Page "Danny Kaye" Paragraph 2

David Daniel Kaminsky was born to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn.

Jacob and Clara Nemerovsky Kaminsky and their two sons, Larry and Mac, left Ekaterinoslav two years before his birth ; he was the only one of their sons born in the United States.

He spent his early youth attending Public School 149 in East New York, Brooklyn, where he began entertaining his young classmates with songs and jokes, before moving to Thomas Jefferson High School, but he never graduated.

His mother died when he was in his early teens.

Clara enjoyed the impressions and humor of her youngest son and always had words of encouragement for them ; her death was a great loss for young Danny.