Victor Borge
By Tom Kirvan
Known as the “comedian of the keyboard,” Danish-born Victor Borge was a musical humorist, pianist, and conductor rolled into one.
“If I have caused one person to wipe away a tear of laughter, that is my reward,” Borge said of his love for performing, which he did from the time he was 8 until his death at age 91 on December 23, 2000.
Borge’s show, “Comedy in Music,” made Broadway history in the 1950s when it ran for 849 performances, a record for a one-man engagement. Over the years, Borge took the show on the road, performing it around the globe before bringing back revised versions to Broadway.
As a child prodigy, Borge made his concert debut as a pianist in Copenhagen at the age of 8 and later was awarded a scholarship to the Copenhagen Music Conservatory. He would go on to polish his craft under the tutelage of some of the most celebrated pianists in Europe.
As a Jew living in Denmark, Borge saw his rise as a performer coincide with the spread of fascism in Europe. He was performing in Sweden at the time of the German invasion of Denmark, escaping to the United States in 1940 on one of the last boats leaving Finland. In an expression of his lasting gratitude, Borge became a founder of the Thanks to Scandinavia Foundation, which offered scholarships to Scandinavian students in recognition of the role of their countrymen in saving Jews during World War II.
Victor Borge*
Borge’s immense musical talents were on full display when he made his American concert debut at Carnegie Hall in 1945, combining his comedy routines with serious piano playing while capping off his appearance by conducting a 45-piece orchestra.
During the twilight of his career, Borge spent most of his time as a conductor of classical music, guiding such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, the Royal Copenhagen, and the major orchestras in New York, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.
When he reached 90, Borge continued to defy the aging odds, performing nearly 60 shows in a year, declaring the “fruit is on the tree” and there is no reason to “let it rot.”
In reflecting on his staying power, Borge attributed it to understanding this message: “The smile is the shortest distance between people, and the more we smile, the less we fight.”
*Jesper Jurcenoks, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons