Scope and Content Note
The Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection documents the life and work of actor, singer, dancer, and comedian, Danny Kaye, and his wife, lyricist, composer, writer, lecturer, and producer, Sylvia Fine. It spans the period 1918-1992, with the bulk of the materials falling between 1946 and 1988, and includes manuscript and printed music, scripts, correspondence, business and financial papers, promotional and publicity materials, speeches, oral history transcripts, photographs and iconography, programs, posters, clippings, honors, and realia.
Although the collection is quite extensive, it is not comprehensive. Outgoing correspondence is scarce and there are few documents in Kaye's hand. There is little documentation of Kaye's early performing career with the Three Terpsichoreans, his New York nightclub work, or Kaye and Fine's Broadway activities in the 1940s. Kaye's recording career is similarly undocumented beyond several album covers and photographs of recording sessions. However, the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division holds a significant quantity of audiovisual materials related to Kaye's recording career.
Music, in the form of scores, parts, orchestral arrangements, and sheet music, comprises the bulk of the collection. Most of this material was used in Kaye's performance tours, movies, stage productions, television specials, and his television series, The Danny Kaye Show, or was created for his films. Included are Kaye's trademark songs such as "Tchaikovsky," "The Dodgers Song," "Minnie the Moocher," and "Ballin' the Jack," as well as many other titles that he performed throughout his career. Music for The John Gary Show (1966), a summer replacement series for The Danny Kaye Show and selections from An Evening with Danny Kaye concerts are in the collection as well.
The collection also includes music manuscripts, printed music, and lyric sheets for songs written by Fine (alone or with others, including Sammy Cahn, Sy Miller, Vic Schoen, and Ben Weisman). Among these are "Anatole of Paris," "Life Could Not Better Be," "Melody in 4F," "Lullaby in Ragtime," and the main title for The Man with the Golden Arm, which Fine wrote with Elmer Bernstein. A number of Fine's sketchbooks are also included, in addition to sketch materials for the unfinished musical, We're a Whole New Thing. Management of Fine's music rights is documented in the Dena Music Files.
Scripts in the collection largely consist of radio, television, and film scripts for productions in which Kaye performed. There are scripts for each Kaye film except A Song Is Born and for each episode of The Danny Kaye Show. Additionally, there are scripts for Kaye's first and third television specials (1960 and 1962) and Skokie (1981), along with those from the Rankin/Bass animated productions of Here Comes Peter Cottontail and The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye, live-action productions of Pinocchio and Peter Pan, and Danny Kaye's "Look-In" at the Met. Also included are scripts for the following: each episode for the summer series, The John Gary Show; episodes of several variety or dramatic series, such as The Twilight Zone, The Cosby Show, and standalone programs produced by Dena Pictures; each of the fifty episodes of Kaye's radio series, The Danny Kaye Show (1944-1946); and Richard Rodger's Two by Two and its source material, Clifford Odets' The Flowering Peach. Scripts for several Dena Pictures-produced programs are found in the Danny Kaye Productions subseries.
Kaye and Fine maintained two residences: their home in Beverly Hills, California, and an apartment in New York City. Personal staff managed their voluminous correspondence, telephone communications, and social schedules for each location. Kaye also relied upon staff of the William Morris Agency and later, Dena Pictures, to manage his professional correspondence and schedule. These circumstances are reflected in the collection arrangement. Most personal correspondence is found in the Correspondence series, while the Dena Pictures Files and the Danny Kaye Performance Files series contain business correspondence. Kaye's wide-ranging acquaintanceships and friendships are apparent through the telegrams and notes he received at the opening of stage performances, concerts, etc. and through his receipt of honors and awards.
The bulk of the personal correspondence is incoming letters and telegrams from family members, friends, business colleagues, and occasionally fans that reflect the various personal and professional interests of Kaye and Fine, including family, show business, politics, and social causes. Most true fan mail was not transferred with the collection; that which was is found in the files for the respective concert, film, play, stage performance, or television program with which it is associated. Birthday and Christmas greetings, get-well notes and cards, and condolence letters comprise the bulk of the correspondence, some of which contains additional printed material and photographs.
