Comedian Danny Kaye had become a Broadway star in a supporting role in the musical Lady in the Dark (1939), stealing the show with a fiendishly clever patter song, "Tchaikovsky," written by his wife, composer-lyricist Sylvia Fine. In 1943, Kaye was signed to a movie contract by Samuel Goldwyn, and made his feature film debut in Up in Arms (1944). It was a huge hit, as was his next film, Wonder Man (1945). By the time he made his third starring vehicle, The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), Kaye's movie persona was set, as the hapless innocent who gets caught up in outrageous or challenging situations. Based on a 1936 Harold Lloyd film, The Milky Way, The Kid from Brooklyn has Kaye portraying a meek milkman who accidentally becomes a prizefighter and the victim of a crooked promoter.

Kaye's two co-stars in The Kid from Brooklyn had also appeared in Wonder Man -- Virginia Mayo as his leading lady, and Broadway dancer Vera-Ellen, making her film debut. Mayo had also had a bit part in Up in Arms, and would co-star with Kaye in two more films, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and A Song Is Born (1948). Vera-Ellen would be Kaye's leading lady in one of his most beloved films, White Christmas (1954).

Kaye's real-life leading lady, Sylvia Fine, was, as always, a key contributor to Kaye's work in The Kid from Brooklyn. The couple had met at a Catskills resort and married in 1940, and she wrote special material for Kaye's shows and films throughout his career. Critics complained that Fine's song, "Pavlova," reminiscent of "Tchaikovsky," really didn't belong in The Kid from Brooklyn, but the style was pure Kaye, and audiences loved it. The marriage, however, seemed to be going through a rough patch during the filming of The Kid from Brooklyn. Kaye was rumored to be having an affair with Eve Arden, who was a regular on his radio show and was also in the cast of the film as the villain's girlfriend. But Kaye and Fine apparently weathered the storm, and Fine gave birth to the couple's only child, daughter Dena, in December of 1946.

Kaye had begun his weekly, half-hour CBS radio show in 1945, after finishing Wonder Man, and before starting The Kid from Brooklyn. The producer and writers, veterans of Jack Benny's radio show, followed the same formula of that show, basing it on the public persona of the star. But Kaye's humor, unlike Benny's, was visual rather than verbal. Kaye was not a "comedian," who told jokes. His humor was in his behavior, his manner, and his facial and physical expressiveness. It was humor that needed to be seen, as well as heard, and Kaye was at his best when taking cues from his audiences. As a result, the radio show was not very successful, and was cancelled after a year.

Kaye was not particularly disappointed by the cancellation. To promote The Kid from Brooklyn, he had embarked on a national tour of live performances, which were not only more creatively satisfying than the radio show, but more lucrative as well. With a salary plus a percentage of the gross, Kaye was making about $40,000 a week from the shows, a huge sum in 1946. Audiences loved him, and loved The Kid from Brooklyn. Some critics praised Kaye's performance, comparing his movements in the fight scenes to Chaplin's classic fight sequences. Bosley Crowther in the New York Times noted Kaye's "nimble and complicated grace." But there were just as many reviewers who didn't like Kaye. Even so, their negative comments didn't hurt the box office. Danny Kaye was well on his way to becoming one of the most beloved American entertainers. His next film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, would be one of his best, and would cement his position as a box-office attraction.

Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn
Screenplay: Don Hartman, Melville Shavelson, from a play by Frank Butler, Harry Clork, Richard Connell, Grover Jones, Lynn Root
Cinematography: Gregg Toland
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Costume Design: Miles White, Jean Louis
Art Direction: Perry Ferguson, Stewart Chaney
Music: songs by Sylvia Fine & Max Liebman; Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn
Cast: Danny Kaye (Burleigh Sullivan), Virginia Mayo (Polly Pringle), Vera-Ellen (Susie Sullivan), Steve Cochran (Speed McFarlane), Eve Arden (Ann Westley), Walter Abel (Gabby Sloane), Lionel Stander (Spider Schultz), Fay Bainter (Mrs. E. Winthrop LeMoyne).
C-113m.

by Margarita Landazuri