Tove Hansen; Helped Jews Escape Nazis

Tove “Musse” Hansen, who helped Jews escape the Nazi regime during World War II and became the wife of Kenneth Hansen and a colleague in his fabled Hollywood restaurant, Scandia, has died. She was 88.

Widowed by the restaurateur’s death in 1980, she died Saturday in her home in Los Angeles.

Nathan Chroman, an attorney and longtime friend of the Hansens who dined regularly at Scandia, said “Musse” Hansen had helped thousands of Danish Jews escape to Sweden during the war when she lived in her native Denmark.

Israel later recognized her efforts by awarding her its highest civilian medal. After she moved to Los Angeles, local Israeli diplomats regularly honored her for working in the Danish resistance movement that helped about 8,000 Danish Jews flee the Nazis.

She was guest of honor in 1968 at the Israel Bond Organization’s fund-raiser dubbed “Night in Tivoli” in Beverly Hills. Her heroic actions were reenacted for the event in a dramatic presentation by Carolyn Jones, Eartha Kitt, Lloyd Bochner, Monte Hall and William Shatner.

Although Kenneth Hansen’s sister-in-law Teddy Hansen was acknowledged as co-founder and co-owner of Scandia, Tove Hansen was a gracious presence in the restaurant. There she met and helped entertain five presidents, most frequently Californian Richard Nixon and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.

The diminutive “Musse” also was a popular hostess and confidant of Hollywood’s Danish glitterati, including actress Ingrid Bergman, pianist Victor Borge, singer Lauritz Melchior and actor Johnny Weismuller.

She helped her husband build Scandia, with its elegant decor, impeccable service and delectable Scandinavian and French cuisine, into a culinary landmark. A former Times food critic wrote of it in 1971: “No one is very sure of the definition of a great restaurant, but everyone is sure that Scandia is one. . . . It has appeared on every award list that was ever made of Los Angeles restaurants. It may be one of the few cases of record on which the experts agreed.”

Danish-born like his wife, Kenneth Hansen moved to New York in 1920 and then to Los Angeles, where he ran the Scandinavian smorgasbord Bit of Sweden until opening Scandia in 1946. When the restaurant moved across Sunset Boulevard in 1958, the Hansens staged a Danish parade on the famous street, headed by Weismuller.

The Hansens sold Scandia to automotive magazine publisher Robert E. Petersen in 1978. It went out of business nearly a decade ago.

Chroman said “Musse” Hansen was guest of honor earlier this year at the opening of Legacy, a short-lived restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Scandia.

She is survived by her twin sister, Else “Busse” Thomasen, a niece and a nephew.

A memorial service is scheduled at 11 a.m. Sept. 2 in the Danish Lutheran Church, 16881 Bastanchury Road, Yorba Linda. The family asked that any memorial donations be made to that church.