The Danny Kaye Show Radio Program Log

45-12-09 Zanesville Signal
Jim Backus, "Mr. Singleton" (the sponsor) of the Danny Kaye Show, bows off the program in a fortnight to go west with Alan Young's show.

46-04-05 Mason City Globe-Gazette
COMEDIAN GEORGE JESSEL makes a return guest appearance on KGLO-CBS' "Danny Kaye Show" Friday at 9 p.m.. Butterfly McQueen tosses Kaye a comedy assist. David Terry conducts the orchestra. Sylvia Fine writes the original music and lyrics. William shore produces and Dick Joy announces.

AFRS R-Series 'Danny Kaye' Radio Program Log

The Danny Kaye Show Radio Program Biographies

Comedian Danny Kaye
Reported Gravely Ill

     LOS ANGELES (AP) - Entertainer Danny Kaye, the "Pied Piper to the children of the world," was in extremely critical condition Monday night after being hospitalized with hepatitis and intestinal bleeding, a spokesman said.
   Kaye, 74, was admitted Sunday to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said hospital spokesman Ron Wise.
   Wise said the Emmy-winning comic actor was gravely ill.
   The entertainer's family was at his side Monday night, Wise said.
   "They had a personal message, thanking his fans," the spokesman said.
   Kaye, whose entertainment career
has spanned television, movies and music, was recently hospitalized for three weeks, Wise said.  He was released last week after being treated for a leg condition, Wise said.
   The nature of the leg ailment was not immediately known.
   "His condition is bad," Wise said.
   Kaye starred in such screen classics as "The Inspector General," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "Hans Christian Andersen" and "White Christmas."
   Queen Margrethe of Denmark knighted Kaye in 1983 for his portrayal of Hans Christian Andersen in the 1952 musical film. The citation called him "the Pied Piper to the children of the world."
   Earlier that year, Kaye had been awarded the 22nd annual Gold Medal of the USO.  He had entertained American servicemen in Korea, Vietnam and in a USO show aboard the USS Intrepid during World War II.  Also in 1983, he received the 1982 Screen Actors Guild Annual Award for "fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession."
   "The man is the prime goofball in America," producer-director Carl Reiner told a 1984 audience at Washington's Kennedy Center during a salute to Kaye's work with UNICEF. Kaye served as the official permanent ambassador-at-large for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.
   He won a special Academy
Award in 1954.
   Kaye conducted some of the world's greatest symphony orchestras, once sang for Queen Elizaabeth II and was awarded the American Symphony Orchestra League's gold baton for distinguished service to music and the
arts.
  But he couldn't read music.

And then four days later, this from the March 7, 1987 Post Standard (Syracuse NY):

Kaye Dies of Heart Failure at 74

   LOS ANGELES (UPI) — Danny Kaye, whose stage and screen antics endeared him to audiences for a half-century and whose concern for the world's sick and hungry children earned him global respect, died Tuesday.  He was 74.
   Kaye died at 3:58 a m of heart failure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he was admitted Sunday after suffering from intestinal bleeding and hepatitis as a result of transfusions he received during heart surgery in 1983 hospital spokesman Ron Wise said.
   Kaye made 17 movies, specializing in zany comedies including "Hans Christian Anderson,'' "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "White Christmas."  But acting was just one of his many interests.
   For more than 30 years he gave benefit concerts to raise money for UNICEF, the U N. organization that helps sick and needy children.  His efforts were honored by the queens of England and Denmark.
   He championed the arts, raising money for musician pension funds, was active in the sports world, where he once was a minority owner of the baseball Seattle Mariners, and found time to cook for his many friends, who raved about his skill in the kitchen.
   Gregory Peck, who met Kaye during one of his early Broadway performances, called him a Renaissance man.
   "Danny really was a Walter Mitty," Peck said.  "He tried everything.  He never played golf until his middle years, then he took six months of lessons.  After that he played his first round and shot 86."
   "He quit because he could never become a scratch golfer.  He became a flyer until he got a jet pilot's license and instrument rating.  Then quit that.  He became a symphony conductor.  Everything came easily for him.  He had tremendous brain-eye-hand coordination."
   Kaye won an honorary Oscar in 1954 for his service to the entertainment industry and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for 1981.
   Kaye was born David Daniel Kaminsky in Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 1913, and aspired to a performing career when he was a boy.

There's little more to add to the two articles above, except perhaps as a personal reflection on Danny Kaye's extraordinary career and humanitarian work.

As to his Radio work during The Golden Age, The Danny Kaye Show was the obvious and most noteworthy showcase of his extraordinary talent and versatility. He could sing, dance, extemporize, act--and act up. He was every bit a modern day jester, apparently taking great delight for his entire career in making people of all ages laugh. That was his gift.

