Great Danes in Exile, Part 2 – Victor Borge, Clown Prince of Denmark
by Norman Berdichevsky (May 2009)
The most well known, beloved and popular entertainer to combine humor and music was the Danish-American pianist Victor Borge who enchanted and delighted American and world audiences for three generations from the time of his arrival in the United States as a refugee fleeing German occupied Denmark in 1940 until his death in 2000. Known as The Clown Prince of Denmark, he drew upon the tradition of gentle and ironic satire used by another great Dane, Hans Christian Andersen.
His humor was remarkable. It was the antithesis of slapstick and relied on clever ploys, outrageous juxtapositions, word gags, logical absurdities and the totally unexpected. He never cheapened his humor with base sexual innuendo. Perhaps his philosophy was best described in his own words that “the shortest distance between two points is a smile.”
Victor Borge left behind a mass audience with an enormous appreciation of his talent. More than this, he was a self-made man who became a generous benefactor providing aid to Jewish refugees who like himself, had to flee their homelands. Together with New York attorney Richard Netter, he created the Thanks to Scandinavia Scholarship Fund that has brought more than a thousand Scandinavian students and scientists to study in the United States.
His name is enshrined in Victor Borge Hall, located in Scandinavia House in New York City and at Victor Borge Plads, a major Copenhagen square. On his grave in Greenwich, Connecticut stands a statue of the Little Mermaid. It is no exaggeration to say that more than any other individual he helped personify the best bonds of good friendship and mutual respect between the United States and Denmark.
Victor Borge was not just simply a comedian or a musician. Like the other “Great Danes,” his vocal opposition to the Nazis even before their war of aggression against his homeland put him in the forefront of those who risked everything to speak out and be heard when so many others of his countrymen, and most Europeans preferred the convenience and safety of being silent. Due to his comic revues satirizing Hitler and the Nazi regime, he was physically attacked by Danish Nazi sympathizers.
Born Borge Rosenbaum, Victor was a child prodigy. His parents Bernhard and Frederikke were both distinguished musicians and from a Jewish family that had long been resident in Denmark. He gave his first recital at the age of eight and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and starred in a major concert in 1926. Although considered a success as a classical pianist, Victor Borge launched a career that stemmed from his irrepressible humor. He had hit upon an unusual formula that he made his own and explained that “For those people who take music seriously, I’m a musician and to people who don’t take anything seriously, I’m a clown.”
Victor Borge grew up in the middle class neighborhood of Østerbro in Copenhagen and absorbed the culture of a family of professional musicians and parents who honored Jewish tradition but were committed to integration within Danish society. His father had played the violin in the Royal Danish Philharmonic Orchestra for 35 years. Victor began to learn to play the piano from his mother when he was three years old. His penchant for wry humor and party tricks were apparent at gatherings in his parents' home when he would volunteer to play compositions of his own in the style of Beethoven or another famous composer, convincing the guests that these were the works of the great masters.
As a musical comedian, he launched a dual career as an actor in Denmark’s moving picture industry and as a musical revue entertainer in the 1930s. In the period 1935-1940, he appeared in numerous comedy, theatrical and musical revues throughout Denmark and in several major Danish films as a character actor. They were “De tre, måske fire” (The Three, maybe four), “Alarm”, "Frk. Møllers Jubilaeum" (Miss Møllers Anniversary), “Der var en gang en vicevaert” (There was once a superintendant).
One of his comedy routines brought him into the political spotlight when he lampooned the Nazis by asking what is the difference between a dog and a Nazi? "A Nazi lifts its arm.” These remarks made him a marked man and his name was among those who were to be immediately arrested following the German army’s invasion of Denmark on April 9, 1940. Already in 1939 on a visit to Stockholm to appear in a review he had confided in several friends that he knew “which way the wind is blowing” and expected a German invasion of the Scandinavian countries.
Borge managed to secure passage on the last American passenger ship, the S.S. American Legion, leaving Northern Europe in 1940. “As he later said, “Churchill and I were the only ones who saw what was happening, he saved Europe and I saved myself…”
Arriving practically penniless and with no knowledge of English, Victor Borge nevertheless quickly drew attention to himself and by 1941 had become a member of Bing Crosby’s radio program, appearing on that show for 56 weeks. In 1942, he was accorded the honor of being named “the best new radio performer of the year” by the American press. To celebrate American democracy, Victor appeared together with Frank Sinatra in the film “Higher and Higher” and “Meet the People” in 1944. While the war was still on, he managed to arrange to secretly return to occupied Denmark disguised as a seaman when he was made aware that his mother was on her deathbed. In 1948, Victor Borge became an American citizen.
