Danny Kaye’s Stomping Grounds, Then & Now, Part III

Danny spent most of his early years in New York (and a number of his later years, in an apartment at the Sherry-Netherland), but not all. Here are the spots where Kaye spent the majority of his time when not in the Big Apple, and what they look like today.


(11) Danny’s Last Summer Camp: Bushkill, PA
Although he had sworn off performing at summer camps, in 1939 Danny was persuaded by producer Max Liebman and songwriter Sylvia Fine to perform in weekly revues at Camp Tamiment in the Poconos. He found everything about Tamiment’s productions to be distinctly more professional than anything he encountered during his “toomling” days in the Catskills.

A new Tamiment Playhouse replaced that theater in 1941 and continued to host productions until 1960. The summer camp remained active and successful; in fact, in 1959, Kaye hosted the resort’s annual golf tournament. The resort changed hands several times through the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, until the 2,200-acre property was finally acquired in 2005 by an investment group, which began tearing down structures and auctioning off assets to allow for redevelop into multi-family residences.




Danny performs with Lee Brody and Imogene Coca in the original Tamiment Playhouse, 1939.


(12) Danny’s First LA Home: 1710 Angelo Dr., Beverly Hills, CA
After moving to California to make movies in the mid-1940s, Danny and Sylvia first rented a home from Muriel Rosenbloom, the ex-wife of boxer-turned-restauranteur “Slapsy” Maxie Rosenbloom. Built in 1926, the 4,025-square foot home featured five bedrooms and five and a half baths. In April of 1946, though, Ms. Rosenbloom wanted to break the lease and tried to have the Kayes evicted early, claiming they were damaging the property. Danny and Sylvia contended the accusation was a ruse to oust them within 30 days, instead of being given six months notice, as stipulated in their lease. The Kayes finally vacated in the fall, after which the landlord found a series of new renters.




Kaye's first SoCal home in Beverly Hills, as it is today.


(13) Danny’s First Movie Studio: 7200 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA
Kaye made his first five feature films for Samuel Goldwyn Productions, based out of his offices and soundstages that originally belonged to Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and later United Artists. The lot then became Warner Hollywood Studios and, since 1999, The Lot, specializing primarily in production of TV shows.




Goldwyn Studios was Kaye's first stop in Hollywood.




Goldwyn's studio is now "The Lot," although this historic office (once Mary Pickford's) was recently demolished.


(14) Danny’s Longest-Time Home: 1103 San Ysidro Dr., Beverly Hills, CA
In 1949 Danny and Sylvia moved into—and a year later purchased—the house that would become their home for the rest of their lives. Built in 1932, the white brick Georgian-style showplace was covered with wisteria and sat on a half-acre at the end of a long driveway, behind by jacaranda trees. It had two stories and about 6,000 square feet (although that figure increased slightly when Danny added his own Chinese kitchen in 1963). For a look inside, Architectural Digest published a pictorial spread, narrated by daughter Dena. Dena sold the home in 1992, a year after he mother passed. It is currently valued at $12 million.



Kaye lived in this beautiful Beverly Hills home for nearly 40 years.




The Kaye home on San Ysidro Drive was designed for privacy.


(15) Danny’s TV Home: 7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Kaye spent four seasons at CBS taping 124 weekly episodes of his own variety show, The Danny Kaye Show. The series was recorded on Stage 31 at CBS Television City. As part of the deal to convince Kaye to do a weekly series, CBS agreed to build him the Chinese kitchen at his home as well as a penthouse “dressing room” on the roof above Stage 33. It was actually more of a 1,386-square foot apartment, featuring a full-sized kitchen, waiting room with secretary, bedroom, large living room with a grand piano, two bathrooms, and a patio with a barbecue. After The Danny Kaye Show’s run ended in 1967, Studio 31 played host to a variety of gameshows, sitcoms, talk shows, variety shows, and soaps before becoming the permanent home of The Bold and the Beautiful starting in 1987.

Late last year, CBS sold Television City to Los Angeles-based real estate investment company Hackman Capital Partners. For now, CBS is continuing to use the complex as headquarters for its international unit and to tape series such as The Young and the Restless, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and—in Danny’s Studio 33—The Bold and the Beautiful.




The Danny Kaye Show was taped on Stage 31 (back, right center of the building on the right), with his quarters on the roof.

