Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas this year. My sister V came up to visit, and we had such fun spending time with her. I'm glad that she got to spend some time with Lucy, especially since she is growing and changing so quickly (and to top it off, V was not up here for Thanksgiving last month, when the rest of my family was in town). I'm also glad that V got to be with Sam on Christmas, which is such an exciting day for him.

We had a nice Christmas morning with V and my in laws. This was the first year that we had Christmas in our own home, so we tried to do things that could potentially turn into traditions. We intended on just looking at our stockings before breakfast, but we ended up opening presents too, since my father-in-law had to go to work. For breakfast J made ninety-minute cinnamon rolls with some really amazing icing, and I think that we will continue to have these delicious rolls in the years to come.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. We also had fun today with some cousins in the area before V had to fly back home, but we were so busy visiting that I forgot to pull out my camera for pictures.

On Christmas Eve morning Sam and J went with the cub scouts to pass out breakfasts to the homeless people in Pioneer Square. I think this is a great tradition and I hope we continue it in the years to come. In this photo J and Sam are riding on the bus to Pioneer Square with Sam's friend Leo.

Christmas Eve

Lucy with Gram on Christmas morning!

When J was growing up, his parents would take a picture of each child with the gifts that they received. As an adult, J has enjoyed looking back at those pictures to remember his toys and people who gave him those gifts. He wanted to be sure that we started the same thing for Sam this year. So far, Sam has enjoyed playing with his Angry Birds Transformers telepods, the magformers, and the Pokemon cards.

 

Lucy's big present was a jumper toy. She loves it! She also got some gifts, but she was more excited about the wrapping paper and ribbons than what actually was wrapped inside!

Christmas breakfast with our crowns from our crackers (although Lucy is wearing a separate crown that was a gift from V). Lucy also tried solid food (rice cereal) for the first time on Christmas morning, which was fun. She has been really interested in eating food (and even would practice masticating her little jaws while she watched us eat), while helped me realize that she was ready for trying to eat something new.

 

 We went to Zoo Lights for the first time this year with V, and it was really fun. One of my favorite displays was of the giant octopus on top of the aquarium (you can see some of its tentacles on the far right side of this photo).

 Sam with his glowing light saber that he carried around Zoo Lights

We are wearing semi-matching outfits from my sister C

The Benefits of a Cough

Yesterday Sam stayed home from school, due to a hacking cough that not only was probably contagious, but would have been a big disturbance in a classroom setting. Otherwise, though, Sam felt fine and was quite cheerful about getting to spend the day at home. He decided that it would be the perfect opportunity for him to pretend to be a cyborg character like General Grevious (who coughs due to a flaw in his technology). It was cute to see him think about his horrible cough in a positive way.

Alphonse Mucha Girl

The other day, Lucy was a bit grumpy (she was in want of a good nap), so I decided to dress her up in a bright and cheerful-looking outfit from my grandma, with a little headband that my friend Joanna made and gave to Lucy. I don't like a lot of headbands that are made for little girls (especially those with huge flowers that look as big as a satellite dish), but I think Joanna makes some very cute ones.

I think I have flowers-in-hair on my mind lately too, because I seem to come across books and calendars with art by Alphonse Mucha wherever I look. It seems like Mucha is really trendy and hip right now. I actually really like the Art Nouveau aesthetic of his art: it's flowy and gauzy and classical (in a timeless, female-personification sort of way) and celebrates nature. Plus, the images of women with flowers decorating their hair remind me of representations of Ozma by J.R. Neill (like this one from The Lost Princess of Oz). I used to think Ozma was the most beautiful creature, and I still regret not having the idea to be her for Halloween until I was an adult. Now I'm too old to convincingly dress up as the girl ruler!

Anyhow, here is my little Lucy, dressed up in her girly, flowery outfit. Perhaps her hair is too wispy and her cheeks are a bit too roundy round to let her pass for a Mucha girl, but I like to think that she fits with the aesthetic in a roundabout way. Here she is paired with a detail of Amethyst (1900) from Mucha's The Precious Stones series:

We love this little girl, even on her grumpy-ish days. She usually greets everyone with a big smile, right from the moment that we pick her up from her crib in her morning. She brings us a lot of joy.

"The Grapevine Connection" and a Valley Girl

When I was in fourth grade, I was in a musical called The Grapevine Connection at my elementary school. I wanted to play the part of Abby, a valley girl. I remember when I auditioned for the part, I took off my headband and handed it to a friend, so that I would be able to use my hair more easily as a prop (in order to sweep my bangs away from my face when I said phrases such as, "Like, fer shurr!"). My music teacher Miss Kendall watched me take off my headband and she paid close attention to my audition. When I got the part, I was convinced at the time that removing my headband helped me secure the role.