Television brought him additional fame and instant recognition through appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show TV show in 1949 and his own one man show, "Comedy in Music". After opening in Seattle, in February, 1953 the show ran for an extended stay on Broadway at the Golden Theatre for 849 performances, a total that set an all time record for a running solo appearance. The show was transformed into a televised episode of Omnibus, a 90 minute commercial free program funded by the Ford Foundation. His 90 minute video “The Best of Victor Borge” has sold more than 3 million copies. In his career throughout the 1950s to the end of his life, he performed on the average of 100 or more nights a year.
His many honors include knighthood by the five Scandinavian countries, a special Medal of Honor awarded by the Liberty Centennial Committee at a gala ceremony at Ellis Island and awards by the United States Congress, the United Nations, the International Humor Treasure Award and a special honor by the Kennedy Center in 2000.
The brand new Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen was in part made possible by a generous donation of $250,000 by Victor Borge. The museum's site was chosen, in part, for its significance to Danish Jewish history. It was constructed by Christian lV, the first Danish king to invite Jews to settle in Denmark in 1622. When the Germans occupied Denmark during World War II, the Royal collection of Hebraica and Judaica was hidden there to protect it and the Library’s Judaica collection remains one of Europe’s finest. The museum was designed by award winning Architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed Berlin’s Jewish Museum, and whose design was originally selected by a special commission to rebuild the Twin Towers in New York.
Americans of my age (65) remember his two most famous routines – Inflationary Language and Phonetic Pronunciation with special affection. Few of his fans know that The Phonetic Pronunciation routine was used as a diagnostic tool by medical doctors to determine if the hearing loss suffered by some soldiers was due to a psychosomatic cause and curable or the result of physical injuries and therefore likely incurable.
The Inflationary Language skit was created to “keep up with inflation” and was a triumph of zany humor which uniquely required the participation of the audience mentally trying to keep pace with telling of the story and struggling to unwind the distorted words. In case you’ve never hear it, here is a brief sample (not as funny on the written page because you don’t have to guess so much)…..
“Twice upon a time, there lived in Sunny Califivenia a young man named Bob. He was a third leiutelevenant in the US Air Fiveces. Bob had been fond of Anna, his one-and-a-half sister, ever since she saw the light of day for the second time. And all three of them were proud of the fact that two of his fivefathers had been among the crenineders of the US Constithreetion.They were dining on the terrace. "Anna," he said as he took a bite of a marininded herring, "You look twoderful threenight. You never looked that lovely befive. The table was tastefully deconinded with Anna's favorite flowers: Threelips.”
The beauty of this insane exercise in manipulating language is that the “real word” dawns on the listener just in time to get mentally ready for the next inflationary word – you’ve got to think but the effort is worth the humor. Even if you have hear the main "Inflationary routine" several times, you still have to to wrack your brain to grasp..."I nined the ellevderloin with my fivek".
Other fans prefer any one of a dozen zany piano duet routines where Borge and a partner/rival played through each other's arms to reach the far end of the keyboard or raced from one end of the bench to the other to finish playing in unison.
When taking a holiday from his comedy routines, Victor Borge performed as a talented soloist concert pianist and conductor. In an interview with an Associated Press reporter, Victor explained that he never had to “psyche himself up” for a performance. He said “luck, good fortune and stamina always keep me performing”…The moment I walk on the stage, no matter what my mood, if I have any regrets, feel sick or in pain, all; that disappears. That is when the climax of my day occurs.”
Just thirteen days before his death at age 92, Victor Borge gave an interview most of his fans in America may find startling and unsettling. It appeared in the Danish newspaper Berlingske Avis on Sunday, December 10, 2000 and in addition to fond recollections and expressions of love for his deceased wife, he revealed a somber side so utterly in contrast to his public face of eternal good humor. Only his fans able to read the original Danish that as far as I know, has not appeared in print in English, could appreciate how he had faced the cruel realities of the renewed specter of anti-Semitism.
Jakob Kvist (JK) conducted the interview reproduced below in abridged format………
Børge Rosenbaum changed into Victor Borge a long time ago. He cannot be separated from following his trade and openly wouldn’t want it any other way. But this is what may occasionally occur he says.
“I am naturally in good humor. That’s my nature. Therefore I am also in very bad humor when I am not in good humor. I’m like that so that I can also open and close a mood with a key. Either I am at the very bottom or I’m at the very top rather than somewhere in between.”
JK: Has humor been a sort of shield for you?
“Yes – in very large degree – it has protected me. In reality, I am very shy. I was shy when I got together in the company of many people. So I always stood a bit in the background. I didn’t like being celebrated and still don’t. Naturally, I do like it in a way but not as the center of things.”
