Best Known As: The witty pianist who created Comedy in Music
Name at birth: Børge Rosenbaum.
Victor Borge was once called "the funniest pianist on Earth" by The Washington Post. He toured the world for decades with his popular one-man show, which mixed classical piano performance with quips, wordplay and pratfalls. Borge's dour Scandinavian face and formal dress set the stage for the sly hijinks to come: he would comically mangle classic tunes, make faces, or simply stop at the keyboard to tell jokes. Borge was a child prodigy who trained at the Danish Royal Academy of Music. He first performed as a serious classical pianist, but his talent for whimsy overtook the music. By the time he fled Denmark for the United States at the start of World War II, Borge was known best as a comedian. In America he learned English, took the name Victor Borge, and became a popular radio star. His own one-man Broadway show followed: Comedy in Music ran for 849 performances from 1953-56. During the 1960s and '70s he was a familiar face on TV talk and variety shows, including The Dean Martin Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Besides musical jokes, Borge also created read-aloud gags like phoenetic punctuation (with Borge reading each period aloud as "phwwt!") and the so-called "inflationary" language, in which "tomorrow" became "threemorrow" and "What for?" became "What five?" Borge never lost his classical chops, sometimes serving as a serious (or nearly serious) guest conductor for major orchestras, and he continued to tour the world until just before his death. He published the memoirs My Favorite Intermissions (1971) and My Favorite Comedies in Music (1980).
Borge became a U.S. citizen in 1948... He was knighted by Denmark and each of the other four Scandinavian countries; he quipped, "After I was knighted five times, I became a weekend"... Borge married American Elsie Chilton in 1933; that marriage ended in divorce and in 1953 he married his manager, Sanna Roach. They were married until her death, three months before Borge, in 2000.
(born Jan. 3, 1909, Copenhagen, Den. — died Dec. 23, 2000, Greenwich, Conn., U.S.) Danish-born U.S. comedian and pianist. He studied at the Copenhagen Music Conservatory and later in Vienna and Berlin. Initially performing as a concert musician, he soon developed a style that combined comedy with classical music, and he toured throughout Europe. In 1940 he immigrated to the U.S., where he achieved fame appearing in various venues, including radio, films, concert halls, Broadway, and television. Though he performed as soloist and guest conductor with many of the world's leading orchestras, his significant pianistic talent was often overshadowed by his highly popular humour.
(b Copenhagen, 3 Jan 1909). American pianist, conductor and musical humorist. He studied at the Copenhagen conservatory and later in Berlin, escaping to Sweden and then the USA during World War II. From 1953 onwards he gave 850 daily recitals entitled ‘Comedy in Music’; his routines involved verbal and musical humour. He toured widely and appeared on radio, television and in films.
"Humor is something that thrives between man's aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth."
"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
Well-loved for his comedic renderings of classical mainstays, "The Clown Prince of Denmark" Victor Borge (born Borge Rosenbaum) launched his remarkable career with a debut in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music at the spry age of eight. Quickly gaining momentum as a gifted musician, though one who possessed a remarkable sense of humor, it didn't take Borge long to adopt the persona that would define his career.
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Borge emigrated to the United States in 1940 to escape the nazi invasion. Having already established his gift for teasing audiences with his unique wit and goofy humor, the only barrier between Borge and success in the U.S. was language, a barrier soon and successfully overcome as he translated his performances and began to appear on many popular radio shows of the day. Employing tactics that would normally be scoffed at among connoisseurs of the classical variety, Borge broke the barriers of comedy and music through his trademark slapstick, taking a no-holds-barred approach at injecting the kind of pompous-puncturing, giggle-inducing humor that reminded audiences that music, as well as life, must be laughed at every once in a while to be appreciated. Breaking the Broadway record for one-man shows with an exhausting 849 performances at Gotham's Golden Theater in the 1950s, Borge was a tireless performer who continued to entertain well into his own golden years. Staying in the collective consciousness of audiences through touring and the promotion of Funniest Moments videos containing his most beloved routines, Borge entertained generations of audiences worldwide, finding new fans in those who had not been around to witness his early routines and experience his remarkable comic and musical abilities. Though it was uncommon for Borge to appear in films, he did make an appearance as himself in Martin Scorsese's King of Comedy (1983). Aside from his well-known classical stylings, Borge also found success as an orchestra conductor. With his energy and enthusiasm for entertaining never having faded, Borge died in his sleep as the result of heart failure after a brief trip to the city of his birth. He was 91.
