“TV Appearances Are Spurned By Danny Kaye”
The Deseret News – Nov. 6, 1957
By: Danny Kaye
HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 6 (UP) – “What have you got against television?”
No, not you—me. What I mean is, this is the question that I am asked most frequently
nowadays. Because I don’t appear on television, most everyone I know seems to think
I must bear some deep-
Actually I have nothing against television. I watch it all the time.
But I don’t want to be seen on it. And I have a lot of reasons. As a matter of fact, I could write a book on it, not just a whole column. Oh, I know, you have seen me on television—on the Edward R. Murrow program, “The Secret Life of Danny Kaye,” the one about UNICEF and the children all over the world.
But that wasn’t what I would really call appearing on television. It was a filmed record of a trip I made around the world for the U.N. children’s fund, not a “show” as an entertainer.
Why won’t I make that kind of an appearance? For one thing, I enjoy my life very much the way it is. I like making motion pictures. I enjoy making the stage appearances I do. I get a great thrill from my work for UNICEF.
But I can’t do all this and television, too . . . And right now, I’d rather continue these activities than plunge into something that I might not enjoy nearly as well.
In television, it’s possible to take a complete unknown, surround him with top creative talent, money and production and, within four weeks, make him a national rage—a household word. If this holds true, it also must follow that in the same amount of time, television can destroy him.
As a matter of fact, we have all seen this happen, not once, but almost once a season.
Another point: A professional and polished performer can do a show on Broadway and be a smash hit. He can run in that play for years and gain an international reputation. Yet one television appearance—good or bad—by that same performer will be seen by more people than could ever see him in a portrayal where he has had months and years to arrive at perfection.
Mind you, I’m not saying that any of these points will keep me off television permanently. I just haven’t made up my mind about it yet. Nor has anyone presented me with a show that I felt like doing on TV.