Throughout the Golden Age of Radio years, Kaye returned again and again to Radio by popular demand after his triumphs in 1943-1946. But it was over CBS Forecast (1940) that Danny Kaye experienced his first important Radio exposure. When You Were 21 was a CBS-proposed retrospective vehicle for Danny Kaye; a nostaligic retrospective progam with a comedy-variety element. One of Danny Kaye's first starring roles over Radio, the show was interesting, but didn't really unleash Kaye's efferfescent talents and versatility. It wasn't picked up as a regular program.

Between Forecast and The Danny Kaye Show, CBS wouldn't let the young entertainer off the hook. The network continued to provide him with guest opportunities for three more years until his triumph in the film, Up In Arms (1944) and his Broadway Stage triumphs combined to jumpstart his popularity even further.

The Danny Kaye Show aired for 58 broadcasts, six of them minus its star, who'd commited to entertaining the first American troops to set foot on Japanese soil since the start of World War II. In his stead, six of the regulars in CBS' line-up stepped in to make up for the six weeks Kaye was on tour in Japan. The Danny Kaye Show's listeners were treated to one each of a Frank Sinatra show with Judy Garland, The Easy Aces, a Burns and Allen Show, a Jack Benny Show, a Duffy's Tavern, and an Eddie Cantor Show. Not a bad bonus for any regularly airing Radio program, but a special treat for regular listeners of The Danny Kaye Show.

Kaye left his Danny Kaye Show with a year remaining on his contract with Pabst Brewing Company and CBS, to devote more time to the increasing demands of his Stage and Film projects. The deal that secured his freedom barred him from participating on another sponsored Radio program for a year, so it wasn't until 1947 that Kaye began to appear with more frequency over Radio once again.

Each time he did make an appearance over Radio it was to great fanfare and advance promotion. Kaye's star was rising fast in Hollywood and on the Broadway Stage--internationally as well. Indeed in 1953, during a 14-week Stage presentation at The Palace Theatre, Kaye scored a record--for that time--$535,000 as his 60% of the door for those fourteen weeks. He was also awarded an Antoinette Perry Award [Tony Award] for that 1953 run at The Palace. Not bad at all for the court jester from Brooklyn.

All told, Danny Kaye's Radio career spanned some 20 years of The Golden Age of Radio, in a mix of guest appearances, his own show, several poignant dramatic performances and numerous patriotic programs and appeals.

Kaye continued to voice appeals and messages over The Voice of America throughout the 1970s was well. Thankfully, almost all of his guest appearances over Radio have survived, as well as over thirty of his The Danny Kaye Show exemplars of the era, many of them from the AFRS canon. There's no question that Danny Kaye left his mark over every medium he ever attempted and in every venue in which he performed. His Radio work is equally represented--for growing numbers of his fans of the era, and for even greater numbers of new fans and admirers who respond as naturally to Kaye's timeless clowning--and genius--just as his audiences of sixty years ago had.

In 1932, Stander landed his first credited film roles in the Warner-Vitaphone short features In the Dough, with Fatty Arbuckle and Shemp Howard, and Salt Water Daffy (1933) with Jack Haley and Shemp Howard. He made several other shorts, the last being The Old Grey Mayor (1935) with Bob Hope. That year, he was cast in a feature, Ben Hecht's The Scoundrel with Noel Coward. He moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. Stander was in a string of films over the next three years, most notably in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, Meet Nero Wolfe (1936), A Star Is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, and Nothing Sacred (1937).

Stander's distinctive, gravelly voice, tough-guy appearance, comedic timing, and talent with dialects made him a very popular, respected, and successful radio actor. In the 1930s and 1940s he was on the Eddie Cantor Show, Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall Show, the Lux Radio Theater production of A Star Is Born, The Fred Allen Show, The Mayor of the Town with Lionel Barrymore and Agnes Moorehead, Kraft Music Hall for NBC, Stage Door Canteen for CBS, the Lincoln Highway Radio Show, and The Jack Paar Show.

Indeed, in 1941 he originated the title role of The Life of Riley for CBS, later made famous by William Bendix. He was a regular on Danny Kaye's zany comedy-variety radio show on CBS (1946–1947), playing himself as "just the elevator operator" amidst the antics of Kaye, future Our Miss Brooks star Eve Arden, and bandleader Harry James.

Strongly liberal and staunchly pro-labor, Stander espoused a variety of social and political causes, and was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. At a SAG meeting held during a 1937 studio technicians' strike, he told the assemblage of 2000 members, "With the eyes of the whole world on this meeting, will it not give the Guild a black eye if its members continue to cross picket lines?" Stander also supported the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) in its fight against the Mob-influenced International Alliance of Stage Employees (IATSE).

