where is the text for Danny Kaye's "nonsense" speech in the 1950's to
the United Nations?

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 05 Jul 2003 22:29 PDT

Where did you hear or read that he had made such a speech?  As angy-ga
noted, there are many references to his work for UNICEF, but none that
I can find about a speech to the UN.  It's entirely possible that he
made such a speech, but it isn't common knowledge.  So describing your
source for this information might assist in our research.

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Clarification of Question by dannykaye-ga on 06 Jul 2003 05:41 PDT

I heard about this speech while doing research on interpreters, then I
actually saw it on tv while channel surfing.  It was near the end of a
documentary and was maybe 5 years ago - although the show could have
been made long before that.

The documentary was either about Danny Kaye or, more likely, the UN or
interpreters.  I found the Biography/American Masters of Danny Kaye
but it does not include the speech (although it does mention his work
with UNICEF and shows a video of him at a UN podium speaking without
audio).

The video clip I saw/heard shows Danny Kaye speaking (I think) in the
main hall.  All the ambassadors are listening.  He speaks with so many
platitudes and conjuctive phrases (in so forth as...the people speak
and we hear...to the best of our ability...the nations gather...etc.
type of thing) that it takes the ambassadors a while to figure out
that what he's saying makes no sense and that he's doing it on
purpose.  It really is a perfect send up and finally everyone's
laughing - he may have continued to make a "real" speech but I don't
remember if that was on the video.

It was not unlike his french performance that angry.ga mentioned, but
it was not staged.  The ambassador's reactions are fascinating.  It's
known as an interpreters nightmare and a joke that hit close to the
bone of the beaurocrats speechifying.

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Clarification of Question by dannykaye-ga on 29 Jul 2003 19:23 PDT

any further information needed?

I cannot find any actual speech to the UN, although there are many
references to his time as the first UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in
1954.

http://www.angelfire.com/film/dannykaye/DannyKaye_biography.htm

http://www.unicef.org/about/timeline.html


Perhaps you are thinking of the sketch referred to here:

http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/JCGD_Volume_4/Synthetic_Creations.html

(The research)..."...reminds me of that hilarious Danny Kaye routine
in which he stands up to make a speech at a diplomatic banquet and
speaks "synthetic French", stringing together nonsense French-sounding
syllables with excited gestures, strong intonation and deep feeling?"