Victor Borge

This article is about the Danish humorist and musician. For the Cape Verdean politician, see Víctor Borges. For the Norwegian musician, see Victor Borge (bassist).
Victor Borge

Borge in 1990
Background information
Also known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,[1]The Unmelancholy Dane,[2]The Great Dane[3]
Born 3 January 1909
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died 23 December 2000 (aged 91)
Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Occupation(s) Classical pianist, entertainer, comedian, humorist

Børge Rosenbaum (/ˈbɔrɡə/ BOR-gə; 3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000),[4] known professionally as Victor Borge, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the United States and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nickname "The Clown Prince of Denmark",[1] "The Unmelancholy Dane",[2] and "The Great Dane".[3]

Biography

Early life and career

Rosenbaum was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, into a Jewish family. His parents, Bernhard and Frederikke (Lichtinger) Rosenbaum, were both musicians—his father a violist in the Royal Danish Orchestra[5][6] and his mother a pianist.[7] Like his mother, Borge began piano lessons at the age of two, and it was soon apparent that he was a prodigy. He gave his first piano recital when he was eight years old, and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studying under Olivo Krause. Later on, he was taught by Victor Schiøler, Liszt's student Frederic Lamond, and Busoni's pupil Egon Petri.

Borge played his first major concert in 1926 at the Danish concert-hall Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow's Lodge building). After a few years as a classical concert pianist, he started his now famous "stand up" act, with the signature blend of piano music and jokes. He married American Elsie Chilton in 1933, the same year he debuted with his revue acts.[8] Borge started touring extensively in Europe, where he began telling anti-Nazi jokes.

When the Nazis occupied Denmark during World War II, Borge was playing a concert in Sweden, and managed to escape to Finland.[9] He traveled to America on the USS American Legion, the last neutral ship to make it out of Petsamo, Finland,[10] and arrived 28 August 1940, with only $20 (about $337 today), with $3 (about $50.5 today) going to the customs fee. Disguised as a sailor, Borge returned to Denmark once during the occupation to visit his dying mother.[11]

Move to America

Even though Borge did not speak a word of English upon arrival, he quickly managed to adapt his jokes to the American audience, learning English by watching movies. He took the name of Victor Borge, and, in 1941, he started on Rudy Vallee's radio show,[12] but was hired soon after by Bing Crosby for his Kraft Music Hall program.[13]

From then on, fame rose quickly for Borge, who won Best New Radio Performer of the Year in 1942. Soon after the award, he was offered film roles with stars such as Frank Sinatra (in Higher and Higher). While hosting The Victor Borge Show on NBC beginning in 1946,[14] he developed many of his trademarks, including repeatedly announcing his intent to play a piece but getting "distracted" by something or other, making comments about the audience, or discussing the usefulness of Chopin's "Minute Waltz" as an egg timer.[15] He would also start out with some well-known classical piece like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and suddenly move into a harmonically suitable pop or jazz tune like Cole Porter's "Night and Day" or "Happy Birthday to You".

Borge's style

Among Borge's other famous routines is the "Phonetic Punctuation" routine, in which he recites a story, with full punctuation (comma, period, exclamation mark, etc.) as exaggerated onomatopoeic sounds.[16] Another is his "Inflationary Language", where he incremented numbers embedded in words, whether they are visible or not ("once upon a time" becomes "twice upon a time", "wonderful" becomes "twoderful", "forehead" becomes "fivehead", "tennis" becomes "elevennis", "I ate a tenderloin with my fork and so on and so forth" becomes "'I nine an elevenderloin with my five'k' and so on and so fifth").[13]

Borge performing before an audience in 1957.

