Harold & Danny

My friend Harold Crocker adopted one of Vent Haven's Danny O'Day dolls at last summer's convention. Many, many ventriloquists started their careers with a Danny O'Day doll.

Jimmy Nelson's character Danny O'Day is an icon in entertainment history and two different toy companies produced the toy versions of Danny for Mr. Nelson. First was National Mask & Puppet, which produced them for a couple of years beginning in 1952. Second was Juro Novelty Company, which began production in 1963. Vent Haven has seven Danny O'Day dolls. This one was donated by Ed Price in 1985.

Mr. Berger bought these dolls (as well as Jerry Mahoney dolls) in bulk from Juro to resell to ventriloquists and other visitors. Juro made several versions of Danny, a sampling of which is evidenced below in the Juro promo piece from 1963. Thanks, Harold, for adopting this sweet toy.