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 Two Sets of Screen Tests

Producer Sam Goldwyn wanted to make sure Danny (and one particular Goldwyn Girl) were ready for their close-ups before filming started on Up in Arms.

Soon after signing his five-picture deal with Sam Goldwyn to come to Hollywood, Danny Kaye agreed to report to the studio a year early—in August 1942, during the summer hiatus of his hit Broadway show, Let’s Face It—to make a series of screen tests. Those tests, which resulted in Goldwyn bleaching Danny’s hair blond and almost forcing him to undergo plastic surgery on his nose, are covered in my book, Danny Kaye: King of Jesters.

But what I did not mention is that Goldwyn later had Kaye undergo a second series of screen tests before he would allow the cameras to officially begin rolling on his first movie, Up in Arms.

After Let’s Face It closed in the spring of 1943, Kaye relocated to Hollywood to begin preparing for his first feature film role. He was originally supposed to star alongside a Broadway revue performer, Virginia Mayo, but Kaye’s wife, Sylvia, protested. Goldwyn agreed to consider casting another unknown, Constance Dowling, in her place and relegating Mayo, for this one picture, to featured “Goldwyn Girl.” Mayo then would be promoted to co-star for Danny’s four remaining films.

Goldwyn insisted, however, that Mayo be included in the stars’ color tests, which were filmed to sync the Technicolor and to make sure all the leads looked and sounded perfect.

Principal photography was set to begin June 21, 1943. On May 10, the studio produced Color Test A with Kaye, Mayo, Dowling, Dinah Shore, and Dana Andrews running through lines inside a hospital room.

On May 20, under the supervision of director Elliott Nugent, they filmed Test B on the dock and inside Dr. Hamiliton’s office. This time, only Kaye, Mayo and Andrews were needed. No Dowling.

And on June 14, Color Test C featured Kaye, Mayo, Dowling, Shore and Lenore Aubert.

The next several days included make-up tests, wardrobe tests, dialogue rehearsals, and posing for color stills. For all of them, Goldwyn made sure Kaye was joined by Mayo—providing her with perhaps one of the most exhaustive preparations for a bit part in movie history.