Borge used physical and visual elements in his live and televised performances. He would play a strange-sounding piano tune from sheet music, looking increasingly confused; turning the sheet upside down or sideways, he would then play the actual tune, flashing a joyful smile of accomplishment to the audience (he had, at first, been literally playing the actual tune upside down or sideways). When his energetic playing of another song would cause him to fall off the piano bench, he would open the seat lid, take out the two ends of an automotive seat belt, and buckle himself onto the bench, "for safety." Conducting an orchestra, he might stop and order a violinist who had played a sour note to get off the stage, then resume the performance and have the other members of the section move up to fill the empty seat while they were still playing. From off stage would come the sound of a gunshot. His musical sidekick in the 1950s, Leonid Hambro, was a well-known concert pianist. In 1968, classical pianist Şahan Arzruni joined him as his straight man, performing together on one piano a version of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody, considered a musical-comedic classic.[17]

He also enjoyed interacting with the audience. Seeing an interested person in the front row, he would ask them, "Do you like good music?" or "Do you care for piano music?" After an affirmative answer, Borge would take a piece of sheet music from his piano and say, "Here is some," and hand it over. After the audience's laughter died down, he would say, "That'll be $1.95" (or whatever the current price might be). He would then ask whether the audience member could read music; if the member said yes, he would ask a higher price. If he got no response from the audience after a joke, he would often add "...when this ovation has died down, of course." The delayed punch line to handing the person the sheet music would come when he would reach the end of a number and begin playing the penultimate notes over and over, with a puzzled look. He would then go back to the person in the audience, retrieve the sheet music, tear off a piece of it, stick it on the piano, and play the last couple of notes from it.

Making fun of modern theater, he would sometimes begin a performance by asking if there were any children in the audience. There always were, of course. He would sternly order them out, then say, "We do have some children in here; that means I can't do the second half in the nude. I'll wear the tie. (pause) The long one. (pause) The very long one, yes."[18]

In his stage shows in later years, he would include a segment with opera singer Marilyn Mulvey. She would try to sing an aria, and he would react and interrupt, with such antics as falling off the bench in "surprise" when she hit a high note. He would also remind her repeatedly not to rest her hand on the piano. After the routine, the spotlight would fall upon Mulvey and she would sing a serious number with Borge accompanying in the background.

Later career

The footstone of Victor Borge

Borge appeared on Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan several times during 1948. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States the same year. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on 2 October 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show in the history of theater with 849 performances when it closed on 21 January 1956, a feat which placed it in the Guinness Book of World Records.[19]

Continuing his success with tours and shows, Borge played with and conducted orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,[20] the New York Philharmonic[21] and London Philharmonic.[22] Always modest, he felt honored when he was invited to conduct the Royal Danish Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1992.

His later television appearances included his "Phonetic Punctuation" routine on The Electric Company in a filmed sketch; he would also use it on the record to follow during the "Punctuation" song. He appeared several times on Sesame Street[23] and was a guest star during the fourth season of The Muppet Show.[24]

Victor Borge continued to tour until his last days, performing up to 60 times per year when he was 90 years old.

Other endeavors

Borge made several appearances on the long-running TV show What's My Line?, both as a celebrity panelist, and as a contestant with the occupation "poultry farmer"; Starting in the 1950s, as a businessman, Borge raised and popularized Rock Cornish game hens.[25]

Borge helped start several trust funds, including the Thanks to Scandinavia Fund,[26] which was started in dedication to those who helped the Jews escape the German persecution during the war.[26]

Aside from his musical work, Borge wrote three books, My Favorite Intermissions[27] and My Favorite Comedies in Music[28] (both with Robert Sherman), and the autobiography Smilet er den korteste afstand ("The Smile is the Shortest Distance") with Niels-Jørgen Kaiser.[29]

In 1979, Borge founded the American Pianists Association (then called the Beethoven Foundation) with Julius Bloom and Anthony P. Habig. The American Pianists Association now produces two major piano competitions: the Classical Fellowship Awards and the Jazz Fellowship Awards.[30]

Family

He married his first wife, Elsie Chilton, in 1933. After divorcing Elsie, he married Sarabel Sanna Scraper in 1953, and they stayed married until her death at the age of 83 in September 2000.[31]

Borge fathered five children (who occasionally performed with him): Ronald Borge and Janet Crowle (adopted [32]) with Elsie Chilton, and Sanna Feirstein, Victor Bernhard (Vebe) Jr., and Frederikke (Rikke) Borge with Sarabel.[33]

Death

Borge died in Greenwich, Connecticut, at the age of 91, after more than 75 years of entertaining. He died peacefully in his sleep a day after returning from a concert in Denmark. "It was just his time to go", Frederikke Borge said. "He's been missing my mother terribly."[34] According to his wish, to mark his connection to both the United States and Denmark, a part of Victor Borge's ashes is interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich, with a replica of Danish icon The Little Mermaid sitting on a large rock at the gravesite, the other part in Western Jewish Cemetery (Mosaisk Vestre Begravelsesplads), Copenhagen, Denmark.[35]

Legacy

Borge received an honorary degree from Trinity College in 1997.[36]

When in 1998 the Royal Danish Orchestra celebrated its 550th anniversary, Borge was appointed an honorary member[37] — at that time one of only ten in the orchestra's history.[38]

Borge received Kennedy Center Honors in 1999.[39]

Victor Borge Hall,[40] located in Scandinavia House in New York City, was named in Borge's honor in 2000, as was Victor Borges Plads ("Victor Borge Square") in Copenhagen in 2002.[41] Celebrating Borge's centennial in 2009 a statue was erected on the square.[42]

Victor Borge: A Centennial Celebration

From 23 January to 9 May 2009, the life of Borge was celebrated by The American-Scandinavian Foundation with "Victor Borge: A Centennial Celebration."

A television special about his life, 100 Years of Music and Laughter, aired on PBS on 14 March 2009.[43]

Discography

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Andrew Bender; Sally O'Brien (February 2005). Denmark. Lonely Planet. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-74059-489-9. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (14 October 1944). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 23. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Elliott Robert Barkan (May 2001). Making it in America: a sourcebook on eminent ethnic Americans. ABC-CLIO. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-57607-098-7. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  4. ↑ Bjørn Rasmussen (1969). Filmens hvem-vad-hvor (in Danish). Politiken. p. 239. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  5. ↑ "Det Kongelige Teater – Kort fortalt" (in Danish). Retrieved 3 October 2010. My father played in the orchestra for more than 30 years – we couldn't recognise him, when he came home. (Om Bernhard Rosenbaum, som var bratschist i Kapellet fra 1888–1919 sagde Victor Borge: "Min far spillede i Kapellet i over 30 år – vi kunne heller ikke kende ham, da han kom hjem".)
  6. ↑ Who's Who in Entertainment 1989-1990. Marquis Who's Who, Inc. 1988. p. 67.
  7. ↑ Ove Holger Krak (1 January 1964). Kraks blaa bog: ...nulevende danske mænd og kvinders levnedsløb ... (in Danish). Krak.i. p. 186. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  8. ↑ Bernhardt Jensen (1966). Som Århus morede sig: Folkelige forlystelser fra 1890'erne til 2. verdenskrig (in Danish). Universitetsforlaget. p. 128. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  9. ↑ Richard S. Sears (3 December 1986). V-discs: first supplement. Greenwood Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-313-25421-5. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  10. ↑ Information (in Danish). R.Levin. 1977. p. 26. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  11. ↑ National Geographic Society (US) (1 July 1998). The National geographic. National Geographic Society. p. 59. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  12. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (19 December 1953). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 21. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Frank Cullen (2007). Vaudeville, old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performers in America. Psychology Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  14. ↑ Grolier Incorporated. The Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-7172-0122-8. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  15. ↑ Borge, Victor (March 1985). Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. p. 107. ISSN 0032-4558. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  16. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (29 April 1944). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 25. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 October 2010. Victor Borge and his dead-pan interpretations of phonetic punctuation and gags clicked soundly with the pew-sitters.
  17. ↑ Victor Borge – Hungarian Rhapsody #2 on YouTube
  18. ↑ Victor Borge – Funny Jokes -Part 1 on YouTube
  19. ↑ Young, Mark (2 March 1998). The Guinness Book of World Records 1998. Bantam Books. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-553-57895-9. Retrieved 3 October 2010. The longest run of one-man shows is 849, by Victor Borge (Denmark) in his Comedy in Music from October 2, 1953 through 21 January 1956 at the Golden Theater, Broadway, New York City.
  20. ↑ Elliott Robert Barkan (May 2001). Making it in America: a sourcebook on eminent ethnic Americans. ABC-CLIO. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-57607-098-7. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  21. ↑ New York Media, LLC (27 January 1978). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. p. 54. ISSN 0028-7369. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  22. ↑ H.W. Wilson Company (1 January 1993). Current biography yearbook. H.W. Wilson. p. 82. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  23. ↑ "YouTube – Victor Borge on Sesame Street". Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  24. ↑ "YouTube – Victor Borge on the Muppet show:". 22 May 1979. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  25. ↑ "YouTube – Victor Borge—What's My Line:". 11 October 1959. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Paid Notice – Deaths BORGE, VICTOR – Paid Death Notice – NYTimes.com:". The New York Times. 26 December 2000. