January 18
Born Today:
Danny Kaye
Dancer and comedian Danny Kaye (1911-1987) starred in musical comedy films in the 1940s-1950s including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and White Christmas (1954). His career in entertainment began in a dance act on the vaudeville circuit in 1933. His physicality, pantomime, and expressive skills translated well in nightclub acts, where he was discovered by Broadway director Moss Hart, who cast him in Lady in the Dark in 1941. His comic delivery of novelty songs earned him a radio show and he was often engaged to comically conduct orchestras for charitable causes, and most audiences never knew he couldn’t read music.