I remember that there was a boy in our class named Zach Smith, who played the lead role as a nerd named Stanley. He played an excellent nerd and the whole class was cracking up when he auditioned for the part. Years later, I thought it was amusing that in high school Zach became one of the star quarterbacks of the football team as a freshman, and he was instantly catapulted into high society with the popular kids. I used to wonder if he was embarrassed about his role as a nerd in the elementary school play, when he hobnobbed with the elite in high school.

Anyhow, when I was in the play I had to sing a solo about Thomas Edison. The song, which discusses the invention of the light bulb, is set up in such a way so that it shows how Abby, the ditzy valley girl, is actually more intelligent than one might assume. I still remember the lyrics of the song, and for some reason the lyrics of the chorus came into my mind:

"A drifter, a dreamer,
He lit up the world,
And he did it incandescently."

However, when I was thinking about the song an these lyrics in my mind yesterday, I was surprised to realize that I didn't pronounce the word "incandescently" correctly in fourth grade. I stressed the incorrect syllable back then, singing the word as "in-CAN-dee-scent-ly" instead of "in-can-DEH-scent-ly." And now that I've realized this, I wonder why my music teacher didn't correct me on the pronunciation. Did she not notice? Or did she not know how to pronounce the word herself? Perhaps she thought it would be in character to have a valley girl mispronounce a tricky word that isn't normally part of a fourth grader's vocabulary? I will never know!

I can't find any video clips from this musical on YouTube, except for this performance of the chorus number "Way Back." This isn't my elementary school, but I think that my performance was about the same year (circa 1992).

Princess Idleways and Boredom

The other week I read The Princess Idleways: A Fairy Story (1879) by Mrs. W. J. Hayes. It is one of the classic stories that is available for a free Kindle download on Amazon. The story itself was entertaining enough, although I don't know that I would read the book over and over. The plot tended to meander quite a bit.

I have, though, been thinking about a point mentioned in the book. The story starts by explaining how the princess, Laura Idleways, is a selfish and lazy creature. I was particularly struck at the discussion of how the princess was "always depending upon others for entertainment, too lazy to amuse herself, and much less inclined to study or to find happiness in being useful." I had never thought about boredom as being connected to laziness before, and I appreciated this insight. When someone is bored, it is because they are too lazy to entertain or amuse themselves.

I can remember complaining to my mom at times when I was bored. She would give me suggestions of things to do, and I usually would reject each one as being too boring or unappealing. Now that I'm a mom, I am the one who offers Sam suggestions of things to do when he is bored, and he usually dismisses each idea for one reason or another. The other day, though, I was able to tell Sam about Princess Idleways and how her boredom was a result of being lazy. Sam seemed to really understand this idea; he could tell that at that moment he was depending on me to entertain him or find something to entertain him. Although, obviously, there are times when I want to play with Sam and be with him, I also want him to better cultivate the ability to entertain himself.

I'm happy to say that I never find myself bored as an adult. There are always more things to do than I have time for!

S Family Nicknames

Lucy's nicknames still continue to be "Snuggle Buggle," "Buggle," "Buggle Boo," and "Bug." I also call her "Lovey Lu" and "Lu." Sometimes I call her "Buh-Buh," because that is one of the sounds she makes right now.

Lucy's nicknames have made me think about some of the creative nicknames, silly titles, and silly phrases that my siblings had. Here are ones that I can remember:

• Viv
• Vivi
• Vivi Voo
• Vivi the Fusser
• Mah-da-ca
• Mah-ca-ca
• Mahn-ca
• Chef Boy Aldee
• Aldee Baldee Boo
• Alden Balden
• Aldoo
• John
• Milly (Mom said she thought of this one when she was reading Hamlet's Mill and thinking about Millstones)
• Milly Willy Huggy Hilly Lovey Lilly Silly Gilly
• Milly Moo
• My Little Angel (V would call my sister C this, which made my brother A upset. He would say, "She's not an angel. She's just C!"
• Liza
• Liza Bean
• Snugglebean
• Bean-A-Rama
• Liza Loo
• Looper Doo
• Looper
• Liza Looper
• Loopey Doo (a variant of Lovey Loo, which we also used)
• Favorite Sister of the Universe 
• Lize
• Eliza Lies a Lot (Not that this is true! We just liked to say it because "Lize" and "Lies" are homophones)
• Cal Pal
• Cal-Pal-A-Rama
• Pal
• Wernk
• Wernk-A-Chunk
• Wernky Wernk 
• Wernkalicious
• Schmoshem
• Schmosh
• Schmoosh
• Schmooshroom
• Schmoshy Schmoosh
• Snugglebum
• Pardner
• Lydia the Prettia
• Lyddie Loo 
• Lover Dove
• Snugglebug
• Lyddiebug
• Sweet Pea (I think just Dad used this)
• Peanut (just Dad used this one too)

