The Danny Kaye Show

The Danny Kaye Show was an American variety show, hosted by the stage and screen star Danny Kaye, which aired on Wednesday nights from September 25, 1963, to June 7, 1967, on the CBS television network. Directed by Robert Scheerer, it premiered in black-and-white. It switched to color broadcasts in the fall of 1965. At the time, Kaye was at the height of his popularity. He starred in a string of successful 1940s and 1950s musical comedy features, made numerous personal appearances at venues such as the London Palladium, and his rare selective visits to the small screen were considered major events. With his recent motion pictures considered disappointments, three triumphant early 1960s television specials led the way to this series. Prior to his film and television career, Kaye had made a name for himself with his own radio show, also titled The Danny Kaye Show. He made numerous guest appearances on other comedy and variety radio shows and headlined in several major Broadway musical revues throughout the 1940s. History With the start of the 1963–64 television season at hand, James T. Aubrey, then president and board head of the CBS network, firmly believed he had scored a major coup by signing Judy Garland and Danny Kaye to headline their own variety shows. Kaye's program was originally slated to air on Sunday nights at 9:00 pm (EST) following The Ed Sullivan Show. However, that particular time slot was swiftly becoming known as a graveyard slot with NBC's top-rated western Bonanza also shown at that hour. CBS offered Kaye the Sunday 9:00 pm slot and he flatly refused. As a result, the network placed Kaye's show on Wednesday nights at 10:00 pm (replacing the alternating The United States Steel Hour and Armstrong Circle Theatre drama anthologies), and gave the Sunday 9:00 pm slot to Garland. Synopsis The Danny Kaye Show followed the usual variety-show format, with an emphasis on comedy (Danny became the weekly equivalent of Sid Caesar and Carol Burnett), and was one of many variety shows that filled television schedules between 1948 and 1973, when the format had its heyday. Consultant Larry Gelbart worked with producer Perry Lafferty, a veteran of several recent Arthur Godfrey specials, in formulating the basic framework for the show months before it began production.