Born Borg Rosenbaum, January 3, 1909, in Copen hagen, Denmark; son of Bernard Rosenbaum (a professional musician) and Frederikke (Lichtinger) Rosenbaum; married Elsie Shilton, 1932 (divorced 1951); married Sarabel Scraper in 1953; children: (first marriage) Roland, Janet, (second marriage) Sanna, Victor Bernhardt, Frederikke; Education: Ostre Borgerdyd Skole (Copenhagen); Royal Danish Music Conservatory (Copenhagen); Vienna Music Conservatory (Austria); studied in Berlin with Frederic Lamond and Egon Petri.
Comedian, Pianist, Conductor. Began performing in 1923. Has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Orchestra, the Chicago Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Royal Danish Philharmonic (Copenhagen). Appeared Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall in 1942-43; Victor Borge Show for NBC in 1946; on Broadway in one-man show, Comedy in Music, from 1953-1956.
Awards: Knight First Class, Order of Saint Olav (Norway); Royal Order Daneborg (Denmark); Order of Vasa (Sweden); Brotherhood Award; Wads worth International Award; Georg Jensen Silver Award; Shubert Foundation Award.
Addresses:Home—Greenwich, CT. Management— Gurtman and Murtha Associates, 450 Seventh Avenue, Suite 603, New York, NY 10123.
Musical Comedian
The scene is as timeless as its performer. A classical pianist in an immaculate tuxedo walks across the stage of a hushed concert hall. Reaching his waiting piano, he sits down with quiet majesty and falls over backward with a loud crash. The audience titters. The pianist gets to his feet, apparently unruffled, rights the bench, and drops the piano lid on his hand, knocking over his microphone stand in the process. The audience laughs. Shaken but undaunted, the pianist nervously adjusts the sheet music in front of him which unaccountably flies up in the air to land all over the stage. The audience howls. In sheer desperation, he launches into a Beethoven sonata, pounding the keys faster and faster, losing control of the tempo, and suddenly stops abruptly in mid-piece, turns to the audience and exhales smoke. The audience is convulsed with laughter.
For many classical musicians, such a nightmarish scenario might tempt them quit the stage permanently, but for Danish musician and comedian Victor Borge, it has been the foundation for a career. For over half a century, Borge has entertained audiences worldwide with a mix of slapstick pratfalls, absurd monologues in heavily accented English, and over-the-top performances of classical standards, almost, but not quite, disguising his complete mastery of the "serious" classical music idiom. Sly satirizing the starch-collared mannerisms of classical performances, Borge aims to make classical music accessible by emphasizing its humorous aspects without detracting from its beauty. Ironically, in doing so he has become one of the most widely recognized classical musicians in the world today.
Born Borg Rosenbaum in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1909, Victor Borge was the youngest son of Bernard Rosenbaum, a viola player in the Royal Danish Philharmonic Orchestra, and the former Frederikke Lichtinger, a gifted pianist. As might be expected for a family of musicians, Borge was immersed in music almost from birth. He began reading music at age four and by age eight, had performed his first piano recital. The young Borge often accompanied his father to his job at the opera house and became fascinated with conducting, so much so that he would borrow symphony scores from the library and memorize them. By age ten, his musical gifts were widely evident and he received a scholarship to study at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory with the leading Danish pianist of the era, Victor Schioler.
In tandem with his musical ability, Borge also developed an acute comic sensibility. Often asked to perform at private parties from an early age, Borge would play practical jokes on his audience by spontaneously improvising musical pieces with absurd titles such as "Beethoven’s Sonata no. 112" and then listen gleefully as
audience members commented that the piece was one of their favorites. At school, he became known for his pranks and abilities as a burlesque artist, inventing skits that mocked the rigid standards of public conduct that were the norm for the early twentieth century Denmark.
The Beginnings of a Comedic Calling In his first major public appearance at age fourteen, Borge was called upon to perform the piano solo for Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. Looking over the audience, as he recalled in a Saturday Evening Post Article, he saw that "half of them were falling asleep, and the other half sat gravely, like witnesses at an execution. It suddenly dawned on me that the whole thing was extremely funny." He surreptitiously winked at the audience; in reaction to their titters orchestra began to play faster. The disconcerted conductor lost his place in the score, so Borge stopped playing, walked over to the podium, and pointed out where he should be. The audience response was howls of laughter and the seed for Borge’s future as a comedian was planted.
