ट्रिविया

Ventriloquist; his dummy was Velvel, who spoke with a Yiddish accent.

Nat 'King' Cole was so impressed with Layne and his dummy Velvel that he urged Ed Sullivan to put the act on his popular Sunday night variety show and if Layne bombed, Cole said he would appear on the show himself at no charge. Layne went on to appear in dozens of Sullivan's shows.

In 2002 received the Askins Award for lifetime achievement from the International Ventriloquist Association.

He began entertaining at age 9 doing impersonations of Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, and other stars but his act took on a new twist after an uncle gave him a ventriloquist's dummy.

The son of Russian immigrants, the name of his dummy, Willie Galdstone, was later change to Velvel while performing in the Catskills in the 1940s.

Children: Sandra, Teri, Kelly.