Also in 1937, Ivan F. Cox, a deposed officer of the San Francisco longshoremen's union, sued Stander and a host of others, including union leader Harry Bridges, actors Fredric March, Franchot Tone, Mary Astor, James Cagney, Jean Muir, and director William Dieterle. The charge, according to Time magazine, was "conspiring to propagate Communism on the Pacific Coast, causing Mr. Cox to lose his job." This was a common accusation throughout the 1930s and 1940s as the powerful studios were actively enlisting the support of everyone they could, to combat the growing voice of technical and performers' unions--including the support of the Mob and reactionary, 'free-trade' right-wing politicians.

In 1938, Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn allegedly called Stander "a Red son of a bitch" and threatened a $100,000 fine against any studio that renewed his contract. Despite continuing critical acclaim for his performances, Stander's film work dropped off drastically. After appearing in 15 films in 1935 and 1936, he appeared in only six films in 1937 and 1938. Then he was in just six movies from 1939 through 1943--none by major studios, and the most notable being Guadalcanal Diary (1943).

Stander was understandably unapologetic for his beliefs and causes. The Hollywood Studio System manipulated and controlled its talent like chattel, responding to any objections or union organizing by ostracizing or blacklisting any technician or performer who dared stand up to them. Stander once observed:

"We fought on every front because we realized that the forces of reaction and Faciscm fight democracy on every front. We, too, have been forced, therefore, to organize in order to combat them on every front: politically through such organizations as the Motion Picture Democratic Committee; economically through our guilds and unions; socially, and culturally through such organizations as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League."

Lionel Stander had been subpoenaed by the very first House Un-American Activities Committee inquisition in Hollywood during 1940, when it was headed by Texas Congressman Martin Dies. The right-wing extremist Dies Committee had succeeded in abolishing the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre Project as a 'left-wing menace' in 1939. The attack on the Federal Theatre Project was understandably opposed by most progressives in Hollywood. Stung by the criticism from Hollywood, the Dies Committee decided to turn its attention to Hollywood itself.

Dies' infamous HUAC compiled a long-list of "real and suspected" communists to a Los Angeles County grand jury, which also subpoenaed Lionel Stander. The testimony was leaked, and the newspapers reported that Stander, along with such prominent Hollywood progressives such as James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Frederic March and Franchot Tone, had been identified as communists. Reactionary committee chairman Dies offered all of the people named as communists the "opportunity" to "clear themselves" if they would "cooperate" with him in executive session. Stander was the only one to appear who was not "cleared" by Dies' committee. He was subsequently fired by his studio Republic Pictures.

Stander continued to work after being fired by Republic. He appeared in Hangmen Also Die! (1943), a film about the Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, who was assassinated by anti-fascists. After being blacklisted, Stander worked as a broker on Wall Street and appeared on the stage as a journeyman actor. He returned to the movies in Tony Richardson's The Loved One (1965), and he began his career anew as a character actor, appearing in many films, including Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966) and Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977). Other movies he appeared in included Promise Her Anything (1965), The Black Bird (1975), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), 1941 (1979), Cookie (1989) and The Last Good Time (1994), his final film.

Stander is remembered by contemporary audiences for playing Max on TV's Hart to Hart (1979-1984) with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, a role he reprised in a series of Hart to Hart TV movies. Stander also appeared on Wagner's earlier TV series It Takes a Thief (1968) and on the HBO series Dream On (1990).

Why take so much space describing Lionel Stander's heroic stand against the fascist Hollywood Studio system--and their right-wing supporters in Congress? Because it informs much of what we lost when we lost The Golden Age of Radio. We lost more than the wonderful entertainment. The systematic dismantiling of the tens of thousands of small radio stations that built The Golden Age of Radio, destroyed the 'voice' of political and social diversity over public airwaves--forever. The airwaves are no longer public. They're privately controlled, privately influenced, and create enormous private profits. Under the Law we still technically own the airwaves, but we've ceded our ownership of the airwaves to private corporations--by our apathy and ignorance alone.

Lionel Stander saw it coming decades before his peers. He believed in the freedom of the public airwaves and his career was systematically destroyed simply because he espoused a belief in the Freedom of Speech, the freedom to organize, and the freedom of the airwaves.

Lionel Stander died of lung cancer on November 30, 1994 in Los Angeles, California. He was 86 years old. Let us hope that as we listen and watch Lionel Stander's body of work in Film, Radio and Television, we'll remember that he was more than an actor. He was a brave, outspoken patriot at a time in Hollywood when the majority of his peers were running for cover.

