With his poor English, he couldn`t even get a job at a gas station. But

SCANDINAVIAN Victor borge
LEGENDS
king
of comedy
This page: Victor Borge caught
smoking in his home in 1970.
Right page: Performing on
2stage
in 1957.
S c a n o r a m a o c to b e r 2 0 0 7
With his poor English, he couldn’t even get a job at a gas station.
But shortly after, VICTOR BORGE was a guest star on Bing
Crosby’s radio show. The Danish entertainer was a man of
surprises but also had a talent for survival. He had escaped
the Nazi’s persecution of the Jews and fled to the USA with a
determination to start his career all over again. And boy, did he.
Bruce Johnson tells the story of his hero.
S c a n o r a m a o c to b e r 2 0 0 7 3
T
hat evening, Borge took a boat across the sound to
Sweden, where he was performing in a musical comedy revue. He continued his performances, although
his heart was breaking.
A week later, he received a cablegram at his hotel informing
him that his mother had died in her sleep. The funeral service
would be at 10 o’clock on Friday. At 9.30 that morning, Borge got
permission to use a small stone chapel at a cemetery in a Stockholm suburb. Standing alone in the aisle, with soft light filtering
through the stained glass windows, he pictured the people who
knew and loved his mother filing into the sanctuary where her
body lay, 650 kilometers away in Copenhagen.
He went to the organ and sat down. He began by playing a simple lullaby that his mother had sung to him. His hands dropped to
his lap. He imagined the people in that distant sanctuary speaking about his mother’s dedication to her family and friends and
her devotion to decency and dignity. He knew the funeral service
by heart. As a student, he had earned extra money playing the
organ at a chapel near the Copenhagen Jewish cemetery.
Alone, far from home and forbidden to be by her side, he played
the funeral music in his mother’s honor. He was amazed that the
walls of the little chapel could withstand the surge of his emotions.
F
amily and music were always very important to Borge,
who was born Borge Rosenbaum. His father Bernhard Rosenbaum had played violin in the Royal Danish Philharmonic Orchestra. His mother was a pianist
and started teaching him to play her instrument when he was
three. According to Borge’s daughter Rikke, “My father said his
mother had a great sense of humor. She always had a glint in her
eye and was quick for a joke.” Her sense of humor influenced her
two sons, Sven and Borge.
Sven, two years older than Borge, had a reputation for being
clever and was a friend of legendary Danish humorist/writer
Storm P. In his act, Borge performed one of Sven’s creations,
licking the fingers of one hand while turning the pages of sheet
music with the other hand.
Borge’s own talent for comedy quickly became evident. As
a young boy, his parents sent him to cheer up ailing relatives.
Borge said, “They either died laughing or they got better.”
When his parents asked him to play at their dinner parties,
he would announce he was playing one of Beethoven’s sonatas
and then improvise a composition in the style of Beethoven. He
thought it was funny when one of the guests would respond, “Ah,
yes, that has always been my favorite of Beethoven’s works,” or
“I’ve never heard it played so well!”
Playing music and making jokes were as natural to Borge as
breathing. “I do it all the time whether on the stage or off. I found
that in a precarious situation, a smile is the shortest distance
between people. When one needs to reach out for sympathy or
a link with people, what better way is there?”
Borge’s unique combination of classical music and comedy made him one of Scandinavia’s most popular entertainers
appearing on the radio, in live revues and in four Danish movies.
When rehearsing for a musical revue, Borge noticed that his
colleagues all had colds and were “punctuating” their lines with
coughs, sneezes, nose blowing, etc. That inspired one of his most
famous routines, “Phonetic Punctuation.” He would explain
that punctuation marks help us when we read, but we sometimes
have problems when we listen because we don’t know where the
punctuation is. His solution was to create a motion and sound
for each punctuation mark, which he demonstrated while reading a love story out loud.
Aware of their persecution of the Jews, Borge satirized and
ridiculed Hitler and the Nazis in his act. Because of his verbal
attacks, he headed the Danish Nazi hit list and began getting
threatening phone calls and letters.
When Germany invaded Denmark on April 9, 1940, Borge was
performing in Sweden. To protect his mother from retaliation
because he had disappeared, she was immediately admitted to
the hospital under an assumed Christian name.
Doggy style. Borge and poodle perform in the USA in the 1950s.
4
S c a n o r a m a o c to b e r 2 0 0 7
Elsie Chilton, Borge’s American-born wife, suggested that
they immigrate to America after the death of his mother. When
Borge went to the American embassy in Sweden to apply for
a visa, the ambassador said, “If you promise to make America
laugh as much as my wife and I laughed the other night, please, I
will ask you to go to America.” Leaving behind almost everything
that they had, Borge, Elsie and their dog sailed on the SS American Legion, the last passenger ship to leave Northern Europe.
Above left: Borge prepares for his two-hour performance at the Palace
Theatre in London on March 22, 1957. Above right: The Borges relax at their
estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, in the mid-1950s. Below: In December
1999, Borge receives the Kennedy Center Honors from President Bill
Clinton for his achievement in the performing arts.