If L grows up to be a grouchy old lady, maybe we will call her Lyddie the Old Biddie as a joke!

Lucy Laughs!

May this be the beginning of a long era in which Lucy finds entertainment and Sam has someone who constantly laughs at his silly antics.

What I Would Do

If I had a day or two to myself right now, I don't think I would spend it on a museum visit or anything else so frivolous. Right now I feel like life is manageable, but packed full of constant needs and activities. It would be nice to get caught up on things like, say, vacuuming. Sometimes I feel like folding one basket of laundry is a big triumph for the day. If I do have free time, this is what I will do over the next few weeks:

- Write my six-object tour for my docent class
- Finish reading "What Are You Looking At?" for my docent class
- Cut down the dead flowers and weed in the garden
- Mow the lawn one more time
- Go through Lucy's clothes and donate the ones that she has outgrown
- Memorize my Christmas choir music
- Transcribe my silly musical jingles into actual notation (this is a frivolity, but something I want to do soon)

I know that many of these things will happen at some point, because they have to happen. But I have higher priorities than what is on this list anyway, like helping my friend Meka with her soon-to-be-born baby (which will be so fun!). I know that in just a little over a month, this constantly-busy schedule will die down. I'm looking forward to some luxury time.

Lucy's Fourth Month

Lucy Loo is four months old! She is between the fiftieth and seventy-fifth percentile for her weight and head circumference, but she has jumped up to the ninetieth percentile for her height. Perhaps she will be a tall little girl, just like her B family relatives!

She is eating well and sleeping fairly well. I wish that there were more times that she would sleep through the night, but I'm trying to be patient. She still isn't laughing yet, but she does make an aspirate "k!" sound when she is amused or happy. Over the past four or five days, though, she has discovered that she can make loud, high pitched shrieks. She makes these when she is happy, or sad, or bored, so I don't think they have any inherent, specific meaning. We think she is just trying out her voice and seeing what noises she can make. But the shrieks are quite annoying, so I hope they end soon! I told J that I will only be glad about these shrieks if she ends up being an opera singer.

I get to look at this cute face while I prep for work.

She smiles the biggest and longest if Sam is behind the camera. She is mesmerized when she is around him, and always is happy whenever we pick him up from the school bus stop.

We had some warm days this past month, which gave Lucy the chance to explore and drool in the Moby.

Lucy's first piggy back ride on Sam's shoulders. It looks like she's taking advantage of the chance to inspect Sam's hair!

Apparently she likes to watch television. Here she is enjoying a few minutes of "Phineas and Ferb" with Sam. When I'm getting ready for work, Sam is really helpful at keeping Lucy happy and entertained.

I love her nicely-folded hands on top of the Bumbo in this picture. And I love her little boots, which were a gift from my cousins.

A jrink of water

Sam is learning how to spell. Each week his teacher is sending home spelling words that he is supposed to learn, so he can be prepared for the weekly test. So far, the words have been really easy (like short words that end in "-ag" or "-at"). But these exercises in spelling have gotten Sam to think about how more complex words are spelled. Tonight, after asking for a drink of water, Sam asked about how to spell "drink." This was our conversation:

Me: "D-r-i-n-k" spells "drink."
Sam: Oh, with a "d!" Like, "duh-rink?"
Me: Yes, with a "d."
Sam: I thought it was with a "j." Like "jrink."

I guess with the tendency to swallow and mispronounce consonants in American English, Sam mistook the "d" for a "j." And I think it's amusing that for the past several years of his life Sam has been asking for a "jrink" of water before going to bed each night, unbeknownst to me and J.

The Magic Pumpkin Sleeper: Round 2

Halloween jammies!

