Fine, Sylvia

Sylvia Fine Kaye (1913-1987), the Brooklyn-born composer and lyricist, the daughter of a dentist, attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Her love of music developed at an early age: by the age of eleven, she was writing parodies of both pop songs and Gilbert and Sullivan for family parties. At Brooklyn College (class of '33), she majored in music. Ms. Fine sold her first song for $25.00 to a nightclub singer. She also wrote poems for the Brooklyn newspaper Spotlight bettween 1930 and 1933 under the heading of "Embryonuts, Music and Barking Doggerel". Ms. Fine began her career by performing skits at summer camp, where she met other entertainers like Imogene Coca and Danny Kaye,. She wrote a Yiddish version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado" especially for Mr. Kaye. The two were married in 1940 and she continued to write songs, but nearly exclusively for her husband-more than 100 songs during a forty year period. In addition, Ms. Kaye wrote the original college song for her alma mater, Brooklyn College, in 1933 (with lyrics by Robert Friend) as well as the rewritten lyrics for that original (viewed as "un-sing-able" by many) in the 1980s. She renamed it: On a Field in Flatbush. In the 1970's Sylvia Fine Kaye became a television producer and teacher. She taught musical comedy at the University of Southern California in 1971 and at Yale in 1975. She won a Peabody Award for her production (and narration) of a ninety-minute special on PBS titled "Musical Comedy Tonight". In 1975, she was executive producer for the television special, "Danny Kaye: Look in at the Met". She produced and edited "Assignment Children", a UNICEF film that starred her husband. Brooklyn Collge awarded Sylvia Fine Kaye an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1985. She endowed the Sylvia Fine Chair in Musical Theater at her alma mater and financed the restoration of the 684 seat Playhouse at Hunter College. During her final years, Mrs. Kaye devoted much of her time to writing about life with her husband, "Fine and Danny". She was also writing a catalogue of show business material that she and her husband donated to the Library of Congress. Sylvia Fine Kaye died in 1987 at the age of 74 leaving behind a daughter Dina, a magazine and television journalist.

From the description of The Papers of Sylvia Fine Kaye, 1930, 198? (Brooklyn College). WorldCat record id: 436869654

Lyricist.

Brooklyn College alumna.

From the description of Musical manuscripts, [ca.1930] (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155453589

