Denmark is famous as being the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson. In recent years the nation has also become, in Australia at least, synonymous with “our Mary”. However Denmark also claims fame as being the birthplace of virtuoso pianist and comedian Victor Borge.
Victor Borge was neither the first nor the last comedian to combine humour with beautiful music. He was however, one of its most loved protagonists. Born in Copenhagen in 1909, Victor was a musical prodigy, winning a full scholarship to the Royal Danish Music Conservatory at the age of nine and making his debut solo at the Copenhagen Philharmonic at the age of ten.
Outspoken against the Nazis, Victor’s name featured on Hitler’s list of ‘undesirables’. Fortunately Victor was in Sweden when the Nazi’s invaded Denmark in 1940. From Sweden he escaped to Finland and then to America, arriving in the US with only $20. He spoke no English at the time and notoriously learnt English by going to movies. Victor got a start in the US on radio, initially performing on Rudy Vallee’s radio show and was then quickly picked up by Bing Crosby for “Kraft Music Hall”. He toured extensively in his life, entered into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest running one man after a run of 849 performances of Comedy in Music from 1953 to 1956.
Victor’s performance was a pastiche of audience banter, feigned dither, tightly scripted monologue and musical virtuosity. One of his more famous routines saw Victor playing a piece of music with the appearance of increasing confusion. After studying the sheet music more closely he would turn the music upside down and triumphantly resume the piece, this time correctly (he had previously been literally playing the piece upside down).
Victor once said “to people who take music seriously, I’m a musician. To people who don’t take music seriously, I’m a comedian. To people who don’t take anything seriously, I’m a clown.” Victor Borge died in his sleep in December 2000.