It’s been 20 years since Danny Thomas passed away, but his legacy still lives on. Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital (which he founded in 1962) continues to save the lives of children. It’s actually a pretty cool story, so before we get into Danny’s relationship with the restaurant, I’ll just recap.
Danny Thomas, like most incredibly successful celebrities, had a rough early career. During his lowest point, he went to a church in Detroit that happened to have a statue of Saint Jude, who incidentally is the patron saint of lost causes. He knelt before the statue and said “if you can make this work for me, I’ll build a shrine to you.” As we all know, Danny Thomas went on to become a huge comedian and actor. True to his word, he started Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital when he had the money and fame to support it. When Danny created the hospital, he said “no child should die in the dawn of life”. To this day, Saint Jude’s has done tremendous work towards this goal, never turning down a child because of an inability to pay, and increasing the survival rates for diseases such as leukemia significantly.
We also had a great relationship with Danny. For so many years, he came into the restaurant, always bringing his family, friends, and other celebrities. One night, as he came into the front to smoke a cigarette, Uncle Joe noticed him examining our wall of photos. As always, Joe quipped “Danny, if you’re looking for your picture up there, you’ll never find it – you still need to send us one!” Danny laughed and said, “I know, I know… I keep forgetting to bring it in.” This had been a running joke between us and Danny for years, so both he and Joe laughed. Then Danny said “Wait a minute, I think I have a picture in the car, let me go grab it!” He ran out to the parking garage, and came back deflated about ten minutes later, explaining that the car didn’t have any pictures in it. As he left that night, he turned to Joe and said “I promise that I’ll send you the picture as soon as I can. Next time I come in here, I’m gonna see myself on that wall!”
A week later, he passed away. He was one of those entertainers that really touched everyone’s lives, and as a result there was a ton of media coverage about his death and his relationships with other people. One such interview took place at Patsy’s; Liz Smith knew that Danny came in a lot, so she sat down with Joe and asked him to recall some memories. One of the things Joe mentioned was their last exchange, which incidentally had been about Danny’s picture on the wall.
As time went on, this story gained popularity, and eventually Marlo Thomas (Danny’s daughter) heard about it. She was touched, and sent us the following letter:
Dear Joey,
I read in Liz Smith’s column that my father promised to bring you a picture for your wall. I’m keeping his promise. Love,
~ Marlo
Included was the following picture of Danny Thomas, which we proudly hoisted onto the wall.
It's a shame that he was never able to come into the restaurant and see it, but his picture will be smiling out at everybody that comes into Patsy's from here on out.
Danny Thomas, like most incredibly successful celebrities, had a rough early career. During his lowest point, he went to a church in Detroit that happened to have a statue of Saint Jude, who incidentally is the patron saint of lost causes. He knelt before the statue and said “if you can make this work for me, I’ll build a shrine to you.” As we all know, Danny Thomas went on to become a huge comedian and actor. True to his word, he started Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital when he had the money and fame to support it. When Danny created the hospital, he said “no child should die in the dawn of life”. To this day, Saint Jude’s has done tremendous work towards this goal, never turning down a child because of an inability to pay, and increasing the survival rates for diseases such as leukemia significantly.
We also had a great relationship with Danny. For so many years, he came into the restaurant, always bringing his family, friends, and other celebrities. One night, as he came into the front to smoke a cigarette, Uncle Joe noticed him examining our wall of photos. As always, Joe quipped “Danny, if you’re looking for your picture up there, you’ll never find it – you still need to send us one!” Danny laughed and said, “I know, I know… I keep forgetting to bring it in.” This had been a running joke between us and Danny for years, so both he and Joe laughed. Then Danny said “Wait a minute, I think I have a picture in the car, let me go grab it!” He ran out to the parking garage, and came back deflated about ten minutes later, explaining that the car didn’t have any pictures in it. As he left that night, he turned to Joe and said “I promise that I’ll send you the picture as soon as I can. Next time I come in here, I’m gonna see myself on that wall!”
A week later, he passed away. He was one of those entertainers that really touched everyone’s lives, and as a result there was a ton of media coverage about his death and his relationships with other people. One such interview took place at Patsy’s; Liz Smith knew that Danny came in a lot, so she sat down with Joe and asked him to recall some memories. One of the things Joe mentioned was their last exchange, which incidentally had been about Danny’s picture on the wall.
As time went on, this story gained popularity, and eventually Marlo Thomas (Danny’s daughter) heard about it. She was touched, and sent us the following letter:
Dear Joey,
I read in Liz Smith’s column that my father promised to bring you a picture for your wall. I’m keeping his promise. Love,
~ Marlo
Included was the following picture of Danny Thomas, which we proudly hoisted onto the wall.
It's a shame that he was never able to come into the restaurant and see it, but his picture will be smiling out at everybody that comes into Patsy's from here on out.
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