Editing Danny Kaye (section)

==Early life and education==
David Daniel Kaminsky was born in [[Brooklyn]], New York, on January 18, 1911 (though he would later say 1913),<ref name="DK Interview">{{cite news| first=Dena| last=Kaye| title=Interview| website=[[Turner Classic Movies]]| date=January 18, 2013| quote=Her father was actually born in 1911, but for reasons unknown to her, changed it to 1913.}}</ref><ref>[[FBI]] records and [[SSDI]] show 1911.</ref><ref name="UNICEF 2"/><ref name="OF SSDI">{{cite web| url=http://www.legacy.com/ns/obitfinder/ssdi-search.aspx?daterange=1980-1989&firstname=danny&lastname=kaye&countryid=1&stateid=0&affiliateid=-1| title=1980–1989 Obituaries [SSDI search]| access-date=March 23, 2014| website=Legacy.com/[[SSDI]]| url-access=subscription}}</ref> to [[Ukrainian Jewish]] immigrants Jacob and Clara (''née'' Nemerovsky) Kaminsky. He was the youngest of three sons. His parents and older brothers Larry and Mac left [[Dnipro|Yekaterinoslav]] (then part of Novorossia in the Russian Empire) two years before Danny's birth; he was their only son born in the United States.<ref name=Clowns>{{cite book |editor-last=Adir |editor-first=Karen |title=The Great Clowns of American Television |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jr9L--C4tMC&q=danny+kaye&pg=PA247 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2001 |page=270 |isbn=978-0-7864-1303-4 |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref>

He attended Public School 149 in [[East New York, Brooklyn]] (eventually renamed to honor him)<ref name=School>{{cite web| title=Welcome P.S. 149 Danny Kaye| url=http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/19/k149/default.htm| website=New York City Department of Education| access-date=January 8, 2013}}</ref>—where he began entertaining his classmates with songs and jokes.<ref name="Bio">{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kO5VAAAAIBAJ&pg=7184,629748| title=World-renowned comedian dies| date=March 4, 1987| newspaper=[[Eugene Register-Guard]]| access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref> He attended [[Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn, New York)|Thomas Jefferson High School]] in Brooklyn, but he did not graduate.<ref name=Conversation/>

His mother died when he was in his early teens. Not long after, Kaye and his friend Louis ran away to Florida. Kaye sang while Louis played the guitar, and the pair eked out a living for a while. When Kaye returned to New York, his father did not pressure him to return to school or work, giving his son the chance to mature and discover his abilities.<ref name=Life/> Kaye said that as a young boy, he had wanted to be a surgeon, but the family could not afford medical education.<ref name= Clowns/><ref name= Wife>{{cite news| title=Mrs. Danny Kaye Proves a Genius| last=Battelle| first=Phyllis| date=May 8, 1959| newspaper=[[The Milwaukee Sentinel]]}}</ref>

After leaving school, he held a succession of jobs as a [[soda jerk]], auto insurance investigator, and office clerk. Most ended with him being fired. He lost the insurance job when he made an error that cost the insurance company $40,000 ($600,000 in 2019 adjusted for inflation).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dannykaye.net/02061949.html |title=Transcript: Jinx Falkenburg Interviews Danny Kaye |date=February 6, 1949 |access-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725011852/http://www.dannykaye.net/02061949.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> A dentist who hired him to look after his office over lunch and run errands fired him when he found Kaye using his [[dental drill]] on the office woodwork. In 1939, Kaye met the same dentist's daughter, [[Sylvia Fine]], at an audition, and in 1940, they eloped.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://officialdannykaye.com/bio| title=Danny Kaye: Entertainer, Humanitarian, Renaissance Man| language=en-US| access-date=October 17, 2023| archive-date=July 25, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725011843/https://officialdannykaye.com/bio| url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="Clowns" /><ref name="Time">{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776720-1,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106174945/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776720-1,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=November 6, 2012| title=Git Gat Gittle| date=March 11, 1946| magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| access-date=January 14, 2011}}</ref> He learned his trade in his teenaged years in the [[Catskill Mountains|Catskills]] as a [[tummler]] (M.C.) in the [[Borscht Belt]].<ref name="Bio"/>

Kaye's first break came in 1933 when he joined the Three [[wikt:terpsichorean|Terpsichoreans]], a vaudeville dance act. They opened in [[Utica, New York]], where he used the stage name Danny Kaye for the first time.<ref name="Bio"/> The act toured the United States and in Asia with the show ''La Vie Paree''.<ref name=Dena/> The troupe left for a six-month tour of Asia on February 8, 1934. During its stay in Osaka, Japan, a [[typhoon]] hit the city. The troupe's hotel suffered heavy damage. The strong wind hurled a piece of the hotel's [[cornice]] into Kaye's room. By evening's performance time, the city was in the grip of the storm. With no power, the audience became restless and nervous. To calm them, Kaye went on stage holding a flashlight to illuminate his face and sang every song he could recall as loudly as he was able.<ref name=Clowns/>

The experience of trying to entertain audiences who did not speak English inspired him to do the pantomime gestures, songs, and facial expressions that eventually made his reputation.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name=Time/> Sometimes, he found them necessary when ordering a meal. Kaye's daughter Dena relates a story her father told about being in a restaurant in China and trying to order chicken. Kaye flapped his arms and clucked, giving the waiter an imitation of a chicken. The waiter nodded in understanding, bringing Kaye two eggs. His interest in cooking began on the tour.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name=Dena>{{cite news| url=https://newspapers.com/article/rapid-city-journal-life-with-my-zany-fat/133629096/| title=Life With My Zany Father – Danny Kaye| last=Kaye| first=Dena| date=January 19, 1969| newspaper=[[Rapid City Journal]]| access-date=October 17, 2023| url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Jobs were in short supply when Kaye returned to the United States, and he struggled for bookings. One job was working in a burlesque revue with [[fan dance]]r [[Sally Rand]]. After the dancer dropped a fan while trying to chase away a fly, Kaye was hired to watch the fans, so they were always held in front of her.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name=Time/>