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  27. ↑ Borge, Victor; Sherman, Robert (August 1971). My favorite intermissions. Doubleday. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  28. ↑ Borge, Victor; Sherman, Robert (1980). Victor Borge's My favorite comedies in music. Dorset Press. ISBN 978-0-88029-807-0. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  29. ↑ Borge, Victor; Kaiser, Niels-Jørgen (2001). Smilet er den korteste afstand -: erindringer (in Danish). Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-00-75182-8. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  30. ↑ "History". America Pianists Association. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  31. ↑ "Comic Pianist Victor Borge Dies At 91". CBS News. 24 December 2000. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  32. ↑ "Jewish Survivor Victor Borge Testimony". YouTube. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  33. ↑ "Paid Notice – Deaths BORGE, SANNA SARABEL". New York Times. 11 October 2000. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  34. ↑ "Celebrity Deathwatch: Victor Borge, Comic Pianist, 91". Retrieved 2 October 2010. Borge, who had not been ill, had been planning to tour Australia next week. "It was just his time to go," his daughter said. "He's been missing my mother terribly."
  35. ↑ Clausen, Bente (9 May 2001). "Victor Borges aske deles". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  36. ↑ "Danish Rabbi Will Visit Area Temple". Hartford Courant. 15 September 1997. Retrieved 3 October 2010. [Bent Melchior] will also speak at Trinity College and, along with Victor Borge, receive an honorary degree from the college.
  37. ↑ "Årets Pressefoto 1998" (in Danish). Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  38. ↑ The others were Edwin Fischer, A.W. Nielsen, Svend Wilhelm Hansen, Igor Markevitch, Sergiu Celibidache, Hanne Wilhelm Hansen, Henning Rohde, Peter Augustinus and Danny Kaye.
  39. ↑ "Victor Borge / Explore the Arts – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts:". Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  40. ↑ "Events @ Scandinavia House – The Nordic Center in America:". Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  41. ↑ "Nye og ændrede vejnavne 2001–2003" (in Danish). Retrieved 3 October 2010. Victor Borges Plads. Benævnelse for en plads beliggende i J.E. Ohlsensgades udmunding i Nordre Frihavnsgade. Besluttet i Bygge- og Teknikudvalget den 9. oktober 2002.
  42. ↑ "Så kom Victor Borge på plads / Dinby.dk". Østerbro Avis (in Danish). 8 July 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  43. ↑ Starr, Michael (26 November 2008). "Starr Report". New York Post. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (19 January 1946). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 28. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Block, Maxine; Herthe Rothe, Anna; Dent Candee, Marjorie (1947). Current biography yearbook. H. W. Wilson. p. 63. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  46. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (23 March 1946). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 130. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 47.4 Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (5 June 1948). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 34. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 48.5 Smith, Ronald L. (1 March 1988). Comedy on record: the complete critical discography. Garland Pub. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8240-8461-5. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 Debenham, Warren (August 1988). Laughter on record: a comedy discography. Scarecrow Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8108-2094-4. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  50. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (12 June 1954). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 22. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  51. ↑ National Collegiate Players (1955). The Players magazine. National Collegiate Players. p. 83. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  52. ↑ Borges first performance in Denmark since World War II recorded 12 August 1958 in the Copenhagen concert-hall Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow's Lodge building). Listen The 32 minutes show was sponsored by FONA, tansmitted by the recently established Radio Mercur to 275.000 listeners and subsequently sold as a 10'' LP for kroner 19.50.
  53. ↑ Music and dance. Australian Musical News Publishing Co. 1958. p. 27. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  54. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (27 July 1959). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 28. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  55. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (28 April 1962). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 30. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  56. ↑ Mackenzie, Sir Compton; Stone, Christopher (1963). Gramophone. General Gramophone Publications Ltd. p. 23. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  57. ↑ Raymond, Jack (1 May 1982). Show music on record: from the 1890s to the 1980s. F. Ungar. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-8044-5774-3. Retrieved 3 October 2010.

Further reading

External links

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