Great Comedians of the Past

[Guest fountainhall]

This has nothing to do with Thailand nor even being gay. But I found this clip when checking the Victor Borge You Tube vdo I posted on another thread, and I think it is hilarious.

 

As a child, I remember Danny Kaye and his audio recording of a very funny piece called

[dapitt]

This is wonderful! Thanks so much for posting. I've never known about this part of Danny Kaye's work. Thanks!

[Guest lonelywombat]

I can still remember Danny Kaye in his famous movie, The Secret Life of LMTU.

 

They even named a disease after him

 

Walter Mitty was a meek, unassuming accountant who would daydream that he led an exciting, heroic life in order to escape his humdrum existence.

 

The fictional character appeared in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1941), written by the American humorist and artist James Thurber (1894-1961).

 

The story was popularised in 1947 when Danny Kaye took on the role in the Hollywood film of the same name, also starring Boris Karloff and Viriginia Mayo. Steven Spielberg is expected to remake the film with Jim Carrey next year.

 

In Thurber's 2000-word story, which takes place over a single day, we first meet the henpecked Mr Mitty as he is driving his wife to town for a shopping trip, while dreaming that he is a Navy pilot flying through the worst storms in 20 years.

 

The mundane events of the day are punctuated by a series of daydreams in which Mitty also fantasises that he is a famous surgeon, notorious murderer on trial for his life and a wartime general.

 

In the final daydream, he faces a firing squad alone without a blindfold, enigmatically smoking a cigarette.

 

The character has become a subject of fascination since the story's publication, even prompting an article in a British medical journal suggesting "Walter Mitty Syndrome" might be a clinical condition that manifested itself in compulsive fantasising.

 

 

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/article857838.ece

 

 

 

[Gaybutton]

I always loved Danny Kaye. Another great comedian, my personal favorite, was Jack Benny, especially when he would get together with Mel Blanc:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ6-y_aMLhw

[Guest fountainhall]

That vdo is classic! Jack Benny was one of the greats. I always thought his mannerisms were quite gay - although perhaps not regarded as such in his day. Interestingly, he was also passionately fond of classical music and frequently 'tried' to play his violin on his shows. In fact, he was a very fine violinist and that violin was a Stradivarius instrument which he bequeathed to the Los Angeles Philharmonic after his death. Only about 500 of these amazing instruments still exist and many are named after famous people who once played or owned them. Appropriately, Jack's is now known as the 'Jack Benny' Stradivarius.

 

Meanness was one of his calculated traits. He once announced proudly that it was valued at over ten thousand dollars (nowadays it would be worth well over US$2 million). It was a setup for a joke, of course, but before he could get out the punchline, a guy in the audience yelled out “Didya buy it new?” Jack said it was one of the few times a heckler ever made him laugh out loud.

 

His daughter Joan told a great story about her father.

 

My father was a very good friend of Harry Truman, when Harry Truman was in the White House. And my father went to visit him. And they used to play duets, cause Truman played the piano. And they loved to play duets together. So my father goes to the White House, and he’s carrying his violin case, and he gets there, and the guard – security, of course, says, “Mr. Benny, I hate to ask you this but I have to. What are you carrying in that case? And my father to be funny said, “a machine gun.” And the guard said, “Oh thank God, I thought it might be your violin.”

[Guest fountainhall]

Peter Ustinov has to be on the list. Playwright, actor, stage designer, opera director, musician, raconteur, comedian (and frequent visitor to Bangkok) - you name it, he probably did it, always in his own unique way.

 

This is a short early clip that is rather appropriate in view of the long post I made earlier on “The King’s Speech” thread. He is telling the story of a 1938 royal gala performance of the ballet “Sleeping Beauty” attended by George VI’s mother, the dowager Queen Mary, and her retinue of mostly German ladies. Ustinov’s mother, who was part-Russian, was the set designer, and he tells of Queen Mary meeting the conductor, choreographer and his mother after the show.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REnwcJBBv68

[Jason1988]

Jack Benny did have mannerisms that were gay. In fact, he started the rumor that he was gay for publicity purposes. He has to be one of the funniest people ever. Those facial expressions were what made me laugh. And he didn't look a day over 39!