In January 1941, an American entertainer Danny Kaye suddenly stepped up the staircase of fame when he sang the names of 54 Russian composers in only 38 seconds in his song Tchaikovsky at Broadway’s Alvin Theatre. His song was part of the hit Broadway musical comedy Lady in the Dark by Moss Hart. This remarkable comedian, actor, and singer is remembered today as a famous figure in the world of music and entertainment.   

Danny Kaye’s full natal name was David Daniel Kaminsky. He was born in January, 1913, in Brooklyn (New York) of Jewish parents who had moved to America from Ukraine. He attended the Thomas Jefferson High School but did not graduate. In his teen years, he dropped out of school and learnt to play a comedian in Catskills in the Borscht circuit of summer hotels and camps. It was the beginning of his long and successful career in the entertainment industry.

In 1935, Danny Kaye stepped as an actor into movies with the comedy Moon Over Manhattan. Two years later he acted in a series of two-reel comedies produced by the Educational Pictures (New York). After getting to the heights of fame withTchaikovsky, Kaye continued to add success and fame to his name on account of his talent and the help of his wife Sylvia Fine Kaye who was a composer and a lyricist. Songs and gags written for Kaye by his wife brought him to the attention of producer Samuel Goldwyn who chose Kaye for the lead role in his feature film Up in Arms (1944). Kaye’s acting skills made the film an instant hit and, shortly afterwards, three of his old Educational shorts were compiled by Robert M. Savini’s feature The Birth of a Star (1945).  

Danny Kaye won much admiration and fame as an actor throughout the 1940s and 50s by starring in movies like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Inspector General, On the Riviera, White Christmas, Knock on Wood, The Court Jester, Merry Andrew, Hans Christian Andersen, and The Five Pennies. He also started his own radio show The Danny Kaye Show on CBS in 1945, which ran for a year. His imitations made him an unsurpassed comedian of his time and the New York Times, in 1948, credited him as ‘the first of many performers who have turned English variety into an American preserve.’ Life Magazine titled Kaye as ‘worshipful hysteria’.

Kaye also lit the TV screen as an actor. He hosted his variety show The Danny Kaye Show on CBS television from 1963 to 1967. He also participated in quiz programs and appeared as a guest star in famous TV shows like The Muppet Show, The Cosby Show, and The New Twilight Zone. His influence reached the world of professional sports and he served as an Ambassador for UNICEF. Before passing away in 1987 due to a bout of hepatitis and subsequent heart attack, Kaye also demonstrated his skills of conducting an orchestra. His final resting place is in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla (New York).