For the moment, however, he continued his training to be a "serious" classical musician. At sixteen, Borge left Denmark on a scholarship to study at the Vienna Music Conservatory. From there, he went on to Berlin and apprenticed with Frederic Lamond and Egon Petri, two of the most prominent piano teachers of the time. Lamond did not particularly encourage the young pianist, but Petri did, seeing some raw talent in his student. As Borge recalled in a New York Times article, Petri "gave me a quality of finesse I never had…. I was on my way to becoming a first class concert pianist."
In 1932, he returned to Denmark to pursue a full-time career in music, but as chance would have it, he was destined for other things. Although Borge’s piano playing was critically praised, he suffered from dehabilitating attacks of stage fright. To counter-act this potentially career-threatening problem, he started engaging the audience in informal comedy routines and bantering between pieces. Borge’s quick wit and keen sense of the absurd was highly appealing to his listeners and this aspect of his performances came to overshadow his playing. By the late 1930s, he had become one of the most successful nightclub acts in Denmark, as well as appearing in six films, commanding the highest salary of any Danish entertainer.
Forced to Flee Events taking place on the world stage, however, would cast a pall on Borge’s rising career. While in Berlin, he had witnessed the emergence of the Nazi party. Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933, marked by aggressive rhetoric toward Germany’s neighbors and strident anti-Semitic propaganda, was very disturbing to Borge, both as a Dane and as a member of Denmark’s small Jewish minority. He began to include pointed satirical references to Hitler and Germany in his act, sparking threats from Danish Nazi sympathizers. When Germany forced Denmark to sign a non-aggression pact, Borge sarcastically commented, "How nice. Now the Germans can sleep in peace, secure from the threat of Danish aggression." In April, 1940, the German army occupied Denmark. Borge’s name figured prominently on a list of Danish intellectuals and artists to be arrested, but fortunately when Gestapo agents appeared at his house in Copenhagen, he was on tour in Sweden.
Borge had narrowly escaped imprisonment or worse, but the future in war-torn Europe looked bleak. As his wife, Elsie, was an American citizen, she was able to book passage for the two on the last ship leaving from Northern Scandinavia for the then neutral United States. However, to accompany his wife Borge needed an exit visa, an item difficult to come by with the immense refugee problem the war had created. In a strokeof good luck, the American consul in Stockholm happened to be a fan of his, so Borge was able to obtain the papers he needed and catch the boat just as the gangplank was being pulled up. After a nerve-wracking voyage that included passing through mine fields and severe overcrowding on board ship, Borge disembarked on American soil in August, 1940.
A Danish Comedian Reinvents Himself In the new and unfamiliar world in which hefound himself, Borge was a virtual unknown, so like any number of immigrants before him, he re-invented himself. Adopting the Americanized name Victor Borge—prior to this, he had been known by his birth name, Borg Rosenbaum— he applied himself to reading comic strips and watching gangster films so as to grasp the idiosyncracies of American speech and translate his Danish comedy routine into English. The complexities of the new language, which Borge nonetheless managed to pick up quickly, became a staple of his stage act and remain so to this day. His deliberate mispronunciations of words, coupled with "phonetic punctuation," a system of nonverbal sounds to indicate commas, periods, and other elements of punctuation would prove to be enormously popular.
Borge’s first performance on the American stage however, a small part in a 1941 Ed Sullivan Broadway revue, was anything but encouraging. Rattled by last minute changes in his laboriously perfected act, Borge forgot his lines and was promptly fired. He was undiscouraged, performing in Florida to good reviews and then making his way to Calif ornia where appearances on band leader Rudy Vallee’s radio show exposed him to a national audience for the first time. Americans found the specta-cleof an apparently serious classical musician stopping in mid-piece to engage in irreverent asides in a deep Scandinavian accent hilarious and talent scouts for Bing Crosby’s show, Kraft Music Hall, lost no time in signing Borge. He would go on to perform fifty-four times on Crosby’s show and become one of the most popular and highest paid nightclub performers of the early 1940s, on a par with Red Skelton, Henny Youngman, and George Burns.