It's fun to have things come full circle, now that we have a baby in the home again. Almost exactly six years ago, I wrote a post about how Sam began to sleep through the night with the help of what we called his "Magic Pumpkin Sleeper." And now, since Lucy is about the same size that Sam was six years ago, she gets to wear the Magic Pumpkin Sleeper too. Perhaps it is helping her to sleep through the night a little, but she has been better sleeper than Sam all along. Lately we put her down to sleep around eight o'clock at night, and then I wake her up around ten or eleven for a final feeding before I go to bed. She has been sleeping somewhere between five and seven in the morning, which I think is pretty good!

I think Sam and Lucy look like they are related in these two photos, especially either their roundy-round heads and pointy chins. But they also look different too, especially in their noses. Sam also had darker eyes at this age than Lucy does right now, which makes me think that her eyes will stay blue. We will see!

To Feel Like An Idiot

This is a excerpt from email that I just wrote to a friend from graduate school:

I have to say that your email came at a timely moment; it saved me from feeling like a complete loser after I had just stepped out of a dinner with the other art history faculty members and some art historians who were visiting our campus. The visiting art historians were specialists in Renaissance and Baroque art, and in some ways it was really fun to talk to them. But they also were mentioning so many scholars in such a nonchalant way ("So-and-so's newest book on Caravaggio..." or "So-and-so who published in 'Art Forum' - he was was up for the open position at Yale last year") that I felt quite overwhelmed. I kept nodding my head like I knew what they were talking about or who they were talking about, but I really didn't. I left the dinner wondering if I really even knew that much about scholarship on the Baroque period, let alone art history as a discipline. And I also had to quickly jot down all of these names that I heard (like Lorenzo Pericolo, Todd Olson, and Stephen Greenblatt) so I can try and be more informed next time.

These professors, who obviously have to focus a lot on publication and scholarship as part of their careers, seem to have a totally, totally different profession than mine. It was really interesting to see these professors interact with my colleagues who are tenured. It almost felt like they were speaking another language.

Anyhow, it was an eye opening moment about how different my life would be if I had a PhD and was a tenure-track professor right now. It would be nice to not feel like an idiot in certain circles. But I also don't know if I'm ready or even want to do quasi-ritualistic dances with other professors which involve naming scholars and publications left and right.

Even though I feel like I have learned so much in the past few years, even since graduation, I guess it is a good to be reminded that I don't, in many ways, know much at all.

This evening as I've been thinking about my career and what I do as an art historian and instructor, I've felt comforted by looking at pictures of myself teaching in the classroom. These photos were taken about a year and a half ago. At least I look like I know what I'm doing in those images!

The Worst Hundred Books

 Last night I came across a copy of a letter that Oscar Wilde wrote to the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette in February 6, 1886. You can find a full copy of the letter online, but I want to highlight the paragraphs that I found the most amusing:

Books, I fancy, may be conveniently divided into three classes:-- 

1. Books to read, such as Cicero's Letters, Suetonius, Vasari's Lives of the Painters, the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Sir John Mandeville, Marco Polo, St. Simon's Memoirs, Mommsen, and (till we get a better one) Grote's History of Greece. 

 2. Books to re-read, such as Plato and Keats: in the sphere of poetry, the masters not the minstrels; in the sphere of philosophy, the seers not the savants.

3. Books not to read at all, such as Thomson's Seasons, Rogers's Italy, Paley's Evidences, all the Fathers except St. Augustine, all John Stuart Mill except the essay on Liberty, all Voltaire's plays without any exception, Butler's Analogy, Grant's Aristotle, Hume's England, Lewes's History of Philosophy, all argumentative books and all books that try to prove anything. 

The third class is by far the most important. To tell people what to read is, as a rule, either useless or harmful; for, the appreciation of literature is a question of temperament not of teaching; to Parnassus there is no primer and nothing that one can learn is ever worth learning. But to tell people what not to read is a very different matter, and I venture to recommend it as a mission to the University Extension Scheme. 

Indeed, it is one that is eminently needed in this age of ours, an age that reads so much, that it has no time to admire, and writes so much, that it has no time to think. Whoever will select out of the chaos of our modern curricula 'The Worst Hundred Books,' and publish a list of them, will confer on the rising generation a real and lasting benefit.

When I read this, I was pleased to see that I had already read many of the books that Wilde has on his "books to be read" list - although perhaps this makes me a bit of a nerd, since I actually put forth the energy to read things in a category that seems to be a place where one keeps their "good intentions" that don't come to fruition.

