Danny Kaye left school at the age of 13 to work in the Borscht Belt of the Catskill Mountains. It was there that he learned the basics of showbiz. From there, he went through a series of jobs in and out of the business. In 1939, he made his Broadway debut in the Straw Hat Revue, but it was the stage production of the musical Lady in the Dark that brought him acclaim and notice from the agents. Also in 1940, Danny married Sylvia Fine who went on to manage his career. She also helped create the routines and gags, and wrote most of the songs that he performed. Danny could sing and dance like many others, but his specialty was reciting those tongue-twisting songs and monologues. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. had been trying to sign him to a movie contract for two years before he eventually agreed. Goldwyn wanted to put him into a series of Technicolor musicals starting with Up in Arms. His debut, as Danny, was successful and he continued to make hit movies such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Inspector General. In 1954, he appeared with Bing Crosby in the movie White Christmas, which was based on the Irving Berlin song of the same name. In 1956, he gave one of his greatest performances as the phony court jester in The Court Jester. But like all things, the life-span of a comedian is limited and his movie career waned. In 1960, he began doing specials on television and this led to his own TV series, The Danny Kaye Show, which ran from 1963 to 1967. He also worked tirelessly for UNICEF.


Hans Christian Andersen (1952): $200,000

One of the original owners of the Seattle Mariners professional baseball team. Interred at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York, USA. Died of hepatitis and internal bleeding, the result of a transfusion of contaminated blood during bypass heart surgery four years earlier. Was the first choice of producers to star in the Broadway musical "The Music Man." According to daughter Dena Kaye, for the rest of his life, whenever someone would recognize him in public, they would run up to him and recite the "pellet with the poison . . . " speech from The Court Jester (1955). He had a passion for Chinese cooking and built a kitchen in his house. For years, he invited people (some of them great celebrities like Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Cary Grant, John Denver, and Itzhak Perlman) and he would show them what his cooking genius was about. Qualified guests, like French chef Paul Bocuse, said they were really amazed by Kaye's cooking ability. He was an excellent pilot. Served as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. He was a very talented storyteller, although he had trouble mimicking a woman's voice. Originally considered for the leading role in "It Should Happen to You" (1954). The stage musical "The Kid from Brooklyn," which chronicled Kaye's life, implied a tempestuous affair with his radio co-star Eve Arden and, at the very least, a dalliance with Laurence Olivier. He was a liberal Democrat who opposed the Hollywood blacklist. Conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra at New York's Carnegie Hall (10th March 1958) with his feet! This being a benefit concert, of course.