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His most famous scat skit is Melody in 4-F, the gaga saga of a G.I. which made the musicomedy Let's Face It famous. In this, while triple-tonguing his "de-geet gat giddle," Kaye mimicked an inductee pleading for deferment because of bad ears, flat feet, ulcers, decayed teeth; took him into training with a few key words like "Shad-ap!" (indicating a tough top sergeant) or "hut, tut, t'ree, fo" (for long marches). But mostly it was all "riddle-de biddle, de reep."
Dickery by Dock. Danny's repertory is filled with tongue twisters. In Lady in the Dark, his perfect diction and voice control wowed Broadway as he rattled off the names of 50 Russian composers in Ira Gershwin's lyric for Tschaikowsky, singing in 40 seconds:
There's Malichevsky, Rubinstein, Arensky and Tschaikowsky,
Sapelnikoff, Dimitrieff, Tscherepnin, Kryjanowsky,
Godowsky, Arteiboucheff, Moniuszko, Akimenko,
Solovieff, Prokofieff, Tiomkin, Korestchenko.
There's Glinka, Winkler, Bortniansky, Rebikoff, Ilyinsky;
There's Medtner, Balakireff, Zolotareff and Kvoschinsky ;
And Sokoloff and Kopyloff, Dukelsky and Klenofsky;
And Shostakovitsch, Borodine, Gliere and Nowakofski.
There's Liadoff and Karganoff, Markievitch, Pantschenko ;
And Dargomyzski, Stcherbatcheff, Scriabine, Vassilenko;
Stravinsky, Rimskykorsakoff, Mussorgsky and Gretchaninoff ;
And Glazounoff and Caesar Ciu, Kalinikoff, Rachmaninoff.*
Needless to say, he has a phenomenal memory. He learned Tschaikowsky in one afternoon. In the cinemusicomedy Up In Arms, he made the final, complete burlesque of movie screen credits, in the verses of Lobby Song written for him by his wife, Sylvia. In telling the story of an imaginary movie, Danny sang, in split-second fashion, gradually increasing his tempo:
Screenplay by Motz,
From a stageplay by Gluck,
From a story by Blip,
From a chapter by Ronk,
From a sentence by Dokes,
From a comma by Stokes,
From an idea by Grokes,
Based on Joe Miller's jokes.
Art direction, Finklepuff,
Interiors, Minerva Buff,
Photography, Alonzo Tek,
Recorded sound, Ozneedle Beck,
Upholstery by Zachary,
Knickknackery by Thackery,
Terpsichore by Dickery,
And Dickery by Dock.
Even when he goes in for dialectal ditties, much of the Kaye piquancy depends upon rapid enunciation. In Babbitt and the Bromide, he summarizes a meeting of two "solid citizens" with: "Hello," "How are you?" "Howza folks?" "What's new?" "I'm great." "That's good." "Ha, ha." "Knock wood."
The Perfect Figaro. These vocal varieties call for a versatile voice. Danny has it. It is a high baritone, with a two-octave range. He can impersonate an Italian baritone, bleat like an Irish tenor, mimic a coloratura soprano (almost reaching high C) or plead like a Slavic gypsy singer with basso profundo and schmalz.
Since Danny Kaye's comic talent has begun to be taken seriously, he has been made the target of some surprising statements and offers. Pianist Artur Rubinstein said: "I feel most often about him what everyone else felt about Chaplin.