By 1945, Borge was a substitute host on a weekly radio showfor NBC and shortly afterwards, the network signed him to a show of his own, the Victor Borge Show. Although sucha meteoric rise for someone who just afew years before had been a refugee from the Nazis was astounding, Borge was still not satisfied. Convinced that the constrictions of performing within the format of a radio show or nightclub act stifled his creativity, he tended from the late 1940s on to appear exclusively before live audiences in concert halls and auditoriums, a forum in which he was free to set his own material and time limits. Left to his own devices, he flourished, developing many of the routines that would be his trademark for the next half century.
Apart from the delightfully low-brow satire of high culture that was the basis for his act, perhaps the strongest element of Borge’s appeal was the spontaneity with which he carried things off, particularly as he became more comfortable in his adopted language. As he explained in a Piano Quarterly interview, "On stage I’m like a bat throwing out my radar. I listen to those sounds and they tell me the direction I should fly." Audience members arriving late, his dog accidentally following him on to the stage, a bug landing on his nose as he played, all provided a focal point from which to improvise absurdly witty monologues. Musically he was just as creative, starting a serious piece by Beethoven, playing a few bars, and then switching into "Happy Birthday." Although Borge did have some standard numbers, he was largely able to give the impression that he was making his routine up as he went along, a feature which kept his clowning fresh in the eyes of his audience.
Sets a World Record On October 2, 1953, Borge opened as a one-man show on Broadway under the title Comedy in Music. It was a risky move and the show was expected to close after only a few performances. Afflicted with severe opening night jitters, Borge was convinced that the show was a flop; it was not until he received glowing press reviews the next morning that he realized he might have something. Comedy in Music proceeded to run almost three years with some 849 performances, ranking to this day in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running one-man show in theatrical history. At the end of the show’s Broadway run, Borge took it back on the road and toured worldwide for the next four decades.
Perhaps because of his reputation as a comedian, it is not always recognized that Borge is a great musician in his own right. His childhood fascination with conducting led him to begin appearing from the mid-1970s on as a guest conductor with a number of prominent orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the London Philharmonic. But it is his piano playing, on those occasions when he does not stop halfway through a piece to crack jokes, that transmits his deep feel and understanding for music. Borge, a throwback to the golden era of piano of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, retains a graceful touch and lyricism to his playing, which a New York Times music critic described as "warm, rich, highly nuanced… [reflecting] a school of piano playing that is almost extinct."
In a testament to the longevity and appeal of his gifts, Borge continued to appear into the late 1990s. One of the last great comedians from the era of vaudeville and burlesque, his quirky sense of humor seems to appeal to audiences as much as ever, even after fifty years of performing essentially the same act. A 1990 video of a Borge performance entitled The Best of Victor Borge sold over 2,600,000 copies, and a 1993 PBS special, Victor Borge: Then & Now," has been widely featured on fundraising specials. Borge continues to keep up a schedule that wou Id tire out someone half his age. When asked by a New York Times interviewer about this, he responded, "Why not…? I know life. I have had a full measure of experience. Shouldn’t I take advantage of it? The fruit is on the tree. Should I let it rot?"
Selected discography An Evening with Victor Borge, Columbia, 1948. The Blue Serenade, Columbia, 1948. Comedy in Music: Vol. II, Columbia, 1954. Comedy in Music: Vol. I, Columbia, 1954. Victor Borge Plays and Conducts Concert Favorites, Columbia, 1959. The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Company, Columbia, 1959. Great Memories from Old Time Radio, Columbia Musical Treasuries, 1960. Borgering on Genius, MGM, 1962. Victor Borge at His Best, PRT Records, 1972. Borge at His Best, PRT Records, 1972. Thirteen Pianos Live in Concert, Telefunken, 1975. The Two Sides of Victor Borge, Borge Productions, 1987. Live at the London Palladium, Marble Arch, 1991. Live, Sony, 1992.
Sources Periodicals Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1996. Musical America, January 1989. New York Times, December 21, 1984; December 5, 1989. Piano Quarterly, Vol. no. 130, 1985. Saturday Evening Post, February 16, 1957. Symphony Magazine, June/July 1981. Additional information for this profile was provided by Gurtman and Murtha Associates, New York, NY.