A
o pening spread: scanpi x. th is page: scanpi x. ri g ht page: al l over pres s, s can pix
LEGENDS
I
n the summer of 1940, Victor Borge was an exile in
Sweden because he was number one on the Nazi’s
most-wanted list. He received word that his mother,
Frederikke, was gravely ill. Although someone in Denmark could have recognized him, and being spotted by
a Danish Nazi sympathizer would have been fatal, he
took a risk and snuck into Denmark disguised as a sailor to see her.
He slipped into a private hospital in Copenhagen. When he
entered her room, she held out her arms to greet him and drew
him close. She whispered, “You see, I’m getting better and soon
...” Her strength failed.
Desperate to cheer her up, he told her that he had just received
a tremendous movie offer from Hollywood and that as soon as
she was well enough, they would go to America together. It was
the biggest lie of his life, but he would have done anything to
reassure her. She smiled and whispered, “Don’t let it go to your head ...”
He leaned down, kissed her and said, “Good-bye mother.” As
he left, he knew he would never see her again.
lthough Borge had been an extremely successful
entertainer in Scandinavia, he was unknown in the
USA. Now, at the age of 31, he had to start his career
all over again. Despite what he had told his mother,
he initially had trouble finding bookings. He was confident in
his abilities but not sure where to get his start. He moved to Los
Angeles where he was hired to warm up audiences for singer,
actor, bandleader and entertainer Rudy Vallee’s radio program.
To supplement his income, he applied for a job at a gas station
near the studio but was turned down because he didn’t speak
English well enough.
On December 4, 1941, he appeared as a guest star on Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall radio program. He performed “Phonetic
Punctuation” and other routines that Elsie had translated for
him from Danish to English. He performed his act phonetically
without being sure what he was saying. Audience response was
Left: Lighting the
cigarette for Danish
Queen Margrethe, a
heavy smoker, at a
dinner party at the
University Club in
New York in 1999.
Right: At a benefit
for Memorial-Sloan
Kettering Cancer
Center, held at
New York’s Radio
City Music Hall in
1983, Borge and
Frank Sinatra sing
Autumn Leaves.
S c a n o r a m a o c to b e r 2 0 0 7 5
him little time to spend with his family. So he sold the farm in
1965 and devoted the remainder of his life to his musical comedy
career, family and philanthropy.
Although he became an American citizen and loved his adopted land, Borge retained his love of his native land and often
returned to Scandinavia to perform. “Basically there is no difference between Scandinavian humor and American humor
because when you play a thing upside down you don’t have to
have a language to do that.”
One of Denmark’s highest grants is a musical one Borge estab-
A
H
is mother was not the only member of his family
protected by the Danes from the Nazi Holocaust.
His four older brothers survived because they were
hidden by Danish citizens and sent by boat to Sweden. His aunt, Johanne, was captured by the SS and sent to the
Theresienstadt concentration camp. Diplomatic pressure from
the Danish government and the Red Cross protected the 500
Danish Jews imprisoned there. They survived because Danish
citizens sent them food parcels.
In 1959, Borge began a long association with CARE, a humanitarian organization that began in 1945 by sending food parcels to
those living in areas that had been devastated by the war.
In 1963, the 20th anniversary of the rescue of the Danish
Jews, Borge and Richard Netter created the Thanks To Scandinavia (TTS) scholarship fund in recognition of the bravery
and decency of Scandinavian citizens who risked their lives
In front of the camera during The Victor Borge Show in 1951.
Borge’s
mother
begins
teaching
him to play
the piano
Gives his first piano
concert, at the Odd
Fellow Palæet in
Copenhagen, to
benefit homeless
dogs and cats
Becomes the
headliner at
the Gypsy Hall
nightclub in
Copenhagen
The Victor Borge
Show, a 30-minute
variety show, debuts
on the radio. The program is broadcast for
four years
Becomes an
American
citizen
Opening the Scandinavia
House in New York
in 2000.
Stars in 22 half-hour episodes of his own weekly
comedy-variety TV show,
which is sponsored by
Kellogg’s cereals
The Complete
Victor Borge,
a six-week TV
series, is broadcast on BBC2
Borge’s one-man show
Comedy In Music debuts
on Broadway and sets a
record for the longest running solo broadway show
(849 performances)
Plays himself
in the film The
King Of Come­
dy by Martin
Scorsese
1997
1951
1949
Makes his
TV debut
on The Ed
Sullivan
Show
Borge and family at the house in Frydenlund, Denmark, in 1959.
6
ing as Charlie the Juggling Clown. He has spent his entire life enjoying Borge’s performances through recordings, video and live concerts. [email protected]
1983
Marries
Sarabel
Sanna
Scraper
Performs at
Carnegie Hall
in New York
1948
Debuts on Bing
Crosby’s radio
program and
makes 56
appearances
1945
1940
1932
1926
1912
1909
Victor Borge
(Borge Rosenbaum) is born
in Copenhagen on
January 3
Arrives in New York on the SS Amer­
ican Legion, the last passenger ship
to leave Northern Europe
Bruce Johnson is a variety arts historian and a professional entertainer appear-
Visiting the Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen in 1989.
