The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) starring Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Walter Abel, Eve Arden, Vera-Ellen
A timid milkman knocks out a boxing champion who was accosting his sister. He then takes up boxing himself in order to impress a beautiful nightclub singer, becoming the Kid from Brooklyn.
Review
The Kid from Brooklyn is a very entertaining Danny Kaye comedy — with a strange opening. The movie begins with an odd musical number, as a bunch of milkmaids sing the praises of their dairy. It turns out that the audience has been watching a commercial for the dairy where Danny Kaye works. He’s eager to please, leading to numerous comic interruptions of his suffering boss. But, he’s one of the worst performing employees.
That night, while doing his nightly route in his horse-drawn milk wagon, his horse goes into labor! And a kind young lady (Virginia Mayo) offers to let him use her phone. The kind-hearted Burleigh gives her free milk, as a “new customer”. Even though she can’t pay him.
Later, he goes to pick up his sister (Vera-Ellen) to escort her home. She’s being accosted by a drunken boxer (Steve Cochran). Whom Burleigh inadvertently knocks out! Burleigh can’t fight … but he can duck nearly any punch! And it turns out the boxer’s actually the champ!
This leads to the main part of the story. The boxer’s manager (Walter Abel) decides to promote Burleigh was the next great fighter. So that his boxer can win a rematch, with lots of publicity.
Soon, Burleigh’s winning fight after fight. And, he lets his fame go to his head …
Cast
- Danny Kaye (The Inspector General) … Burleigh Sullivan. The kindly, inept, milkman who can’t fight … But he can duck! And does, winning his first fight by letting his opponent knock himself out. He lets Gabby promote his as a new fighter … Unaware that his fights are rigged. And lets the attention go to his head.
- Virginia Mayo (Ship Ahoy) … Polly Pringle. The nice, unemployed singer that Burleigh meets, and quickly falls in love with.
- Vera-Ellen (Wonder Man) … Susie Sullivan. Burleigh’s sister, whom he initially rescues from a drunken Speed. But, Speed’s not a bad fellow, and he tries to apologize for his drunken behavior. They fall in love.
- Steve Cochran (A Song is Born) … Speed McFarlane. The boxer, whom Burleigh defeats when Steve’s drunk … and obnoxious. His ego is bruised, when the newspapers print the story of his defeat by the unknown Burleigh. And more bruised when Gabby sets up Burleigh as a “great” boxer, planning to have Speed knock him out in a title bout.
- Eve Arden (At the Circus) … Ann Westley. At her snarky best as Gabby’s long-suffering fiancee, still waiting for that wedding.
- Walter Abel (On the Riviera) … Gabby Sloan. The fight promoter, who’s trying to use Burleigh to build up Speed’s box office. Not a villain, but not the most likable person.
- Lionel Stander … Spider Schultz. The poor trainer who has to try and train the inept Burleigh. A good comedic role.
Editorial review of The Kid from Brooklyn courtesy of Amazon.com
There’s little question that the brilliant Danny Kaye did some of his finest–and most memorable–work in the lush and lavish Samuel Goldwyn musicals that he made both during and immediately after World War II. The Kid from Brooklyn, based on the play The Milky Way, is no exception. The plot concerns Burleigh Sullivan, a kindly milkman who is duped into thinking he’s championship-boxer material, and Kaye is again paired with Virginia Mayo, who teamed with him (ever so briefly) in Up in Arms, then as his leading lady in Wonder Man, and later in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and A Song Is Born.
The performances from Kaye and his supporting cast are topnotch. Notable are Walter Abel as the comically manic fight promoter Gabby Sloan; a wry Eve Arden as Gabby’s long-suffering gal pal; Steve Cochran as Speed, the “real” boxer who’s actually a nice guy; Lionel Stander (later of Hart to Hart) as Spider, the put-upon trainer; and a truly sensational Vera-Ellen–who has completely amazing dance numbers (notably “What’s Your Name?”). The underrated Vera-Ellen plays Burleigh’s sweet sister, who falls for Speed. Familiar Kaye collaborators Sammy Cahn, Sylvia Fine (Kaye’s wife), Max Liebman, and Jule Styne provide the film with catchy, lively tunes that still sound fresh. Legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland gives the colorful film a lovely look. –N.F. Mendoza
Songs
- Pavlova (1939) Words and Music by Sylvia Fine and Max Liebman
- You’re The Cause of It All (1946) Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
- I Love An Old Fashioned Song (1946) Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
- Hey! What’s Your Name? (1946) Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
- Josie (1946) Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
- The Sunflower Song (1946) Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
- An der schönen blauen Donau Walzer (The Blue Danube Waltz) Op. 314 (1867) Written by Johann Strauss
Trivia
- When this film was shown on Turner Classic Movies, Danny Kaye’s daughter Dena Kaye said that her father said the hardest thing about this movie was learning to appear so bad as a boxer, stating that “being good enough to act inept” was the hardest acting he had ever done.
- The name of the lead character, “Burleigh” is an inside joke since it sounds like “burly” which means ‘strongly and heavily built, husky’ which Danny Kaye’s character is not.
- Lionel Stander repeats his role from the original version of the film, The Milky Way.
- The ringside announcer for Burleigh’s first bout is played by Don Wilson, the announcer for ‘The Jack Benny Program.’ Jack Benny was a close friend of Danny Kaye’s.