Hans Christian Andersen (1952)

Hans: [having just learned that Doro is married to Niels, who has just slapped her after an argument] How could you do it? How could a girl like you marry a man like that? How can I help you?

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Hans: That's the nice thing about the world, my friend: People.

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Hans: You'd be surprised how many kings are only a queen with a mustache.

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Danny Kaye's re-creation of eight songs from the Frank Loesser score, released on a Decca album with accompaniment by Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra and Chorus, zoomed to the number-one spot on the "Billboard" album chart in January 1953. The LP reigned in first place for an impressive 17 weeks. Rerecording the delightful patter duet, "No Two People," Mr. Kaye was joined on record by Jane Wyman, who substituted for Danny's film partner, Zizi Jeanmaire.
In order to cover the necessary camera tricks, and to add "magic" to the Little Mermaid ballet, it was decided that, rather than presenting it as an actual ballet, they would have Hans imagine how it would look. This allowed them to do things on the screen which would be impossible on the stage.
The 1966 US TV premiere of this film, telecast by ABC-TV, was hosted by yet another legendary Dane, Victor Borge. This was done because the film runs a full two hours and ABC did not wish to cut it to make room for commercials, so they stretched out the broadcast with hosting sequences. The telecast was sponsored by Eastern Air Lines, who offered, as a promotional tie-in, an album of Anderson stories, as told by Borge, on American Decca records, and sold through the mails. Coincidentally, the best-selling studio cast album of the songs from the'Danny Kaye' film, which featured Kaye along with Jane Wyman in a rare singing appearance, was also an American Decca release.
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