Way back in the televisual Dark Ages before celebrity culture and publicists came to dominate the chat show agenda, there were hosts presenting shows where they actually took an interest in what their guests had to say.
This was certainly the case with Michael Parkinson on the BBC and Russell Harty on ITV. Their interviewing styles were very different, but they both had the ability to put their guests at ease while posing questions whose answers actually told us something about the guests' personalities, however much they tried to maintain their starry facades.
Such was the case with this episode, where Danny Kaye appeared as the sole guest. It was clear from the beginning that Kaye was not going to answer Harty's questions directly; rather he chose to conceal himself behind a series of mannerisms, gestures, and faux-accents which, while funny in themselves, betrayed a desire to sustain a carefully constructed screen persona forged over decades.
Yet it was testament to Harty's abilities as an interviewer that in spite of his willingness to accommodate Kaye's bag of rhetorical and gestural tricks, he managed to reveal something of the personality underneath. This moment emerged when Kaye started talking about his work with children; the tone changed abruptly as he admitted his dedication to his UNICEF work as well as giving concerts. In light of his modest upbringing in Brooklyn, where he dealt with crushing poverty by cultivating a humorous facade, we understood something about why Kaye should have been so dedicated; having achieved such success as a movie star, he believed it was his bounden duty to give something back to those as disadvantaged as he had been during his childhood.
The tone of the program remained lighthearted, but we nonetheless understood something about Harty's brilliance as an interviewer. He did not have to ask direct, hard-hitting questions; understanding something about his interlocutors was far more important. We wondered whether contemporary interviewers such as Stephen Sackur - who prides himself on his hard-hitting technique in a program like the BBCs HARDTALK - might not learn from Harty's example.
This was certainly the case with Michael Parkinson on the BBC and Russell Harty on ITV. Their interviewing styles were very different, but they both had the ability to put their guests at ease while posing questions whose answers actually told us something about the guests' personalities, however much they tried to maintain their starry facades.
Such was the case with this episode, where Danny Kaye appeared as the sole guest. It was clear from the beginning that Kaye was not going to answer Harty's questions directly; rather he chose to conceal himself behind a series of mannerisms, gestures, and faux-accents which, while funny in themselves, betrayed a desire to sustain a carefully constructed screen persona forged over decades.
Yet it was testament to Harty's abilities as an interviewer that in spite of his willingness to accommodate Kaye's bag of rhetorical and gestural tricks, he managed to reveal something of the personality underneath. This moment emerged when Kaye started talking about his work with children; the tone changed abruptly as he admitted his dedication to his UNICEF work as well as giving concerts. In light of his modest upbringing in Brooklyn, where he dealt with crushing poverty by cultivating a humorous facade, we understood something about why Kaye should have been so dedicated; having achieved such success as a movie star, he believed it was his bounden duty to give something back to those as disadvantaged as he had been during his childhood.
The tone of the program remained lighthearted, but we nonetheless understood something about Harty's brilliance as an interviewer. He did not have to ask direct, hard-hitting questions; understanding something about his interlocutors was far more important. We wondered whether contemporary interviewers such as Stephen Sackur - who prides himself on his hard-hitting technique in a program like the BBCs HARDTALK - might not learn from Harty's example.