A video tribute to the centennial of classical music's court jester

[thatcrazycajun]

Sure as blossoms sprouting on the trees and birds singing in their branches, another sign of spring is upon us: public broadcasting pledge drives on TV and radio. But there is at least one good reason to endure the constant interruptions and pleas for money this time around.

Victor Borge would have turned 100 this year, had he not been taken from us in 2000 just two weeks prior to his 91st birthday.  Victor Borge: 100 Years of Music & Laughter is a new special being run on most of America's PBS stations as part of their semi-annual beg-a-thons, and it is well worth your time if you remember with any fondness the elegant wiseacre who spent the better part of eight decades injecting lowbrow humor into highbrow culture. Narrated by comedienne and Borge fan Rita Rudner, it celebrates his career with clips of his many performances that were televised, and you can watch his hair go from dark to white as he makes audiences laugh their asses off while dazzling them with his virtuosic playing. You have to pity the poor coloratura Marylyn Mulvey attempting to sing a Rigoletto aria alongside him, being upstaged, startled and otherwise abused by the puckish pianist while struggling to maintain that stately Margaret Dumont carriage, her voice and a straight face.

Borge was an immigrant who came to America fleeing the Nazi occupation of his native Denmark in 1940. Being Jewish, he escaped the horrific fate of so many other European Jews only by the incredible luck of just happening to be in Sweden performing a concert at the time. He came to America with just the equivalent of $20.00 in his pocket (three of which he had to pay the customs officer) and not speaking a solitary word of English. He learned the language by watching movies and charmed his way into his adopted country's hearts with his onstage antics while gleefully mutilating some of classical music's most famous pieces and doing spoken routines such as "Phonetic Punctuation" and "Inflationary Language." The special also shows the inspired lunacy that ensued whenever a venue made the mistake of giving Borge a baton and an orchestra to mess with.

Watch this special if it's aired in your town; check your listings. Or if you don't feel like putting up with pledge breaks, you can always order the DVD from your local station or Amazon. If you don't already know why old Vic was affectionately called "The Great Dane," you'll soon learn. And if you've ever been lucky enough to be present in person at a Borge concert (I, alas, was not), fer gossakes tell me about it.

Comments

Victo Borgia

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

I was priviledged to go to a performance of his at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans in the 1980s.

Re: Victo Borgia

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Ah, the poor old Saenger... Haven't they fixed that place up yet? And what do you remember from the show? Details, man, details!

Re: Victor Borgia

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

He did a number of bits which are his standards heard on records and seen on video, with occasional variations. He had as good a sense of timing and relation to the audience as any comedian I've seen live. He had a female singer with him for a few bits.

The Saenger is still empty since Katrina; supposedly it is going to be fixed up, but I've also heard the owners are trying to sell the building.

I just looked at the Wikipedia article. I hadn't known that "Victor Borgia" was a stage name he took after arriving in the United States. Hm.

In the 1920s the Victor Talking Machine Company produced a phonograph called the "Victor Borgia". It was a high-end Victrola with one of the first (maybe THE first, I'd have to check) commercially marketed record changers, all mechanical powered by spring motor (you had to wind it up a long time). Mechanical arms put on a new shellac 78 rpm disc after the first one played with a loud clunk-- if anything was a bit out of adjustment, hope your record wasn't irreplaceable. The machines are at once impressive and rather Rube Goldbergish. I'd always assumed the shared name was a coincidence, now I wonder if he saw one at a used furniture/junk shop after he arrived in the States and had an inspiration...

Re: Victor Borgia

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

Also, I somehow never noticed that the sound made by the volume adjusment button on my Mac is the same as his phonetic punction period!

[katrinb.livejournal.com]

I thought most of the Danish Jews were smuggled to Sweden?

Anyway, my grandma was a huge fan of his. She used to tell us that she was at one of his concerts once, and was laughing so hard, he looked over from the stage and said, concerned, "Breathe, madam! Breathe!"

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many Jews from Denmark made it to Sweden, but I do know at least a few of them were caught. I may have to rephrase that portion of the original post, though; thanks for reminding me.

Jews in Denmark in WW2

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

Most of the Jews in Denmark were able to escape to Sweden with the help of the Danish people. I don't know how many Jews there were before WW2, but IIRC, only 700 were killed. It was a much smaller percentage than any other country, for instance, Poland, where the population of 3,300,000 Jews was reduced to 30,000.

Re: Jews in Denmark in WW2

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

Actually, that last number should've been 3,000, not 30,000.

[filkferengi]

The last showing is apparently this Sunday at 3 p.m., so I would've missed it. Thanks for the heads-up!