“Danny Kaye will be missed in and out of show business”
The Evening News – Mar. 8, 1987
Last week when the news of Danny Kaye’s death was flashed on the television screen,
I happened to be having lunch with Earl Blackwell, editor of the Celebrity Register
and a world authority on famous people.
I asked Earl if he knew the legendary figure and his answer was immediate: "I was
present the night he skyrocketed to fame. It was the opening night of Moss Hart’s
“Lady in the Dark” starring Gertrude Lawrence. The tall, thing young man with red-gold
hair, bright blue eyes, and the most curiously, comic-wistful face since Charlie
Chaplin, came out on the stage and proceeded to rattle off the names of 54 Russian
composers in 38 seconds. In those 38 seconds, a new star was born.”
I was told that for over 40 years, the role Danny Kaye had cherished the most was
his status as official ambassador-at-large for the United Nation’s International
Children’s Emergency Fund. On his 25th anniversary with the organization, he visited
65 cities in the United States and Canada piloting a private jet and stopping at
each city to greet thousands of UNICEF volunteers, a feat recorded in the Guinness
Book of Records. The climax to Kaye’s astounding multi-faceted career occurred in
1984 when the tons-of-talent, heaps-of-heart entertainer was honored by the Kennedy
Center for lifetime achievements in the performing arts.
We will surely miss him.