Editing Danny Kaye (section)

===Career in music===
[[File:Danny Kaye visit to Israel (997009327076905171).jpg|thumb|alt=Kaye during his visit to Israel, 1956, Boris Carmi, Meitar collection, National Library of Israel|Kaye during his visit to Israel, 1956, [[Boris Carmi]], Meitar collection, [[National Library of Israel]]]]
While Kaye claimed he could not read music, he was said to have [[perfect pitch]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Danny Kaye – Gentleman Icon| url=https://theperfectgentleman.tv/danny-kaye-gentleman-icon/| first=Zacchary| last=Falconer-Barfield| date=October 15, 2014| website=The Perfect Gentleman| access-date=October 17, 2023| archive-date=September 22, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922123736/https://theperfectgentleman.tv/danny-kaye-gentleman-icon/| url-status=dead}}</ref> A flamboyant performer with his own distinctive style, "easily adapting from outrageous novelty songs to tender ballads" (according to critic Jason Ankeny), in 1945, Kaye began hosting his own CBS radio program, in which he performed a number of hit songs, including "[[Dinah (song)|Dinah]]" and "[[Minnie the Moocher]]".<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web| first=Jason| last=Ankeny| url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/danny-kaye-mn0000029750/biography| title=Danny Kaye biography at| website=[[AllMusic]]| access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 1947, Kaye teamed up with [[The Andrews Sisters]] (Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne) on Decca Records, producing the number-three ''Billboard'' hit "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)". The success of the pairing prompted both acts to record through 1950, producing such rhythmically comical fare as "[[The Woody Woodpecker Song]]" (based on the bird from the [[Walter Lantz]] cartoons and a ''Billboard'' hit for the quartet), "Put 'em in a Box, Tie 'em with a Ribbon (And Throw 'em in the Deep Blue Sea)", "The Big Brass Band from Brazil", "It's a Quiet Town (In Crossbone County)", "Amelia Cordelia McHugh (Mc Who?)", "Ching-a-ra-sa-sa", and a duet by Danny and Patty Andrews of "[[Orange Colored Sky]]". The acts teamed for two yuletide favorites - a frantic, harmonic rendition of "A Merry Christmas at Grandmother's House (Over the River and Through the Woods)" and a duet by Danny and Patty, "[[All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth]]".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book| last=Sforza| first=John| title=Swing It! The Andrews Sisters Story| url=https://archive.org/details/swingitandrewssi00sfor/page/116/mode/2up?q=%22kaye+roar%22| publisher=University of Kentucky Press| year=2000| page=117| isbn=978-0-8131-2136-9}}</ref>

Kaye's debut album, ''Columbia Presents Danny Kaye'', had been released in 1942 by Columbia Records with songs performed to the accompaniment of [[Maurice Abravanel]] and [[Johnny Green]]. The album was reissued as a Columbia LP in 1949 and is described by the critic Bruce Eder as "a bit tamer than some of the stuff that Kaye hit with later in the '40s and in the '50s, and for reasons best understood by the public, doesn't attract nearly the interest of his kids' records and overt comedy routines".<ref name="allmusic_1949">{{cite web| first=Bruce| last=Eder| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/danny-kaye-mw0001447249|title=Danny Kaye 1949 album review| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 1950, a Decca single, "[[I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts]]", was released, and became another chart hit for him.<ref name="allmusic"/> His second Columbia LP album ''Danny Kaye Entertains'' (1953, Columbia) included five songs recorded in 1941 from his Broadway musical ''Lady in the Dark'', most notably "[[Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)]]".<ref name="allmusic_195o">{{cite web| first=Bruce| last=Eder| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/danny-kaye-entertains-mw0001452035| title=Danny Kaye Entertains record review| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref>

