If you read in the right places, you're sure to find negative accounts of Danny. People who have met Danny, claiming that he was rude or inconsiderate. However, there are plenty of accounts of the sweet Danny, the one who loved his fans and cared for children.
Here you'll find the some of the sweet stories...

Click Here for some memories of Danny flying via TWA

[From: "Retired USAF Pilot Receives Special Award" by Rene de la Cruz, Daily Press, July 17, 2012]

From an article about Col. Howard Tanner

"During Thanksgiving 1951, actor Danny Kaye and his USO troupe visited Korea. Just as the Chinese began a major assault, Kaye sent his team home, but decided to stay at the operations center.

'Danny asked for my wife's phone number, and he spent Thanksgiving calling relatives of the men that he met in Korea," Tanner said. "My wife thought he was playing a joke. He told my wife that I was looking very well, and should be home before very long.'

Kaye was right, as Tanner landed at LAX the day after Thanksgiving, but not before he celebrated the holiday three times during three layovers, across multiple timezones."

[From: "Leadership Tip: Exercising Humility," by Dr. William Cummings of WMAZ in Georgia, April 16, 2012]

"When we use the word humility we usually mean something sad and downcast, and I guess I thought of it that way too, until I met Danny Kaye.

Back in the 70’s, Danny Kaye’s name and face were familiar to people all over the world. He entertained the Queen of England and the King of Norway. His movies played in every city of America. Yet this man sat next to me for 5 hours on a plane from San Francisco to New York, and I’ve never met a more humble man.

It took me months to analyze that 5-hour conversation with one of Hollywood’s greatest celebrities, but I finally came up with the answer.

Danny Kaye didn’t deny his talents; he didn’t think less of his accomplishments. He knew they were outstanding. He just didn’t dwell on them.

When I asked him about winning the Oscar, he asked me about my family. We traded pictures of our children instead of pictures of his hit movies.

Humility is not defacing. It does not demand that you deny your talents. Humility is simply a matter of focus. Are you focused on yourself, or on the person you are with? Are you focused on what you know, or on what the other person knows?

Leaders understand that humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s just thinking of yourself—less."

[From: My Remarkable Journey by Larry King, 2009.]

“When you tuned in, you didn’t know if you were in for laughter or tears. One night I had on the actor, singer, and comedian Danny Kaye. At three in the morning, a woman called in. She said, ‘Danny, in my whole life I never thought I’d ever talk to you. How would I get a chance to talk to Danny Kaye? I just want you to know that my son loved you. He used to imitate you. He sang all your songs. He went into the Navy, and he was killed in Korea. They sent home all the belongings in his footlocker. The only picture he had in that footlocker was of you. I took that picture and put it next to a picture of him in a double frame. I dust it every morning. Now I’m talking to you. I just thought you’d like to know.’

Danny Kaye started to cry. His brother was there, and his brother started to cry. I started to cry. Then Danny Kaye did something brilliant. He asked the woman, ‘What was your son’s favorite song?’

She said, “Dinah.” He sang it to her right then and there. It was one of those precious moments that you can never get back but always remain with you.”

[From: High and Inside: My Life in the Front Offices of Baseball by Lou Gorman, 2008.]

"His total education was nine years of schooling in the Brooklyn school system. He was, however, a true Renaissance man with a brilliant mind and a remarkable memory. His I.Q. had to be extraordinary. He spoke six languages fluently [According to Kurt Singer's The Danny Kaye Story: "He has never thoroughly mastered any foreign language, although he knows a smattering of many." pg 233 - J.N. Webmistress], flew his own Lear jet and was instrument qualified to fly a 747 jumbo jet. He was an internationally decorated and recognized chef. He had directed philharmonic orchestras all over the world. He had an exceptional interest in and understanding of general medicine. His love and 'feel' for the game of baseball were exceptional. Danny Kaye, in his lifetime, became one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. He also had a successful television show which ran for years. He was a remarkable man who as a youngster started out as a comedian in vaudeville against the wishes of his father, who wanted his son to become a 'professional' man. He went on to become one of the most successful and beloved actors in America. He was charming, gracious, giving, and funny and it was an absolute joy to be in his company."

[From: Leo: A Life by Leo Kolber and L. Ian MacDonald, 2003. (pg 192)]

"As I later learned, he was also a scratch golfer. He took up the game later in life, and proceeded to become very good at it, just as he was a very good pilot, a very good cook, a very good guest conductor, and a very good spokesman for UNICEF. He had long since conquered Hollywood, pretty much the top of the mountain for a Brooklyn Jew in show business. He had taken London by storm—his shows at the Palladium broke all records from one decade to the next. He had been in the movies. He had been on television. He had sung with Bing Crosby, played with Louis Armstrong, danced with Fred Astaire, and even done drag with Laurence Olivier in a Night of a Hundred Stars charity benefit.

