“Danny Kaye Finally Appears On TV—But UN Style Only”

The Milwaukee Sentinel – June 27, 1956

By: Charles Mercer

NEW YORK (AP) – Danny Kaye, probably the last topflight entertainer who stoutly resists the lure of television, finally is enthusiastic about a television program.

Admittedly it’s filmed and admittedly it will be a while before the viewing audience has a chance to look at it. But the combination of Kaye’s debut on television and Kaye enthusiastic about it is news.

The program, which will be an Ed Murrow See It Now subject on CBS-TV in the fall, will star Kaye in an unusual role—that of ambassador at large for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Kaye returned recently from an eight-week 32,000-mile tour of 11 countries for UNICEF. Visiting hospitals nutritional centers and child aid organizations from England to Nigeria and from Spain to Israel, he doubled as both a journalist and an entertainer. Two “See It Now” camera and sound crews accompanying him shot nearly 20,000 feet of film.

HIS LANGUAGE UNIVERSAL

A look at some […unintelligible…] film shows that Kaye’s pantomime comedy and song is a universal language. It shows him bringing smiles to the faces of handicapped children in Italy, delighting hundreds of lepers in

[…several sentences were unreadable…]

The program isn’t simply a vehicle for Danny Kaye. Rather, he is the symbol that brings together the problems and work of UNICEF.

“Not a word of script was prepared,” said Kaye. “I hung a mike around my neck and we moved in. It was news reporting and I liked it fine.” He shook his head. “Now there’s a real problem of cutting all that film. At this point we don’t know whether there will be two programs instead of one.”

He had the highest praise for the professionalism of the Fred Friendly-Ed Murrow “See It Now” operation.

HAD SPECIFIC PURPOSE

Does this mean that Kaye has an increasing interest in television?

“There was a specific purpose for my doing this in television. It’s to help a cause that I think is most important and it makes a validly dramatic program. But it’s not really a taste of television and I know it.

“If I have a specific reason to use television I’ll do it. I am not saying I never will be on television.

“I love the movies, the theater, and working for the United Nations—for which I’ve done work before and will again. But I can’t do all three of those things and do television, too. There simply isn’t enough time in anyone’s life for it. At the same time I think television is a great medium that definitely is here to stay. But until such time as I decide exactly how I want to go into it I won’t consider it at all.”

This was Kaye’s third assignment for the UN organization. His first, a tour of the Far East, resulted in “Assignment Children” a 20-minute color film which has been translated into more than 20 languages. On his second tour he urged European governments to increase their support of UNICEF.

- Home -