JK: And have you always been like that all your life?
“Yes, it couldn’t have been avoided, For it is me that makes things hum. And I do that unconsciously. It’s something that happens naturally. Sometimes it irritates me because I don’t want to make an impression on people clowning around and trying to be funny all the time. And I don’t do that, but I am funny and I can’t help that. It’s just like people who stutter. They can’t stop."
JK: Is it a matter of fate?
“Yes, and so there are of course, other reasons. With Nazism, it was persecution. You could never be sure. So it has simultaneously been a great help and an inhibition. It made me modest, made me reluctant to push myself forward and be aggressive. For that reason too I have always stood in the background.”
JK: Did it also provide a shield when you were young when people shouted “Jew” at you?
"Yes, certainly. I can remember when I stood on stage and could see people even if I couldn’t hear them, I could make out one or another was muttering…”Jew” I could see it in their expression…and that has in a way tormented me my whole life. But there are always people like that. It is so easy to be “anti.” No matter what. It does not demand any knowledge…it does not demand any insight. You just have to clench your fists. And it always amazed me why I should be punished for something I didn’t do. I guess I sometimes go off the rails but I have never felt myself punished in that sense because I just hadn’t done anything.”
JK: Do humor and tragedy go together?
"Yes, Why does one laugh a few years later about things that go wrong. At the moment they happen, yeah they are terrible but when you think back about them and speak about them then you can die of laughter. I can see that immediately, not because I looked for it, it just occurs that way."
JK: And so the clown laughs as we say?
"No, because that means you first have to be a clown and I am not one. A clown is not himself…he puts a mask on and so becomes someone else. But I am myself when I stand on the stage. I am authentic in that sense. It is not fabricated in any way. So it is me who decides. Or more correctly, it is not me that decides, it is something that determines me. And that has never failed. I count on it and if I hold a speech, I never prepare myself. I wait until all the other speakers are finished, and so I used something that comes automatically. My best speeches are completely spontaneous. They spring out of the situation."
JK: And you mean it’s not difficult for you to go in and be funny when in reality you are in a sad mood?
"No, I can help myself. I am funny...I know that the things I do are funny because they are surprising and there aren’t others who work like that. Of course this is because I have knowledge and training behind me even if I haven’t trained to be funny but I use my knowledge and ability with the piano and it always works.”
JK: You said at one point in a TV interview that you couldn’t understand where the time has gone.
“I can’t understand that it has taken so long to go so fast.”
JK: Is it sad to be old?
“I am not old. My body is old but I haven’t changed. Not at all. I have seen more but I have seen the same thing many times, and much of it requires nothing more than having seen it once. Yes, my physique is weakened a bit or a great bit. And that is understandable but my spirit hasn’t changed. I don’t have the desires I used to have, I don’t have the energy. The locomotive is not so eager. It goes slowly and as I said, I go more slowly but I see more than I haven’t seen before."
JK: Would you have rather stayed in Denmark if fate had not willed it differently for you?
“No, I am happy that what happened, happened. I think I can really say that but the USA is a strange country in many ways.”
JK: Do you feel that as a refugee, you are without roots?
“No, I don’t feel like a refugee at all because there is nothing to flee from. I fled from Nazism and that is gone now but it probably will return again because it is so easy to be a Nazi. It doesn’t require much at all."
JK: Will you be buried in the USA or Denmark?
“First of all, my wife has been cremated and I will also and our ashes mixed together. There is no one who can separate us. Then we shall also be buried where my wife is now buried in America but a part of our ashes will be sent to Denmark and so we shall also be buried there.
JK: For that purpose, Victor Borge has sought and been given permission to create an 80 cm. high bronze copy of The Little Mermaid that shall be placed at his grave in America because it represents Denmark. Americans know that and that is important for Borge that it is immediately recognizable and it will, just like Børge Rosenbaum, be a credit to his memory.
The best obituary was undoubtedly given by his daughter, Frederikke Borge who told "He died peacefully, no pain. He died of terminal life. He was 91 years old and his heart stopped. I think he meant the world to me, as every father does to every daughter, but he meant a lot to a lot of other people, which made me proud to be his daughter, and he was a very decent and generous man, which also made me proud. I think he brought laughter to the world, and I think he was a very gifted musician, and I'll miss him terribly."
So will we all.
NB – note to the reader. This is the second in a series of four articles on "Great Danes in Exile". The first dealt with Piet Hein and appeared in New English Review in January 2009. Coming articles will cover the life stories of Arne Jacobsen and Niels Bohr.
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