Comic Actress Eve Arden Dies; Was Star of 'Our Miss Brooks'

     LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Eve Arden, the comic actress of scores of films but best known as the teacher with the sharp tongue and soft heart on the 1950s television series "Our Miss Brooks," died Monday of heart failure.  She was 82 and died at her home.
     The veteran actress of stage, screen, radio and television made a career out of roles she often said she didn't much like — the best friend who brightened the dramatics with deadpan humor.  But her work earned praise from the top comic minds, from Bob Hope to Woody Allen.
     "She had a great sense of humor," said Hope, who got his break in films after he sang a love song to Miss Arden in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1936.  "I just loved her.  She had that kind of sarcastic delivery."
     Although a success on stage and screen, including an Oscar nomination, she was probably best known as the saucy English
teacher on "Our Miss Brooks."  She played the role first on radio and then on television.
     "The Eve Arden Show" followed, but lasted only a season.  She then appeared in "The Mothers-in-Law" with Kaye Ballard in 1967-69.
     Miss Arden's portrayal of Madison High School English teacher Connie Brooks was an extension of the wisecracking but delightful characters she had portrayed for years on film. 
     The show began on CBS radio in 1947 and was such a hit it moved to television.  TV's "Our Miss Brooks" had its debut on Oct. 3, 1952, and lasted four seasons.  Gale Gordon played the crusty principal, Osgood Conklin, and Richard Crenna was student Walter Denton.
     "I grew rather fond of Miss Brooks.  After all, she has been very good to me," Miss Arden said in 1956.  "The nicest thing about it is the public reaction, especially when I go East.  Everyone from Pullman porters to hostesses at swank New York parties will tell me they always watch Miss Brooks on Friday night."
     Miss Arden was propelled to stardom with the 1937 film "Stage Door," in which she took a relatively minor role and nearly stole the show from stars Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball.
     Her next big film role came as Joan Crawford's friend in the 1945 movie, "Mildred Pierce," which earned Miss Arden an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
     That film also produced another famous Arden line, when she says of Miss Crawford's horrible daughter: "Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea.  They eat their young."
     Miss Arden also appeared on Broadway with Danny Kaye in "Let's Face It."
     In later years, she appeared in Steven Spielberg's TV series "Amazing Stories" and on "Faerie Tale Theater" for Showtime, as well as the films "Grease" and "Grease 2."
     In 1984, she was dealt a blow with the death of her husband of 35 years.  Brooks West, who co-starred with Miss Arden in plays, musicals and the 1959 film "Anatomy of a Murder."
     The comedienne appeared in poor health when she attended the Warner Bros, studio rededication last summer and was forced to leave the celebration early.
     Miss Arden is survived by her children Liza, Douglas, Connie and Duncan West.

Born in Mill Valley, young Eunice Quedens was fascinated with show business at an early age. She made her stage debut at 16, after quitting school to join a stock company.

Appearing in minor roles in two films under her real name, Eunice Quedens, she was soon discovered for similar Stage roles. In the mid 1930s one of these minor roles would attract notice for a comedy sketch in the stage play Ziegfeld Follies. She changed her name to Eve Arden, and in 1937, she attracted even more attention with a small role in Oh Doctor (1937). This was the role that lead to her selection for a minor role in the film Stage Door (1937).

But by the time Stage Door was completed, she'd managed to parley a few speaking lines into a scene-stealing role as the wise-cracking, fast-talking friend to the lead. This was the formula that Eve Arden would adopt for most of the remainder of her career. It turns out that, while never attracting a leading role, her alter-ego as a cynical, worldly-wise, wise-cracking foil would propel her to scores of supporting roles in feature films over the next thirteen years of her Film career.

In the Marx Bros. vehicle, At the Circus (1939), Eve Arden appeared as the quick-witted Peerless Pauline opposite Groucho. In Doughgirls (1944) she appeared as a Russian sharp shooter. But it was in her role as Ida in the Joan Crawford Oscar-winning vehicle, Mildred Pierce (1945), that Eve Arden received her only Oscar nomination.

That same brilliant knack for a quick, biting rejoinder propelled her to numerous supporting roles over Radio from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. Working as second banana to Danny Kaye in The Danny Kaye Show (1945), numerous other quick witted, character roles eventually landed Eve Arden her own starring vehicle, Our Miss Brooks (1948), later taking the format to even greater success during the Golden Age of Television with the television version of Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956), and culminating the franchise in the feature film version of the same format in 1956.

Arden continued to attempt to leverage her Radio and Television success with the short-lived The Eve Arden Show (1957), which was prematurely cancelled. Eve Arden took some well-earned downtime in the 1960s to raise a family, eventually returning to Television with a successful, two-season run of The Mothers In Law (1967-1968), with Kay Ballard. She continued to appear in numerous guest spots in Television, participated in a few more--unsold--pilot series', and made several cameo appearances in Film. Her last Film of note was as the redoubtable Principal McGee in the 1978 blockbuster, Grease.