His other interests, from cuisine to conducting, from golf to goodwill ambassador, gave a broader definition and meaning to his life. There may have been bigger stars, but none had his multiple talents as a song and dance man, as a comedian and serious actor who could make audiences laugh and weep. And very few had his experience of a wider world. How many people in Hollywood have a share of a Nobel Peace Prize? Truly, he was Hollywood’s renaissance man, and I was privileged to be his good friend."

[From: "When a clown was needed, Danny Kaye was always there" March 1987]

"There was a mother with a baby boy on the flight and, as was his habit, Kaye – who portrayed Hans Christian Andersen on screen and became a Pied Piper to the world’s children in his three decades of work for UNICEF – picked up the infant and waltzed the child off to first class to entertain him.

The baby gurgled happily throughout the one-man show, and, after a few minutes, Kaye wound up the entertainment and moved to hand the child back to the mother.

But the baby bawled in outrage and every time the comedian stopped the show and tried to leave there were more howls. A trouper to the last, Kaye took a manful gulp and kept the baby amused for the entire flight. The weary mother made the most of the relief and slept all the way to New York."

[From: "It's Going to Be 'Utter Kaye-os'" April 1975]

SYLVIA FINE KAYE: “Danny has a unique affinity with children. Recently, a five-month-old child was visiting our apartment. Eventually he became restless and cranky. I put him next to Danny, who was taking a nap in the bedroom. In about 15 minutes the baby stopped crying. We walked to the bedroom and there, face-to-face, was Danny and the child. They were having a conversation!”

[From: "Life with My Zany Father--Danny Kaye" January 1969] written by Dena

"No matter how far apart we are geographically—and Daddy’s work takes him to far-off places sometimes—we are as close as the nearest phone. Last spring while making a movie in France, Daddy called and asked Mom and me if we would like to have dinner in his favorite Chinese restaurant, “Ying’s Thing.” That’s his pet name for our kitchen. We said yes, and, sure enough he flew in that evening for dinner. Like I said, he’s unpredictable."

[From: "Communists Can Laugh As Well As Anyone, Says Danny Kaye" July 1963] written by Danny

"A little, 9-year-old girl made a presentation speech in halting English but perfectly understandable—that is to say understandable to me.

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."

[From: "Danny Was Drenched--But Show Went On" August 1961]

"When rain threatened at the start of the show Danny cut most of the supporting acts and played for 90 minutes until the interval.

Then the rain began, and though 1000 people left, 2000 stayed to watch him do another hour and a half.

'Even if I were going to melt in this rain, I would stay out here as long as you are willing to listen to me,/ he told the audience. When the show was stopped, an hour over time, the rain ended."

[From: "Danny Kaye Discusses Secret of His Success" July 1959]

Once on a New York street a little girl asked for his autograph in a peculiar squeaky voice. Kaye took her home to find out what was wrong with her. Learning from her parents that she had a mental speech block, he sent her to the best doctor he knew and paid the bill.

[From: "All England In Love With Danny Kaye" August 1951]

"The latest gesture certain to endear him to Britons came when he heard Sir Field, the late great British comedian, had left a very small estate.

On June 25, a special midnight show at the Palladium, conceived and run by Kaye, will net about 50,000 tax free dollars to go into a trust fund for Field’s children."

[From: "Radio: Git Gat Giddle" March 1946]

"After every show, Danny found his dressing room full of gifts from his admirers (a homemade cake, two pounds of butter, a diamond wedding ring, jars of canned fruit, popcorn, etc.). At his last show—scheduled for the usual 30 minutes—the audience held Danny for 91, while he went through his whole repertory of pantomime, mimicry and musical burlesques. He called up kids from the audience. Once, midway through a song, he doubled up with a great belly laugh. 'You won't believe this,' he howled, 'but a little girl in the third row is looking at me through binoculars.' At the end of this zany, record performance, the audience sang Auld Lang Syne.

It is the same at his radio show, whether he is broadcasting from New York or Hollywood. While Danny mimics and mugs through his half-hour program and a 40-minute post-broadcast show, girls pile presents on the stage. To show his appreciation, he reads mooncalf poems written to him by idolatrous bobby-soxers, mugs outrageously, or falls offstage with studied indifference."

- Home -