Danny Kaye's Stomping Grounds: Then & Now, Part II

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His Catskills days behind him, Danny Kaye continued his slow climb up the ranks of show business primarily in New York. His biggest stops included:

(6) Where Danny Met Sylvia: 201 W. 52^nd St., New York, NY
Two years his junior, Sylvia Fine grew up not far from Danny. She remembered having a crush on him as a young girl. For his part, Kaye did not seem to remember her, even though he briefly worked for her father, the neighborhood dentist. The first meeting they both recalled was in February 1939, in a loft-turned-makeshift theater on W. 52^nd Street. Danny was rehearsing for a revue, Sunday Night Varieties, which was in need of another songwriter. Enter Sylvia.
They called the space the Keynote Theatre, and held performances on three consecutive Sundays. They were ready for a fourth performance, but were closed down when police discovered the facility didn’t have a proper license. The second-story “theater” has been used for a variety of purposes ever since. Today, it’s a for-rent event space called Manhattan Manor, which sits above Rosie Grady’s Saloon and looks out on Central Park.
Sunday Night Varieties, meanwhile, was able to move up in the world, to a better-furnished space inside the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel. The 38-story art deco hotel, at 106 Central Park South, was purchased by Donald Trump in 1981, who closed the hotel in 1985 to convert it into condos and rename it The Trump Parc. 

Through the doors and head up and, for a fleeting moment, you'd find a loft theater called the Keynote.

(7) Danny’s Broadway Debut: 219 W. 49^th St., New York, NY
Kaye first appeared on a Broadway stage on Sept. 28, 1939, in The Straw Hat Revue. Comprised of sketches, songs and variety acts lifted from Danny and Sylvia’s last summer camp gig, the show ran for 75 performances at the Ambassador Theatre on 49^th Street. 
The Ambassador had a unique set-up; because it was built in 1921 on an angled lot, it had to be situated diagonally, creating an extra-wide, none-too-deep auditorium, guaranteeing that even the worst seats in the house were close to the action. Many of its stately architectural features from the days of Danny remain intact, and its hulking chandelier is a reminder of the Straw Hat Revue’s Act One climax, “The Great Chandelier.” The theater has stayed active ever since, and since 2003 has been the home of Chicago. 

In the revue's show-stopping "The Great Chandelier," Danny played the Masked Gondolier.

Even the back of the balcony at the Ambassador offered audiences a close up look at young Danny Kaye.

(8) Danny’s First Solo: 57 W. 57^th St., New York, NY
Kaye’s first break as a solo performer came in January 1940 when he agreed to a two-week tryout engagement at Dario’s La Martinique nightclub, inside the Medical Arts Building on W. 57^th Street. Although the high-rise had 21 floors, La Martinique wasn’t on any of them—it was stashed in the basement, which had been used as a themed nightclub (first Parisian, then Cuban, and finally Latin American) since 1934.
At La Martinique, Danny performed Sylvia’s songs in a solo act for the first time, accompanied by Sylvia on piano.Over the years, the building—now simply called “57”—has housed a wide range of offices and businesses, including a few other nightclubs and a disco. 

Through the doors and head down to the basement was where you used to be able to find the La Martinique.

(9) Danny Goes Legit: 250 W. 52^nd St., New York, NY
Kaye had only a small supporting role in Lady in the Dark, and one he kept for fewer than five months, but with it he nearly stole the show. It premiered at Broadway’s Alvin Theatre, which today operates as the Neil Simon Theatre. 

Danny in Lady in the Dark at Broadway's Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre.

(10) Danny’s Starring Role: 249 W. 45^th St., New York, NY
Danny spent nearly a year and a half headlining the Cole Porter musical comedy Let’s Face It at the Imperial Theatre. The playhouse has premiered A-list productions ever since, including the original runs of Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Call Me Madam (1950), Oliver! (1963), Fiddler on the Roof (194), Cabaret (1967), Pippin (1972), Dreamgirls (1981), and of course Kaye’s return to Broadway, Two by Two (1970). 

Danny's two longest-running Broadway shows both played at the Imperial.

Next Time: In Part III, our travels will take us to more Danny Kaye landmarks outside of New York.

Danny Kaye's Stomping Grounds: Then & Now, Part I

Unfortunately, there aren’t many people around today who grew up knowing or working with Danny Kaye dating back to his early years in New York. But many places survive that we can visit to see where he began.

