Nobody's Fool: The Lives of Danny Kaye

I've always liked Danny Kaye as a film comic and TV personality but not until I read "Nobody's Fool" did I realize that this was a man whose intellect bordered on genius. After a very succesful career in films and television,Danny Kaye took up a number of hobbies and pursued them to the nth degree. He was interested in flying and so he got his pilot's license, then his jet pilot's license, then his multi-engine license and wound up piloting one of the first DC-10's across the Atlantic. He next developed an interest in surgery, talked to and learned from every surgeon he came across and became so adept that he was allowed to assist in an open-heart operation. He next took up cookery and became such a great chef, any restaurant would have eagerly hired him. Yet, with all that, when given the starring role in the Broadway version of Noah's Ark, he walked on stage, completely lost his nerve and could not continue the performance. Read this book and you will get an incredible insight into the life of a man whom most of us regarded as just a clever comic not knowing we were watching a funny man with a mind that was nothing short of brilliant.

This is probably one of the best movie-star biographies I know. And I've read a lot of them. What makes "Nobody's Fool" so different is the fact that the author manages not to get all sappy and emotional just because he is a fan of his subject. And Gottfried certainly is a fan of Danny Kaye, this is evident in his admiration for Kaye's work on stage and screen and especially in the little scenes where he describes that Kaye could be a very helpful and caring person if someone really needed him. But that admiration doesn't make Gottfried blind for Kaye's faults - and he had a lot of them. He describes Kaye as a brilliant man on stage but very private and emotionally restraint off stage. He had a mean streak a mile wide when in a foul mood and the older he got the worse his off stage (and sometimes even his on stage) behaviour got. Gottfried tries to explain this development and character traits with Kaye's tendency to get depressive as well as with his need to be the center of attention when performing - a need that is at the core of the success of every great star. The book doesn't focus on Kaye's individual movies or performances (but there are nevertheless many examples from his movies and shows as well as some nice photos). Instead, Gottfried tries to show the reader how the "Danny Kaye" act and persona developed over the years and which elements where characteristic of the act and how they worked. He describes in a very interesting way how Kaye worked and how he (and his wife Silvia Fine, among others) discovered what worked with an audience and which routines showcased his many talents best. "Nobody's Fool" doesn't idealize Danny Kaye. It shows an extremely talented man who wasn't a very nice person. But what Gottfried manages to convey is the fact that Kaye was one of the greatest entertainers of his time and why. In my opinion Kaye's talent and brilliance are summed up best by Gottfried when he describes Danny Kaye as absolutely unique.

As a lifelong fan of danny kaye i have always been looking for a book that would give me an insight into his life, and this book did just that. I found it to be very insightful and interesting to discover the real man behind danny kaye. I would have liked a little more information and discussion regarding the making of his films and possibly an dated index of all his films. However, overall a fascinating read.

A twinkly-eyed jolly Hans Christian Andersen he was not, despite what the movies led us to believe. Instead, as the first full length biography of the master of the absurd, Danny Kaye, makes clear, he was bereft of humor off stage. What he had, according to this biographer, was a penchant for the small, the petty, the spiteful, and a great gift for scene stealing. However, none of that detracts from the actor's one-of-a-kind genius. While most of us probably missed the Broadway musical "Lady In The Dark" many treasure Kaye's televised delivery of that musical's show stopper - "Tchaikovsky," in which he recited the names of 49 Russian composers in 38 seconds. Such movies as "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "White Christmas" won him numerous fans; his television show (broadcast in the mid 60s) won him countless more. Pagliacci typifies the tearful clown in opera; perhaps Danny Kaye does the same in filmdom. Certainly the supposition that a comedic flair springs from pain is not new. Nobody's Fool brims with show business anecdotes, and refutes the oft heard rumors of a liaison between Kaye and Sir Laurence Olivier. The descriptions of Kaye's mean spiritedness are all the more puzzling when one remembers his tireless efforts for UNICEF. One indisputable fact is that he was an incredibly gifted entertainer, and he entertained us royally.