Kaye's many correspondents included members of the British, Danish, and Dutch royal families; political figures (Hubert Humphrey, Jacob Javits, Abraham Ribicoff, Leo Kolber, and Teddy Kolleck); baseball figures (Peter O'Malley, Walter Haas, Buzzie Bavasi, and Bowie Kuhn); musicians and conductors (Itzhak Perlman, James Levine, Henry Ellis Dickson, and Eugene Ormandy); fellow performers (Harvey Korman, Maurice Chevalier, and Laurence Olivier); and public figures (Katherine Graham, Henry Kissinger, and Eleanor Roosevelt). Personal friends with whom Kaye and Fine corresponded include Eli Wallach, Jack Benny, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Laurence Olivier, Olive Behrendt, Beverly Sills, Mary Lasker, Roddy McDowall, Frank McCarthy, Rupert Allan, Benay Venuta, Clifford Campion, Margot Fonteyn, Anne and Kirk Douglas, Cary and Barbara Grant, and Gregory and Veronique Peck. Kaye's cooking and Fine's parties also elicited thank you notes from guests, such as Henry Mancini, Ross Hunter, Dom DeLuise, Jack Lemmon, and George Will. Kaye also corresponded with fellow chefs James Beard, Maida Heatter, and Marion Cunningham.
Kaye and Fine's early careers (1940s-late 1950s) were closely intertwined. Fine wrote music for Kaye's films and stage performances, as well as negotiated contracts with film studios. During this period, the couple served as their own managers and sought the services of the William Morris Agency, especially Abe Lastvogel, as well as agents, lawyers, and promoters for professional, financial, and legal guidance, namely Bill Blowitz, Ed Dukoff, Robert McElwaine, Julius Lefkowitz, and Nyman Libson.
As Kaye's career grew more complex and his film appearances began to wane, he and Fine began to pursue separate interests. They ultimately created Dena Pictures as a corporate entity to manage Kaye's business activities. These included stage, film, and television performances and public service-related personal appearances, chiefly UNICEF and the USO. By 1957, Herb Bonis, Kaye's personal appearance road manager, had taken on the role of production head at Dena Pictures; he later served as vice president and general manager until Kaye's death. As a result, the Dena Pictures Files in the collection are effectively those of Bonis and Norman Sedawie, the head of program development for Dena Pictures.
The organization of the Business Papers series reflects these complex and fluid business arrangements. The Danny Kaye Performance Files span Kaye's entire career and capture all aspects of his public persona: stage performer, actor, conductor, and humanitarian. Materials are extensive and varied: programs, correspondence (including some fan mail), photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings document his stage and conducting appearances. However, there is little material detailing how Kaye conceived and executed these performances or how he created the An Evening with Danny Kaye program. The 1948, 1949, and 1955 London Palladium performances are particularly well-documented through photographs, clippings, and scrapbooks. Of special interest, too, is a detailed transcription of the 1949 performances created by a female London fan.
Correspondence concerning appearances and events, travel arrangements, photographs, and clippings document Kaye's public service. UNICEF activity and Kaye's work on behalf of the state of Israel comprise the bulk of the files, although Kaye's efforts to entertain United States troops via the USO and on his own are also well-documented. Additional information on these activities is found in the Photographs, Clippings, and Honors series. Materials from Kaye's film and television career beyond The Danny Kaye Show, including posters, production stills, clippings, and advertising materials are also located within the Danny Kaye Performance Files.
The Kaye/Fine Productions subseries reflects the couple's joint activities, while the Danny Kaye Productions subseries documents Kaye's stage, film, and television performances, public service activities, and other business ventures. This latter subseries contains files for Dena Music and Dena Pictures. Of these, the files pertaining to The Danny Kaye Show (1964-1967) are the most noteworthy. This variety show featured guests such as Lucille Ball, Gwen Verdon, Ella Fitzgerald, Caterina Valenti, Imogene Coca, Wayne Newton, Louis Armstrong, and other popular singers and dancers of the era performing in skits and musical numbers. Production and administrative materials for The Danny Kaye Show are located here, including contracts for production staff, cast members, and guest artists; foreign and domestic financial reports; and a sampling of paid bills covering costumes, contractors, office supplies, and professional services for seasons 2-4. Clippings document the critical reception of the show and various production matters. Scripts and music for each episode are located in their respective series. Press kits and production photographs for most of the episodes are located in the Photographs Series.