1941
The Nazis invade Denmark in April.
Borge, who tops the Nazi hit list, is performing in a music revue in Sweden
Marries Americanborn Elsie Shilton
on December 24.
Their marriage
ends in divorce
after 18 years
ple. “The Legend” was recorded and used as a TTS fund-raiser.
At the end of his shows, Borge would say, “I would like to thank
my parents for making this evening possible, and I would like
to thank my children for making it necessary. I would like to
thank all of you for making it so pleasant. When once in a while,
a handkerchief comes out to wipe away tears from laughter, that
is my reward ... the rest goes to the government. Remember that
a smile is the shortest distance between two people. When you
say good-bye to something you love, a little of yourself dies. So I
won’t say good-bye to you. I’ll just say, ‘until next time.’”
His wife died in September 2000. Only three months later,
arriving home after a tour in Denmark to celebrate the holidays
with his family, Borge went to bed and died in his sleep. He was 91.
His daughter Rikke said, “It was just his time to go. He had been
missing my mother terribly.”
Borge saw the last sunrise of his life in Copenhagen and saw
the last sunset of his life in Greenwich, the two places in the
world that he loved the most.
Borge’s autobiography The Smile
Is the Shortest
Distance… is
published in
Denmark
2000
lished in honor of his parents, and it continues to fund music
scholarships. Borge understood its value because, at the age of
nine, he received a full scholarship to the Royal Danish Academy
of Music, and he later received scholarships to study under Frederic Lamond and Egon Petri.
1974
great, and the sponsor insisted he be added to the program. He
appeared on Kraft Music Hall for 56 weeks and was named “the
best new radio performer of the year” by the American press.
After several weeks on the show, Borge returned to the gas
station and told the owner, “My English may not be good enough
to pump your gas, but it is good enough for me to speak on the
radio to 30 million people every week.”
Since English was not his native language, Borge analyzed idioms that everyone else takes for granted. He “stumbled over”
the idiosyncrasies of English, which became part of his act. He
commented, “People think composers sit down all day and sit
to protect the Jews. The multimillion-dollar fund has allowed
more than 3,000 Scandinavian students, scholars, scientists and
doctors to study and conduct research in the United States, Israel and Scandinavia.
To celebrate the founding of TTS, Borge wrote and performed
“The Legend,” a 20-minute monologue. The first part included
some of the humorous wordplay that Borge was known for.
The second half was very effective dramatic theater as Borge
described the rescue of the 7,500 Danish Jews, paid homage to
those involved and urged the listeners to learn from their exam-
“I don’t know why you sit down in the day and sit up at
night. It’s your language. I’m just trying to use it.”
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Always finding new, and
sim­ple, ways to entertain,
Borge plays his piano in 1956.
fter his TV series concluded, Borge bought a 160hectare ranch in Southbury, Connecticut, because he
wanted to share his love of animals with his children.
(His first concert performance in Denmark had been
a benefit for homeless cats and dogs.) He always had at least one
dog, usually a stray that he had adopted. He was a skilled equestrian and a gentleman farmer. He also had sheep, Japanese deer,
pheasants, geese and horses on the farm.
His farm manager suggested that Borge should try raising a
new breed of bird called the Rock Cornish hen. Borge served the
hens to guests at the farm and then began giving them away as
holiday gifts. His friends soon wanted to give them as gifts as
well. One of those friends, Vincent Sardi, began serving the birds
at his New York restaurant. The city’s hotels had a hard time
estimating how much meat they needed for banquets. The Rock
Cornish hen was the ideal solution – one bird per person.
Borge’s farm became a phenomenal success, and his staff
grew from three to 125. He oversaw all stages of the production,
including the brochures and the recipe booklet accompanying
the gift packs. The booklet contained some of Borge’s humor,
like this recipe for three-minute eggs – “bring the piano into the
kitchen and play the ‘Minute Waltz’ three times, slightly dragging the third time!”
Borge and Chilton eventually divorced, and he married Sarabel Sanna Scraper in 1953. Together with their children, they
moved from the farm to a waterfront home in Greenwich, Connecticut, which was closer to airports and to New York. Borge
felt at home when he was on the water or where he could see it.
Water symbolized escape and freedom to Borge, and he resumed
his love of sailing. He enjoyed the solitude of being on a boat away
from the phone and business obligations. “To me the three B’s
are Bach, Beethoven, and Boats,” he said.
He spent half his time traveling to performances, and when
he was home, he was occupied by his poultry business, leaving
1952
LEGENDS
up all night waiting for inspiration to come. I don’t know why
you sit down in the day and sit up at night. It’s your language.
I’m just trying to use it.”
Borge’s success on the Bing Crosby radio show led to his own
radio program and then to a TV series in 1951.
Borge dies on
December 23,
three months
after the
death of his
wife Sarabel
Sanna
Launching his biography in 1997.
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