chef. But Kaye, who had just been offered a starring role in the musical Two by Two, said no. Given the absolute obsession he went on to develop for cooking, one wonders how things might have turned out had he said yes.
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Danny Kaye, 1980 |
His specialty was Chinese and Italian cuisine, but he gained most recognition for his rendering of many classic Chinese dishes like, Roast Duck with Orange Sauce, Lion's Head, Chinese Stir-Fry Oysters with Shrimp, Chinese Poached Chicken, and Chinese Chicken Salad. The poached chicken was a favorite of PBS chef and author, Jacques Pepin, who still uses the recipe, and is still impressed by how moist the chicken is. Pepin believes that Kaye's skill in the kitchen was on par with any professional chef. Other chefs have gone further in their praise of the actor's cooking. French chefs Paul Bocuse and Roger Verger have claimed that the best restaurant in California was Danny Kaye's house. They, along with many other notables, had the rare pleasure of dining at Kaye's home at San Ysidro in Beverly Hills.
His home had two professional or restaurant standard kitchens. (He had a similar kitchen installed on the CBS lot at Television City when he was taping The Danny Kaye Show, just so he could continue to indulge his passion for cooking and entertaining.) He would serve his Chinese food at a large round table for nine. Guests frequently included Hollywood royalty like Cary Grant and Shirley Maclaine, as well as real royals like Prince Philip, and the Queen of Holland. Then there were 'A' listers like Henry Kissinger, Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Jascha Heifetz, Itzhak Perlman, and Zubin Mehta. Apparently, 'royal' status did not make you immune to his chauvinism. Rumour had it that at one dinner, because he believed women at table should serve the men, he pressed the Queen of Holland into serving several courses. (Poor thing!)
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Jacques Pepin with Danny Kaye |
Apart from the chauvinism, his general behavior toward guests could be a little strange. For example, for Kaye, the kitchen was like a theatre. He would seat his guests in front of the stove so they could watch him cook for them. However, conversation was not encouraged, especially with him. If you tried to engage him in conversation he was quite likely to turn on you saying, "Did you come here to eat or to talk?" Being prompt was important. If you arrived late you might find, as one invited guest did, a note pinned to his locked door reading, "F_ _ _ you! You're late!"
But the food he prepared, no doubt, made it all worth it. After all, this was someone who would spend his leisure time cooking alongside his chef friends in their hot, noisey, restaurant kitchens in London, St. Moritz, Paris, the South of France, and San Francisco. He was constantly developing his skills as a chef, and the proof, as food critic Ruth Reichl once found out, was in the eating. As recounted in her book, Comfort Me with Apples, Reichl remembers dining at his home once and enjoying an extraordinary meal prepared using hand-made cleavers and giant woks. The supper included a clear soup flavoured with lemon grass, slices of fresh liver with onions, ("like little pillows of velvet between satin slivers of onion, and so sweet it was as if it had been dusted with sugar.") home-made noodles in a lemon cream sauce, followed by a "high, light, rich and eggy" lemon souffle. The period, or exclamation point to the meal was a rich espresso.
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The Danny Kaye Theatre, C.I.A. |
Danny Kaye slipped away from us on March 3, 1987. He was eulogized, praised, and memorialized for his contributions to show business and humanity. But I think one tribute would have pleased him more than most. The Culinary Institute of America, at its New York campus, dedicated The Danny Kaye Theatre. It is a large space that is used for cooking demonstrations by teachers and students. It also serves as the site of their Great Chefs series where the finest international chefs come to demonstrate their skills for students and allow the young cooks to work beside them. I think the man, who probably missed his true vocation, would be amused by the irony in that.
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