(1) Danny’s Boyhood Home: 361 Miller Ave., Brooklyn, NY
During his boyhood in the 1910s, Danny lived with his parents, two brothers, and grandmother in a small apartment on Miller Avenue in Brooklyn. Today, there’s a four-story building at that address, crammed with 20 tiny apartment units, but city records show that structure was built in 1925, after the Kaminskys had moved out. Perhaps the construction is why in the early 1920s, the family relocated to the next block, Bradford Street.

(Top) Danny about age 3 with an unidentified friend, possibly in front of his first home, at 361 Miller Ave. in Brooklyn. (Lower) Here's the site today. If building records are correct and this four-story apartment complex wasn't built until 1925, Danny and family moved shortly beforehand. 

(2) Danny’s Elementary School: 700 Sutter Ave., Brooklyn, NY
Danny was schooled through eighth grade at Public School 149, a five-minute walk from his family’s apartment. The facility, later renamed in his honor as PS 149 The Danny Kaye School, now teaches grades pre-K through fifth. (In 1952, Kaye recorded the school’s fight song, “Good Old 149,” as part of a medley with “I Belong to Glasgow” and “Tchaikovsky.”)

Danny's elementary school, PS 149, has been renamed in his honor.

Danny's home from adolescence through adulthood, at 350 Bradford St. in Brooklyn.

(3) Danny’s Longtime Home: 350 Bradford St., Brooklyn, NY
From the early 1920s through the late 1930s, Kaye listed his home address as 350 Bradford Street. The lease was in his father, Jacob Kaminsky’s, name. But since Danny was an itinerant show business performer, he “moved out” dozens of times, only to keep returning to Poppa until Danny married Sylvia Fine at age 29. The snug two-story brownstone, built in 1901, survives to this day.

Danny's home from adolescence through young adulthood, at 350 Bradford Street in Brooklyn, still stands.

(4) Danny’s High School: 400 Pennsylvania Ave., Brooklyn, NY

Thomas Jefferson High School was just a few years old when Danny enrolled. He dropped out shortly before graduation to pursue a show biz career. In 2007, the school was closed due to poor performance and the campus was given over to four smaller, specialized schools (performing arts/technology, nursing, civil rights, fire/life safety).

Danny's high school, Thomas Jefferson High School, is now four vocational schools in one.

(5) Danny’s Catskills Resort: White Roe Lake Rd., Livingston Manor, NY
In 1929 at age 18, Danny was hired as a “tummler” at the White Roe Lake House in the Catskill Mountains. Meyer Weiner had purchased the property in 1919 from Emory Keene, who had been operating it as a farm and boarding house. Weiner transformed it into a summer camp for young Jewish singles. Kaye was among the hired hands who made sure all the guests were constantly entertained, so they wouldn’t want to check out.
The main house offered lodging (with overflow guests and staff living out of tents), plus courts for tennis, basketball and handball, a baseball diamond, riding stables, boathouse, and private lake, three-quarters of a mile long, for swimming and boating. In all, Danny would spend six summers at White Roe, but brand new during his first was a gorgeous two-story Social Hall down by the lake. Topped by a gabled roof and faced with wood shingles and white trim, the elegant structure featured a recreation hall on the main floor, as well as an auditorium with a professionally equipped, 50-foot-wide stage. Every night it would come alive with dancing to a live orchestra or a stage production.
White Roe Lake continued as a Jewish singles resort through the 1950s. In the 1960s, the Weiners sold the property to the Hebrew Institute of Long Island, to use as a youth retreat called Camp HiLi International. The site was later purchased for a private residence, by a party who tore down all structures from Kaye’s days. Only a couple of reminders survive: an abandoned concrete pad where the tennis courts once sat and the entry road running the near-identical dogleg path that it always has, ending at the former site of that glorious Social Hall. In the exact spot sits a modern residence featuring a similar gabled roof.

White Roe Lake, Danny's first show biz home. The first real stage he ever appeared on was in the Social Hall (lower left).

Danny (back row, second from right), his arm around his mentor Nat Lichtman, with his 1935 castmates in front of White Roe's Social Hall.

All buildings have been torn down along White Roe Lake to make room for a private residence built on the site of the old Social Hall.

Next Time: In Part II, our travels will take us to five more historic Danny Kaye landmarks in New York.