I was amused, though, at the thought of simply recommending that people not read books in printed reviews. I don't know if I have read enough horrible books to compile a list of "the worst hundred," but I do have a list of books or authors that I avoid. My latest addition would be Wuthering Heights. I would put the Master and Commander series on there (sorry Zillah!). I also didn't like The Dogs of Rome from the Commissario Alec Blume series, despite a recommendation from someone. I also haven't enjoyed what I've read by Terry Pratchett. And I avoid anything written by Stephanie Meyer or Dan Brown. I did read The Da Vinci Code, just to be informed with the hype, but that was plenty for me.

There are other books I could add to this list, simply as books that I avoid because others have recommended that I not read them. Madame Bovary would go on this list - I remember ixoj slogged through that book for some time and I've mentally decided to not undergo such torture. I have a horrible habit of needing to finish every book that I begin, even if I'm miserable the whole time I'm reading it from cover to cover. I don't think it's because I have a secret hope that such books will improve as I turn each page; I more so want to make sure that I'll be able to finish the book and cross it off my mental list of books that I've read. If I set the book down, then I can't truly say that I've read it, right?

What books do you avoid or recommend that someone not read?

Drawings by the Boys

Depending on who makes Sam's lunch in the morning, either J or I leave a little note for Sam. I started this tradition on his first day of kindergarten, and Sam really looks forward to it. If we ever forget to leave a note in his lunchbox, he lets me know the minute he walks off of his school bus at the end of the day.

Anyhow, I can't compete with the little drawings that J leaves for Sam. If Sam really likes a note, he saves it in his lunchbox and sticks it up on our refrigerator when he gets home. These are two notes that currently decorate our fridge (Sam especially got a kick out of how the "X-CELLENT" was a play off of the x-wing jet):

 

Speaking of drawings, I really liked this drawing of our family that Sam created at school last week. My favorite things are the hearts that Sam placed above his family members' heads, as well as how Lucy is swaddled in a blanket:

Lucy's Third Month

This is by far my favorite picture that we have taken of Lucy!

Lucy is now three months old. She is still smiling a lot and also does a happy little exclamations, although they aren't quite laughs yet. We aren't quite on a regular routine, but she does usually stay awake for an hour and a half between her nap times. The length of her naps is still unpredictable, though.

She is getting more interactive, which is really fun. She likes to make little coos and have "conversations" with us. I've also noticed that she sustains some of the tones of her coos a little bit longer when I sing to her, which makes me wonder if she is trying to sing with me. She coos the most when I sing a slow version of "Camptown Races" to her.

Sam also likes that Lucy is getting more interactive. This weekend, when Sam was pretending to be Iron Man, he decided to let Lucy "play" with him by assigning her the character of a villain which he invented: "The Black Baby." The Black Baby can shoot lasers when she sucks on her pacifier. She also has power to create earthquake shock waves when she cries. She uses me (I was also a villain) to "power up" with her energy (through nursing). Although we don't have any black clothes for Lucy to wear as a costume, we were able to envision her in all black while we played.

Here are some pictures of Lucy over the past few weeks:

This is when I taught Lucy how to take her first "selfie"

This is the "before" picture. This is what happens when you wrap up a baby in a foofy, fluffy tutu outfit. Here is the "after" picture:

Pop! This outfit was given to me by a friend with three girls who love to dance. I can't help but think of the little poofy dresses that my little sisters C and E wore when they were younger.

She is extending her arms to reach out and touch things with her hands, although she often keeps her fists clenched shut. She does, however, like to splay her fingers when she rubs her hand against J's beard.

This isn't the most centered or focused picture, but I love that her roundy-round face is looking at the camera

Lucy and J on our family hike to Franklin Falls, with Sam photobombing the picture with his baseball cap

We love our little Snuggle Bug! Her nicknames have evolved to be "Snuggle Buggle," "Snuggly Buggly," or often just "Buggle." We also call her "Lucy Loo," "Loo," or "Lovey Loo" (the latter being a nickname that I also called Sam).

King of Jesters!

Since I discovered the blog The Danny Kaye Show a few weeks ago, I decided to read the biography of Kaye that was written by the owner of that blog, David Koenig. I liked the book Danny Kaye: King of Jesters alright, although I do wish that there was a little bit more information about Danny's personal life and friendships. Instead, this book focuses on Danny's career, with comparatively limited discussion of Kaye's personal life. Kaye's relationship with his wife, Sylvia Fine, is discussed in detail quite a bit - which makes sense, since Fine's musical compositions, lyrics, and overall micromanagement of Kaye's work was a large part of his career. I don't think that this book would be interesting to the casual reader, but it was interesting for me to learn more about many of the films that I enjoy so much.

