"Communists Can Laugh As Well As Anyone, Says Danny Kaye"
The Dispatch -
by: Danny Kaye
written for UPI
EDITOR'S NOTE: Comedian Danny Kaye has been attending the Moscow film festival as an American ambassador of good will. In the following exclusive dispatch, he tells of sharing laughter with the Russians.
Believe it or not the Communists are just as capable of laughing as the guy next door.
I didn’t come to Moscow to see the men who run the Kremlin or to clown for them. I didn’t come merely to see the sights of Moscow’s third International Film Festival, but I certainly did come to see the people and to reaffirm my belief that laughter is truly universal.
Before leaving the United States, I had some reservations about going to Russia, even though I was extremely curious.
I had originally declined to attend the film festival, but when the State Department
urged me to go to Moscow on a people-
I thought that in a country where the political ideology is so diametrically opposed to ours, in a country where the mere mention of capitalism causes a nervous twitch, in a country where our society is frowned upon, I feared that people would not react quit the same to laughter.
I found, however, that they do react to laughter with warmth and friendship and that they have the same emotions, fears and hopes that we have.
I had a better opportunity to observe the people in Moscow than possibly any other country I have visited in recent years, because I quickly discovered that I could walk in the streets completely unnoticed.
None of my pictures has ever played here and no one knew who Danny Kaye was. As a matter of fact when I was coming to Moscow one Russian movie fan asked, “I heard she is a good actress. Is she pretty?”
The cloak of anonymity was helpful because it gave me a greater opportunity to watch the people in everyday life. When I landed in Moscow I was startled to see entire families watching planes land and take off just as they do in New York, Los Angeles, or any other large capital city.
When I took a walk in the middle of Moscow one night, I saw a group of boys teaching some girls how to do the bossa nova right there on the sidewalk. I chuckled because that could have been anywhere – in Greenwhich Village, the Sunset Strip in Hollywood or Gollyvood, as they say in Russia.
I have talked with Soviet officials, actors, film producers, ballet dancers, factory managers, welfare workers, nurses, doctors, hospital attendants and many others. But just about the best fun I had, and one of the most exciting experiences, was an afternoon I spent playing with 600 children at a pioneer ‘youth organization’ camp.
My visit was arranged by Prof. Georgy Mitriev of the Soviet Red Cross and Red Crescent.
I was met at the camp by the children who didn’t know me from Adam but almost all had bouquets of flowers. All they were told was that I was an honored American guest—an actor.
A little, 9-
It was really very touching. I kissed her cheek and suddenly she got very embarrassed, but then I pretended I was embarrassed too, and covered my face with my hands. The reaction was immediate.
From then on the children lost any reserve they had. Even though the children and I could not talk to each other, I found that behaving like a child with children made for immediate communication.
We played games, sang songs, and danced together. It could have happened anywhere in the world.
It leaves me with the hope that someday, somehow, our children will grow up in a peaceful, happy world.