For hundreds of years, aristocrats would hire an entertainer, known as a "fool", and later, in the Tudor period of the middle 1500s, a "jester." According to England's Royal Shakespeare Company, the jester's job was to be a pet or a mascot, who "served not simply to amuse but to criticize their master or mistress and their guests." A jester was a storyteller, an acrobat, a juggler, a singer and a musician. In 1956, there was no one in Hollywood who could have played a court jester better than the multi-talented Danny Kaye.

The Star

Danny Kaye was born David Daniel Kaminski in Brooklyn, New York on January 18, 1913. By the time he was 13, he had dropped out of school to get into show business, but his first attempt was a failure. He tried several jobs ranging from soda jerk to insurance salesman before finding work as a comedian in the Catskill Mountains at various Jewish resorts, known as "The Borscht Belt."

After a stint in vaudeville, he got a small part in a 1939 Broadway show, which lead to his breakthrough role in the 1941 musical Lady in the Dark. Kaye sang a comedy song by Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill called Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians), in which he had to recite the names of fifty Russian composers in a short amount of time. The song stopped the show and made Kaye a star.

In 1944, he was signed to a contract by Samuel Goldwyn and made several musicals. He even had a CBS radio program for a time. During World War II, Kaye performed for the troops overseas in association with the U.S.O. After the war, his films continued to be popular until the late 1950s, a time when audience tastes were changing. Kaye switched to television with his own show, which ran from 1963-67, and afterwards he often made guest appearances on other programs.

Danny Kaye was also known for his humanitarian work. For decades, he was an ambassador for UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) and campaigned tirelessly for the charity, often traveling to remote areas and making short films on the need for donations to help sick children.

Danny Kaye died in Los Angeles of heart failure on March 3, 1987, following a long illness.

The Plot

The Court Jester is set during the Middle Ages, a time when the throne of England has been stolen from an infant king by the evil Roderick (Cecil Parker). The rebel leader known as The Black Fox (Edward Ashley) is the only one who can restore the rightful king to the throne, but to get inside the castle, he must find the key to a secret tunnel. While Roderick is on the throne, the baby king is cared for by members of the Black Fox's band, including Hubert Hawkins (Danny Kaye) and Maid Jean (Glynis Johns). When the band meets Giacomo, Roderick's evil court jester (John Carradine), they hatch a plot to have Hawkins pretend to be Giacomo. Once inside the castle, Hawkins must find the key and steer clear of Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone), the real power behind Roderick.