I'm sure everyone's heard MINNIE The
MOOCHER by CAB CALLOWAY - but how many
know DANNY KAYE's version? Listen to him throw
his 'audience' a curve-ball. Great stuff.
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Friday, 6 June 2014
6 comments:
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Danny Kaye was almost ubiquitous back when I was growing up, with his films being on telly all the time — Walter Mitty, Hans Christian Andersen, White Christmas (of course) to name a few — yet nowadays it's rare to hear his name mentioned. I always felt there was something a bit off-kilter about him and his films; it wasn't quite as obvious as the stuff you'd expect from the standard Hollywood fare of the time, and I think I appreciated him more as I got older.
ReplyDeleteHe was beloved in Glasgow and was mobbed after his performances at The Empire. A BBC Scotland show told the story, including footage of him on-stage at said theatre singing Minnie The Moocher: apparently a crowd of several hundred people followed his car back to the Central Hotel, and eventually he had to make an appearance on the balcony at midnight as they showed no sign of leaving. He sang them a song called Ballin' The Jack, which included a whole lot of body movements, and apparently the whole crowd were copying them all in the middle of the street. Not bad, when you consider that the Glasgow Empire crowd were notoriously difficult to please: if they liked you, they really liked you.
Great story, GB. He did some marvellous movies in his time, which are still hugely entertaining today. I've got quite a few CDs of his music and he wasn't a bad little chanter at all.
ReplyDeleteKid, I've just been reading the post about your letter to POTA No.8 and there was a mention of a website called "Hunter's POTA" which I never knew existed - I just checked and it displays all the covers AND the stories from the POTA UK weeklies !!!!!!!!! To read these stories again has been a life-long dream of mine - I just had a brief look at POTA No.5 which was my first ever Marvel comic. To say I'm salivating would be an under-statement - thanks so so much for that post !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I had a look at that site myself, so thanks to JP for mentioning it. Regarding POTA #5, you should look for it on eBay or Amazon and reclaim it into the fold - it shouldn't cost too much.
ReplyDeleteSort-of related to your recent Batman cover posts, Kid:
ReplyDeleteI can't remember if it was in an issue with Adams art, but Elliot Maggin wrote a backup Robin story at this time that was dedicated to Danny Kaye and featured a character based on him. It had little references to his film career, and Robin's motorcycle made the famous Walter Mitty 'ta-pocketa-pocketa' sound.
Thanks, GB, I must look out for it. All this talk about Danny Kaye has made me want to dig out my DVD of The Court Jester - a true classic.
ReplyDelete