“Danny Kaye Plans To Spring Surprises For Final Show”
Meriden Journal – Mar. 8, 1967
By: Bob Thomas
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – “Ladies and gentlemen, the last four years have been the wonderful experience of my life. It has been a pleasure to entertain you, and now, until we meet again—good night.”
This speech will not be heard when Danny Kaye appears on the last show of his CBS series on April 12. Reruns will follow until June 7.
“There won’t be any speeches, no bursts of sentiment,” the comic vows. “I’ll just do the last show, and that will be that.”
But he does plan to spring some surprises on his loyal viewers in the Wednesday night
spot. For instance, he is offering a five-
He explained: “I’m in love with Giovanni. He’s a warm, funny, universal human being. One day we were sitting around dreaming up ideas for the show, and I said, ‘Hey—why don’t we do something for one of the last shows—a complete musical about Giovanni?’” The results can be seen on the tube tonight.
The Kaye era is passing at CBS’ Television City, and he sighed over the fact as he
presided over one of his ceremonial lunches in his office-
“You know, I don’t think I could have gotten through the four years if it hadn’t been for this place,” he said, referring to the elegantly furnished apartment. “We’ve worked on scripts here, rehearsed here. And now it’s going to be broken up into offices!”
He displayed no real remorse that the series was ending.
“I went into television expecting to do one season, maybe two,” he remarked. “Then it stretched to four, and I must say I’ve enjoyed them.
“But it has become too easy. I have fallen into the comfortable routine of coming in here Tuesday and working on the show until we do it on Saturday night. When something becomes too easy in show business, then it’s time to quit and turn to something else.”
Kaye said he had expected to spend the rest of the year making a movie—“I haven’t made one in five years, and I’ve overdue”—and picking up the loot in Las Vegas, summer theaters and state fairs.
Instead he’s going to Chicester, England, to play in a classic Italian comedy, “A Servant with Two Masters.”
“I must be out of my mind!” he said. “Here I’ve put aside engagements worth about $700,000 to go to England and play in a period farce for $214 a week, which I’ll probably turn back to the company.
“But I had to do it. I’ve acted in straight plays when I was starting out, but never have I appeared in a real classic. It’s a part that all the Italian comics used to play, bringing their own routines to it, but it hasn’t been played in England for many years.
“The clincher came when Laurence Olivier told me I ought to do it. Well, why not. After four years in television, I need a change of pace, and this is certainly it.”