“Flying, TV Occupy Much of Danny Kaye’s Time”
Ludington Daily News – Sep. 22, 1965
By: Bob Thomas (AP Movie-
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – Conditions presaged trouble when I entered Danny Kaye’s penthouse apartment at CBS’ Television City.
The comedian was glowering at the other end of the sumptuous suite, and I quickly learned why. In his lap was a portable radio pouring forth news of another disaster for Kaye’s beloved Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Well, see you later,” I said, aware that a Kaye interview under the best of circumstances
would be touch-
“Don’t leave,” he said shutting off the radio sadly. Although the Cubs were whipping
the Dodgers 7-
“I never give up until the last pitch of the last inning,” he remarked steadfastly.
Kaye has two other major interests in his life: flying and television, not necessarily in that order. While his fellow television stars were out mining mints at state fairs and in summer theaters and night clubs, Danny “never worked harder in my life.”
Pilots Jet
At what? Taking examinations for more advanced pilot ratings. He spoke glowingly of piloting a private jet to Portland in an hour and 40 minutes, “the same time it takes me to fly to San Francisco in my own plane.”
Don’t get the notion that Danny is any less interested in other ratings, say of television shows. At the start of his third season, he remains as avid as a Catskill comic, which he once was.
He blunted the reporter’s questions by reversing the interview, a familiar Kaye plot. “How do you feel about TV, now that you’re starting your third season?” he asked. “Is it different to be shooting in color this year?”
That out of the way, he settled down to some observations on his life in television.
“People said I was a nut, a perfectionist who would last six weeks in television and then go quietly mad because of the way you have to work in TV. But I’m not a perfectionist. Anyone who says that he is a perfectionist is claiming that what he tries to do is perfect work. Perfect in whose eyes? His own? The public’s?
To Do Best
“All I try to do is the best I can. When you put together a complete show in five
days – the equivalent of two-
“Things can go wrong, but you capitalize on them in TV, and that gives an added quality. Like last week when Harry Belafonte had a punch line that he couldn’t quite get out. His difficulty was much funnier than the line would have been.
“We’ve had some great shows; last week’s with Harry was one, I believe. We’ve had some good shows. Yes, we’ve had some poor shows, too.
“That was my biggest adjustment to TV: how to accept the poor shows. How did I do it? Merely by moving on to the next show and trying to profit by the bad one.”
Most critics and a large segment of the audience seem to agree that his batting average is high. Now if the Dodgers could only do well.