It took television to make superstars of Ball, Skelton and the Stooges.ĭanny Kaye came from the same era and showbiz background as did Imogene Coca, Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason and Larry Storch: playing in nightclubs and small ‘intimate’ stage revues like those produced by Max Liebman before Liebman adapted revue comedy for television with his weekly 1950s weekly Your Show of Shows by bringing Caesar, Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris to a national audience.ĭanny was among the more professionally fortunate of comedians: his wife and partner, Sylvia Fine, was a master lyricist. Kaye never ranked among the top 10 box office champions, as did his contemporaries Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Mickey Rooney and Martin & Lewis-but, then, The Three Stooges, Lucille Ball or Red Skelton were not major box-office lures.
#Danny kaye the court jester movie
Even at his height of movie popularity, Mr. It is difficult to say how audiences of the 21st century regard Danny Kaye, because his name is usually absent from the roster in review. For the past 50 years, however, Keaton has been considered their equal or the superior talent. Buster Keaton was far less popular in the silent era that Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin or Roscoe Arbuckle. Villainy was the life’s work of duplicitous Cecil Parker and dastardly Basil Rathbone, while comely damsels Angela Lansbury and Glynis Johns longed for love and rescue.īeing a big comedy star during one’s lifetime is a faulty predictor of how subsequent generations will react to a comedian. The Court Jester intentionally mimicked the real thing, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood. By adding musical numbers and replacing romantic heroes with musical clowns played by Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, The Ritz Brothers or Danny Kaye, the writers mixed gags with derring-do. Clever screenwriters understood that action adventures and physical comedies both relied on a pulsing pace. Written and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, it’s spoof of what we, as kids, used to call ‘sword pictures,’ adventures that usually starred athletic leading men like Errol Flynn, Richard Greene, Tyrone Power, Cornel Wilde or Louis Hayward. Many critics regard The Court Jester as Danny Kaye’s finest film.
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