The Sylvia Fine Files document her diverse professional activities, including the productions of Music Comedy Tonight and her teaching career at Yale University and the University of Southern California. Materials from Fine's three-part Musical Comedy Tonight series (1979, 1981, and 1985) occupy their own extensive subseries among these files and include proposals, budgets, scripts for the three programs, photographs and slides, press material, business papers, posters, production documents, and research materials.
Personal and biographical information for Kaye and Fine consists of writings by and about each of them, a small quantity of financial records from the 1940s and 1950s, a set of subject files related to their domestic activities, and files about Kaye's interest in aviation, baseball, cooking, golf, and medicine. Appointment calendars, telephone lists, and address books provide additional information about daily activities. Personal staff maintained appointment calendars for both Kaye and Fine throughout their lives. Some contain information about New York and/or Beverly Hills events, while others capture more mundane activities. Dinner guests, travel schedules, and appointments are regularly recorded.
Kaye was photographed regularly throughout his career. The collection contains large quantities of professional head shots, as well thousands of candid shots from press coverage of stage, public service, and social events. Notable photographers include Lotte Meitner-Graf, Roddy McDowall, and Phillipe Halsman. Sylvia Fine and Dena Kaye also sat for portraits by McDowall, and Fine was photographed by John Enstead. There are also images from Kaye's early career with the Three Terpsichoreans and from his time at Camp Tamiment. The Fine Family (1918-1940s), including Sylvia, is mostly documented through snapshots. More formal images of Sylvia Fine are also present, as are candid and formal pictures of Dena Kaye (mainly through her teenage years).
In addition to photographic portraits, the collection contains numerous other representations of Kaye, such as cartoons, caricatures, and artistic renderings in pencil, oil, crayon, and other media. Artists include Al Hirschfeld, Jim Berry, Tony Rafty, Dong Kingman, and Ernest Hamlin Baker. A number of sketches capture Kaye performing. Editorial cartoons from England, France, and northern Europe provide an indication of Kaye's beloved reputation around the globe. Most of these are clippings, but there is one original Punch cartoon. Scrapbooks provide additional visual documentation of Kaye performing and his world travels for UNICEF. Trips to Moscow, northern Europe, south Asia, and South America are documented here, as are Kaye's performances at the London Palladium and other stages in England, Scotland, South Africa, and the United States.
Honors provide evidence of the esteem granted to Kaye for his humanitarian work, especially his contributions to UNICEF and the USO. Included in the collection are a selection of the awards: certificates, citations and proclamations, honorary degrees, and medals. Kaye's professional talents were recognized by his peers through Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody awards. Fine, too, received recognition for her professional endeavors, albeit on a smaller scale. A number of her honors, including an Emmy and Peabody award, are likewise in the collection. Correspondence and logistical materials related to Kaye's honors is located in the Danny Kaye Performance Files, with images in the Photographs series. Similar materials for Fine are located in the Sylvia Fine Files.
Realia items given to or saved by Danny Kaye include batons, an engraved walking stick from Harry Lauder (1949), Rossini scores from members of the London and New York Philharmonic orchestras, and UNICEF and USO mementos.
Audiovisual materials received as part of the collection are housed in the Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Included are recordings of radio appearances, commercial LPs and 78 rpm discs, acetate discs, audio tapes of Kaye's stage shows and other events, audio portions of television broadcasts in which Kaye appeared, and recordings of original works by Fine. Many of these items have been digitized. All 124 episode of The Danny Kaye Show are cataloged in the Library of Congress online catalog and are referenced in this finding aid by their catalog record number.