Musical humorist Victor Borge was born Børge Rosenbaum in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 3, 1909; the son of a violinist with the violin in the Danish Symphony Orchestra, he began playing piano at age three, and was quickly hailed as a child prodigy. On scholarship at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory, he studied under Olivo Krause and Victor Schiøler, later becoming a protege of Frederic Lamond and Egon Petri; in 1926 Borge made his professional debut, and by the following decade ranked among the top stage and film stars in all of Scandinavia. His performances always maintained a satirical bent, adopting an increasingly acrid sensibility as the Nazis began sweeping through Europe; Borge, a Jew, regularly mocked Hitler from the stage, and when the German forces invaded Denmark in 1940 the pianist was briefly blacklisted before fleeing to the United States, escaping from Finland via the S. S. American Legion, the last American passenger ship to leave Northern Europe prior to World War II.
Borge arrived in New York City without knowing a word of English, but soon learned enough of the language to land a job as the opening act for Rudy Vallee's radio show before moving on to Bing Crosby's program. Emerging as a fixture of radio and later television, in 1953 Borge arrived on Broadway as the star of Comedy in Music; the production ran through 1956, and its 849 performances entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running one man show. His patented brand of comedy, a singular combination of one-liners, sight gags and musical pranks, worked simultaneously to deflate the pretensions of classical music while expanding its popularity and accessiblity; often, Borge's onstage antics obscured the virtuosity of his piano playing, however, although he appeared with many of the world's most renowned orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic. In addition to a series of albums and home videos, Borge also co-authored a pair of books, My Favorite Intermissions and My Favorite Comedies in Music, and continued actively performing past his 90th birthday. He died at home on December 23, 2000. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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 (/ˈbɔrɡə/bor-gə; 3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000),[1] born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,[2]The Unmelancholy Dane,[3] and The Great Dane.[4]
Borge was born Børge Rosenbaum in Copenhagen, Denmark, into a Jewish family. His parents, Bernhard and Frederikke Rosenbaum, were both musicians—his father a violist in the Royal Danish Orchestra[5] and his mother a pianist.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] He traveled to America on the USS American Legion, the last neutral ship to make it out of Petsamo, Finland,[9] and arrived 28 August 1940, with only 20 dollars (equal to $313 today), with $3 (equal to $46.99 today) going to the customs fee. Disguised as a sailor, Borge returned to Denmark once during the occupation to visit his dying mother.[10]
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,[11] but was hired soon after by Bing Crosby for his Kraft Music Hall.[12]
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,[13] 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.[14] Or he would 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.[15] 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").[16]
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, 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). 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 seatbelt, 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. His musical sidekick in the 1950s, Leonid Hambro, was a well-known concert pianist. In 1968, classical pianist Şahan Arzruni joined him as his straightman, 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]
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[24] of The Muppet Show.[25]
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 hens.[26]
Borge helped start several trust funds, including the Thanks to Scandinavia Fund,[27] which was started in dedication to those who helped the Jews escape the German persecution during the war.[28]
Aside from his musical work, Borge wrote three books, My Favorite Intermissions[29] and My Favorite Comedies in Music[30] (both with Robert Sherman), and the autobiography Smilet er den korteste afstand ("The Smile is the Shortest Distance") with Niels-Jørgen Kaiser.[31]
Family
After divorcing his wife Elsie, he married Sarabel Sanna Scraper in 1953 and they stayed married until her death at the age of 83 in September 2000.[32]
Borge fathered five children (who occasionally performed with him): Ronald Borge and Janet Crowle with Elsie Chilton, and Sanna Feirstein, Victor Bernhard (Vebe) Jr., and Frederikke (Rikke) Borge with Sarabel.[33]
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 USA 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]
When in 1998 the Royal Danish Orchestra celebrated its 550th anniversary, Borge was appointed an honorary member[37] – at that time one of only 10 in the orchestra's history.[38]
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
