“Danny Kaye Opens On A New Career”

New York Engagement First in That City for a Decade

The Lewiston Daily Sun – Apr. 6, 1963

NEW YORK (AP) – “Every so often,” says Danny Kaye, “you’ve got to grab your life by the scruff of the neck and shake.”

For the carrot-topped comic the time for that neat feat of psychological gymnastics is now. His explanation is candid.

“I find I’m not reaching as many people as before,” he declares, touching the hazard that torments every star.

Kaye, 50, who feels, “I’ve been in semi-retirement for three or four years,” is signaling the start of a new career phase with a personal appearance at Broadway’s Ziegfeld Theater on April 10. The 4½-week engagement is the entertainer’s first here in a decade.

Then comes a Las Vegas stint, followed by the big project—preparation of a full season of hour-long shows for weekly exhibit beginning next fall on the CBS-TV network.

The attitude of the lean, restless comedian toward that workout is a composite of pro-and-con ambiguity, particularly if you remember Kaye was long one of the show world’s most stubborn video holdouts.

“I don’t basically communicate with either a television or a movie audience—everything is highly impersonal in front of the camera,” he explains. “In a theater there is instant communication.”

But there’s always that desire for a big, big audience.

“Movies used to be the greatest single mass entertainment. But this place where I make a living is always changing.

“You either find new goals or regroup plans—and you can’t do this overnight,” he said. “This is a whole readjustment of my attitude toward this profession.

“I’m well aware of the pitfalls and the work. But work never hurt anyone, and anyway, I work fairly easily.”

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