Biographical Note

• 1913, Jan. 18: David Daniel Kaminiski born, Brooklyn, New York First native-born American and youngest of three sons born to Clara and Jacob Kaminiski, both originally from the Ukraine
• 1913, Aug. 29: Sylvia Fine born, Brooklyn, New York One of three children born to Bessie and Dr. Samuel Fine, a dentist
• 1919: Fine began piano lessons
• 1923: Fine began studying harmony and musical theory Fine developed a fear of performing in front of large audiences; she became interested in writing and composing
• circa 1925: Dr. Samuel Fine employed twelve-year-old David Daniel Kaminiski for a short period David and Sylvia met briefly
• 1928: Fine, an excellent student, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School Fine enrolled in Hunter College (later known as Brooklyn College) to study music
• 1929: David took stage name of "Danny Kaye" Kaye began performing as a tummler at the White Roe Lake summer resort in the Catskill Mountains in New York. As such, he performed as a jester doing comedy, singing, and other entertainments between acts
• 1933: Kaye toured the Far East with dance group Three Terpischoreans Kaye began to craft his double-talk, babbling, and dialect routines Having no formal training as an actor, dancer, comedian, or singer, Kaye worked to enhance his natural abilities as a performer and entertainer
• 1937: Educational Pictures signed Kaye to appear in two-reel comedies Kaye appeared in three short films which were shown between features
• 1939: Kaye and Fine met again while working on a Max Liebman production that failed Liebman hired Fine to write specialty material for Tamiment, a summer camp in Pennsylvania Kaye was hired to work at Tamiment due to Fine's influence Fine wrote the Yiddish version of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Stanislavsky," and "Pavlowa," along with other material for Kaye, which were featured in Liebman's Broadway show, The Straw Hat Revue
• 1940, Jan. 13: Kaye and Fine married in a civil ceremony, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• 1940, Feb. 22: Kaye and Fine married again in a formal wedding ceremony with family present
• 1940: Kaye performed Fine's material, including "Anatole of Paris," at Manhattan nightclub La Martinique
• 1941, Jan. 23: Kaye performed in Moss Hart's Lady in the Dark, in which he sang "Tschaikowsky," which was written by Ira Gershwin and Moss Hart
• 1941, Oct. 29: Kaye performed in Cole Porter's Let's Face It, in which he sang "A Melody in 4F" by Fine and Liebman
• 1943, Mar. 1: Fine helped negotiate a five-year movie contract for Kaye with Samuel Goldwyn
• 1943: Kaye legally changed his name to Danny Kaye
• 1944 Feb.: Kaye starred in first feature film, Up in Arms, which included Fine and Liebman's "The Lobby Number" and "Melody in 4F"
• 1945: Kaye appeared in second feature film, Wonder Man, in which he exhibited his natural dance abilities while performing Fine's number "Bali Boogie"
• 1945 - 1946 : CBS radio program The Danny Kaye Show aired (it was subtitled "Pabst Blue Ribbon Time")
• 1946, Dec. 17: Daughter Dena born (Kaye and Fine's only child)
• 1946: The Kid from Brooklyn was released; in the film, Kaye performed "Pavlowa" by Fine Kaye began performance tour in the United States between filming movies
• 1947: Kaye starred in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which featured musical numbers by Fine, including "Anatole of Paris" and "A New Symphony for Unstrung Tongue" Kaye's first album released; it included "Deenah," "Minnie the Moocher," and Fine's "Anatole of Paris"
• 1948: A Song is Born featuring Kaye with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Lionel Hampton was released; it was not considered a success at the box office and was the first film in which Kaye did not perform Fine's material Kaye toured Europe, to great acclaim
• 1949: Kaye starred in Inspector General, his first Warner Brothers film; Fine's contributions to the film included "The Gypsy Drinking Song" and "Soliloquy for Three Heads" After Inspector General flopped, the Kayes ended their contract with Warner Brothers and signed with 20th Century-Fox
• 1950: Kaye starred in On the Riviera, a 20th Century-Fox release, which included four songs by Fine; Gwen Verdon was featured as a lead dancer and served as assistant choreographer to Jack Cole
• 1952: Kaye starred in Hans Christian Andersen, a Goldwyn Studios production
• 1953: Kaye performed at the Palace Theatre on Broadway, to great acclaim
• 1954: Kaye named Ambassador-at-Large for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Kaye's international visits with underprivileged children are documented in the UNICEF film Assignment: Children Kaye co-starred with Bing Crosby in White Christmas
• 1955: Kaye presented with special Academy Award for his humanitarian efforts
• 1956: Kaye performed Fine's material in the movie The Court Jester The Secret Life of Danny Kaye, a film documenting Kaye's work for UNICEF, aired on CBS
• 1957: Kaye starred in Merry Andrew
• 1958: Kaye's film Me and the Colonel was released by Columbia Pictures
• 1959: Kaye starred in The Five Pennies featuring music by Fine, including "Lullaby in Ragtime"
• 1960: Kaye performed at The Desert Inn in Las Vegas Kaye starred in and Fine produced his first television special, An Evening with Danny Kaye
• 1961: Kaye made On the Double Kaye starred in his second television special
• 1962: Kaye starred in The Man from the Diner's Club Kaye starred in his third television special
• 1963 - 1967 : Kaye's weekly variety television series, The Danny Kaye Show, aired on CBS
• 1969: Kaye was featured in the film The Madwoman of Chaillot
• 1970: Kaye starred in the Richard Rodgers stage musical Two by Two
• 1971 - 1973 : Kaye co-starred in the television musicals Peter Pan, Peter Cottontail, and Pinocchio Kaye embarked on a UNICEF tour of the United States Fine taught musical comedy, University of Southern California
• 1974: Kaye's Look-In at the Metropolitan Opera was televised and won an Emmy Award
• 1975: Fine began her lecture series on musical comedy at Yale University
• 1979: Fine's Musical Comedy Tonight, based on her lecture series, was broadcast on PBS
• 1981: Kaye appeared in Fine's Musical Comedy Tonight II Kaye starred in the television movie Skokie
• 1982: Kaye received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards
• 1984: Kaye received the Kennedy Center Honor, along with Lena Horne, Isaac Stern, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Arthur Miller
• 1987, Mar. 2: Kaye died, Los Angeles, Calif.
• 1991, Oct. 29: Fine died, New York City

From the guide to the Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection, 1893-1988, 1924-1968, (Music Division Library of Congress)