The photographer who got away the day Danny Kaye was front page news

Some of my best photos were hard won — like this one I took of Danny Kaye when he came to Australia to conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. (Photo, 1975.)

When the American entertainer (who raised money for musicians' pension funds) visited Australia as a "guest conductor" of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, I asked him to pose for the Daily Telegraph after a press conference. Kaye declined, saying he had time only for an interview with a TV station. It irked me. Back then, more members of the Sydney public were reading The Tele than watching TV news.

The next day, Kaye was rehearsing with the orchestra in a suburban theatre. When I asked at the front desk if I could photograph him during rehearsal, I was turned away by security — no media were allowed in.

Kaye had now rebuffed me twice, but I was very determined. I walked to the back of the theatre and slipped through the stage door.

Once inside, I made my way up to the dress circle and looked down through a gap in a curtain into the orchestra pit, where Kaye was conducting. Employing my telephoto lens, I worked quickly using just the available light and no giveaway electronic flash.

With the eyes on Kaye's expressive face half-closed, his conductor’s baton poised in the air, ready to signal the next beat to the orchestra, I knew I had a strong picture, but the problem was going to be getting it out of the theatre.

Knowing it was likely I’d be challenged by security before making it out of the building, I unwound the roll of exposed film, hid it in my sock and put another roll in the camera. I fired off a few shots as the security guards came towards me. Suddenly, they were on me, demanding my roll of film.

I looked as sheepish as I could, unwound the decoy roll and handed it over. A guard rudely pulled the strip of film out of the cassette, exposed it to the light and asked me to leave the theatre. I complied and sped back to the office with the real roll of film still in my sock and a cheeky smile on my face.

The picture turned out even better than I thought and made the front page of both the Daily Telegraph and The Australian.

When my pictorial editor asked me if I wanted my byline next to the picture, I replied, ‘Most definitely, Johnny’. I felt I had earned it!

**This photograph is part of an IA series that looks at Australia through the lens of award-winning photojournalist Bill McAuley.**

Bill McAuley's 40-plus-year news career began in 1969 as a cadet photographer at 'The Age' in Melbourne.

He has several published collections, including 'Portraits of the Soul: A lifetime of images with Bill McAuley' and 'Last light on Victoria Dock, 1999'. To see more from Bill, click here.