Following the success of the film ''Hans Christian Andersen'' (1952), two of its songs written by [[Frank Loesser]] and sung by Kaye, "[[Thumbelina (Frank Loesser song)|Thumbelina]]" and "[[Wonderful Copenhagen]]", reached the charts; the former title became a minor US hit, and the latter reached number five on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="allmusic"/><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{cite book| last=Whitburn| first=Joel| url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/248/mode/2up?q=thumbelina| title=Joel Whitburn's Pop memories, 1890-1954: the history of American popular music: compiled from America's popular music charts 1890-1954| year=1986| page=248| publisher=Record Research| isbn=978-0-8982-0083-6| location=Menomonee Falls, Wis.}}</ref> In 1953, Decca released ''Danny at the Palace'', a live recording made at the New York Palace Theater,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-Danny-At-The-Palace/master/471611|title=Danny at the Palace|publisher=Discogs|access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref> followed by ''Knock On Wood'' (Decca, 1954) a set of songs from the movie of the same name sung by Kaye, accompanied by [[Victor Young]] and His Singing Strings.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-Knock-On-Wood/release/5289812| title=Knock on Wood OST| website=Discogs| access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Danny Kaye-Nancy Wilson - 1965.JPG|thumb|left|Singer [[Nancy Wilson (jazz singer)|Nancy Wilson]] appearing on his show in 1965]]
In 1956, Kaye signed a three-year recording contract with [[Capitol Records]], which released his single "Love Me Do" in December of that year.<ref>[http://www.45cat.com/record/cl14672 Love Me Do/Ciu Ciu Bella]. Record details @ 45cat</ref> The B-side, "Ciu Ciu Bella", with lyrics written by Sylvia Fine, was inspired by an episode in [[Rome]] when Kaye, on a mission for UNICEF, befriended a 7-year-old child with [[polio]] in a children's hospital, who sang this song for him in Italian.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egoEAAAAMBAJ&q=danny%20kaye%20ciu%20ciu%20bella%20billboard&pg=PA30| title=Kaye Signs 3-Year Pact With Capitol| magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]| date=December 15, 1956| page=30| access-date=October 17, 2023}}</ref>

In 1958, [[Saul Chaplin]] and [[Johnny Mercer]] wrote songs for ''Merry Andrew'', a film starring Kaye as a British teacher attracted to the circus. The score added up to six numbers, all sung by Kaye; conductor [[Billy May]]'s 1950 composition "Bozo's Circus Band" (renamed "Music of the Big Top Circus Band") was deposited on the second side of the ''Merry Andrew'' soundtrack, released in 1958.<ref>{{cite web| first=William| last=Ruhlmann| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/merry-andrew-original-soundtrack-mw0000417149| title=Merry Andrew soundtrack| website=AllMusic| access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref> A year later, another soundtrack came out, for ''The Five Pennies'' (in which Kaye starred as 1920s cornet player [[Red Nichols]]), featuring [[Louis Armstrong]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.discogs.com/Danny-Kaye-2-Louis-Armstrong-The-Five-Pennies/master/143201| title=The Five Pennies| website=[[Discogs]]| access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, Kaye regularly conducted world-famous orchestras, although he had to learn the scores by ear.<ref name="official">{{cite web| url=http://dannykaye.com/bio| title=Danny Kaye official biography| access-date=January 13, 2015| archive-date=August 28, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828102544/http://dannykaye.com/bio| url-status=usurped}}</ref> Kaye's style, even if accompanied by unpredictable antics (he once traded the baton for a flyswatter to conduct "The Flight of the Bumblebee")<ref name="official"/> was praised by the likes of [[Zubin Mehta]], who once stated that Kaye "has a very efficient conducting style".<ref name="KennedyCenter"/> His ability with an orchestra was mentioned by [[Dimitri Mitropoulos]], then conductor of the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]]. After Kaye's appearance, Mitropoulos remarked, "Here is a man who is not musically trained, who cannot even read music and he gets more out of my orchestra than I have."<ref name=Conversation>{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LIUwAAAAIBAJ&pg=4058,2842167| title=A Conversation With Danny Kaye| last=Goodman| first=Mark| date=December 23, 1979| newspaper=[[Lakeland Ledger]]| access-date=March 10, 2011}}</ref> Kaye was invited to conduct symphonies as charity fundraisers<ref name=Wife/><ref name="Star"/> and was the conductor of the all-city marching band at the season opener of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1984. Over his career, he raised over US$5 million in support of musician pension funds.<ref name="KennedyCenter">{{cite web| title=Biography of Danny Kaye| website=[[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|The Kennedy Center]]| url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3748&source_type=A| access-date=March 28, 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226141257/http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3748&source_type=A| archive-date=February 26, 2010 }}</ref>