I also discovered some interesting things about Kaye's career and work, and I also learned about some films and performances that I have never seen (yet!). Here are several things that I found interesting in this book:

• Danny coveted the role of Hans Christian Andersen until it was given to him. Another actor who was really interested in this role was Jimmy Stewart. Stewart’s interest in the film helped in the negotiating with Kaye, since Kaye was a more natural choice (Koenig, p. 145). Can you even imagine Stewart as Hans Christian Andersen? He would be personable and lovable, of course, but his slow drawl would seem a little absurd to me in this context: "Well...once...there was...an ugly duckling..."
• Perhaps, since I have a little baby right now, I was touched to read about how in a stage performance in Omaha, Danny finished singing the final number when a baby, who was seated with his mother in the front row, started to cry. The mother couldn't quiet the child, and Kaye announced from the stage that he would sing one more song: a lullaby. He walked down to the baby in the front row, picked it up, and went back on stage. As Kaye sang, the child slowly grew quieter, and finally became silent. Upon finishing the song, Kaye put a finger to his lips to prevent the audience from applauding. He quietly returned the baby to its mother and then, still with a finger to his lips, walked back up on stage and off into the wing. The child slowly grew quieter and finally silent. Kayte put a finger to his lips to stop any applause and quietly returned the baby to its mother. Danny, still with a finger to his lips, walked back up on stage and off into the wing (Koenig, p. 156-57).
• The song “Willow Willow Waley” was pared down in length and “Pass the Basket” was entirely cut from The Court Jester. Danny still recorded a full version of these songs as well as “I Live to Love” and “Where Walks My True Love” (recording by Jeri Southern HERE). The latter was another song that was cut, but does appear as instrumental music when Hawkins is traveling in a cart with Maid Jean (Koenig, p. 176-77).  
• I was interested to read about how Kaye wanted to set himself apart from Jerry Lewis. In a sketch with Lucille Ball on The Danny Kaye Show, there is a scene when they are getting progressively drunk. Kaye was letting the food slop out of his mouth during rehearsal, and the producer Oppenheimer said, “'Well, [that’s] something I would expect from Jerry Lewis, but not from Danny Kaye,'” and he just froze over and turned on his heel…but by golly, he turned over and took all of the gross stuff out. And maybe ten times after that, during the course of the show, any time there was a little discussion or something, he’d say, 'Do you think that’s maybe what Jerry Lewis would do?' So it really touched him" (Koenig, p. 209).
• Can you imagine Kaye as Professor Harold Hill, Tevye, or Professor Higgins? "Over the years offers...trickled in [for Kaye] on Broadway, such as originating the lead roles in The Music Man in the 1950s and Fiddler on the Roof in the 1960s, and filling in for Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady for three months" (Koenig, p. 259).
• Kaye did the voice for the narrator in Here Comes Peter Cottontail, an animated classic by Rankin and Bass. This film never reached the same amount of popularity as the claymation Christmas TV specials by Rankin and Bass.
• Kaye played Captain Hook in Peter Pan in London. Mia Farrow played Peter Pan. The show was planned as a Christmas special and televised in London. It was taped 1975, and aired in 1976 on NBC (now available on YouTube) (Koenig, p. 268).

• I love the expression of Danny Kaye's face in this photo. A copy of this photo appeared in Koenig's book. The biography explains how Kaye tried to create a persona for himself on stage which was so friendly and warm, to the point that the audience thought that they had really got to know who Danny Kaye was as an individual. Although Kaye seems to have been much more difficult and less personable in actuality, I like to think that the warm, kind person that he created on stage did exist within Kaye himself, or else he wouldn't have been able to portray it at all. In this photo Kaye appears with Victoria Paige Meyerink, a precocious four-year-old who appeared on Kaye's show several times (and received a lot of fan mail in the process!). I imagine that Meyerink has just said something amusing, and Kaye is looking out to the audience to connect with them in that amusement.

 

• I was really surprised to learn that in the 1970s, Kaye took a break from show business to be a part-owner of the new Seattle Mariners team! Kaye owned several radio stations in Seattle too. After six losing seasons, though, Kaye sold his interest in the team (Koenig, p. 270). 

Since I started to read this book, I have also been interested in listening to a little bit of The Danny Kaye Show that aired on the radio in the 1940s. Episodes of this show are available at the My Old Radio and Radio Lovers sites. I don't think it's as fun to listen to Danny Kaye as watching him, but I still have a pretty good idea of the facial expressions and hand gestures that he might be using during the radio skits.