Phonetic Punctuation Parts 1 and 2 (1945, Columbia Records 36911, 78 rpm)[44][45]
The Blue Serenade / A Lesson in Composition (1945, Columbia Records 36912, 78 rpm)[44][45]
Brahms’ Lullaby / Grieg Rhapsody (1945, Columbia Records 36913, 78 rpm)[44]
A Mozart Opera by Borge / All The Things You Are (1945, Columbia Records 36914, 78 rpm)[44]
A Victor Borge Program (1946, Columbia Album C-111, 4 discs 78 rpm – a set containing the four previous releases)[46]
Unstarted Symphony / Bizet's Carmen (1947, Columbia Records 38181, 78 rpm)[47]
Intermezzo / Stardust (1947, Columbia Records 38182, 78 rpm)[47]
Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 / Inflation Language (1947, Columbia Records 38183, 78 rpm)[47]
Clair de Lune / Vuggevise (1947, Columbia Records 38184, 78 rpm)[47]
An Evening with Victor Borge (1948 Columbia Album C-161, 4 discs 78 rpm – a set containing the four previous releases)[47]
A Victor Borge Program (1951, Columbia Records CL-6013, 10'' LP)[48]
Comedy in Music, Vol. 1 (1954, Columbia Records CL-6292, 10'' LP)[49]
Comedy in Music, Vol. 2 (1954, Columbia Records CL-6293, 10'' LP)[49]
Comedy in Music (1954, Columbia Records CL-554, LP)[50]
Caught in the Act (1955, Columbia Records CL-646, LP)[51]
Brahms, Bizet and Borge (1955, Columbia Records CL-2538, 10'' LP)[48]
½ Time På Dansk (1958, Fona 251 HI-FI, 10'' LP)[52]
The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Company (1959, Columbia Records CL-1223, LP)[48]
The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Company (1959, Coronet KLP 762, LP (AUS))[53]
Victor Borge Plays and Conducts Concert Favorites (1959, Columbia Records CL-1305/CS-8113, LP)[54]
^Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (29 April 1944). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. p. 25. ISSN00062510. http://books.google.com/books?id=igwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT24. Retrieved 3 October 2010. "Victor Borge and his dead-pan interpretations of phonetic punctuation and gags clicked soundly with the pew-sitters."
^"Paid Notice – Deaths BORGE, VICTOR – Paid Death Notice – NYTimes.com:". The New York Times. 26 December 2000. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/26/classified/paid-notice-deaths-borge-victor.html?ref=victor_borge. Retrieved 2 October 2010. "Thanks To Scandinavia is profoundly saddened by the passing of its co-founder and National Chairman Victor Borge. Escaping from Denmark in 1940 to freedom in the U.S. just ahead of the Nazi invasion, Mr. Borge continually showed vigorous appreciation for the opportunities provided by both his native country and his adopted land. Among those efforts -Thanks To Scandinavia, a scholarship fund created in 1963 for Scandinavian students and doctors which stands as a perpetual American thank you to Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden for the protection and rescue heroically offered Scandinavian Jews and others during World War II. This time Victor, this last time, we say thanks to you for your generosity of spirit, your friendship, your legendary humor, your sublime musicianship and your eloquent devotion to the wellbeing of your fellow man."
^"Paid Notice – Deaths BORGE, VICTOR – Paid Death Notice – NYTimes.com:". The New York Times. 27 December 2000. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/27/classified/paid-notice-deaths-borge-victor.html?ref=victor_borge. Retrieved 2 October 2010. "The American Jewish Committee remembers with great affection and enduring admiration Victor Borge, a man who embodied the rare and wonderful qualities of genuine humor, deep compassion, and true humanity. We are especially grateful for Mr. Borge's gift of performance that enabled us to partake of his exceptional spirit and enriched our lives. AJC was deeply honored to recently become affiliated with Thanks To Scandinavia, the scholarship fund founded by Mr. Borge and New York attorney Richard Netter to thank Scandinavians for rescuing Jews during the Second World War. Through the foundation, we are committed to keeping Mr. Borge's memory-and his vision-vibrant for future generations."
^"Victor Borge / Explore the Arts – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts:". http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3700&source_type=A. Retrieved 3 October 2010. "He looks like a elder statesman and speaks with the charming accents of a middle European fairytale kingdom, but the whole world knows him as the Great Dane. Victor Borge's unique combination of concert pianist and sit-down comedian – an intoxicating mixture of melodies and mirth – has made him a living legend for most of the 20th century. His ability to puncture the pretensions of humanity in general, musicians in particular, whether he's lampooning stuffy conductors or grandiose concert pianists, remains undiminished, seventy years after his professional debut. As every good musician and comic knows, it's all in the timing and Borge is a master. He holds the Guinness Book of Records citation for longest-running one-man show in the history of the theater, with 849 performances on Broadway of his "Comedy in Music," which began in 1952."
^ 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.
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