Thank you, Vitruvius. I saw Victor Borge at the Queen Elizabeth theatre, Vancouver, back in the 1980’s.
He was, imho, the greatest entertainer in show business. He did all his great routines, and ended with an absolutely stunning
“straight” operatic piece, accompanied by a singer, I think her name was Marilynn Maxwell, which “brought the house down”.
After a two hour show, Victor Borge was the most loved man in the city. An absolutely marvellous, charming, and very funny comedian, and a superb pianist.
It’s too bad the Victor Borge’s of this world can’t be around longer, eighty years wasn’t enough.
I’m glad you liked that, Kate. Not to overanalyze, yet you may find it interesting to compare that performance to a much earlier version of Mr. Borge’s Mozart Opera routine. I find it interesting to study how a master evolved his shtick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKYzmtJ_Ueg
While we’re at it, you might like to check out some of the links I’ve found to the old Black Mask magazine; to 16 of Dashiell Hammett’s ’22 to ’26 short stories there, 20,000 other stories and novels available there, archives of Black Mask cover art, and pictures and plans of Sam Spade’s apartments. I’ve just this hour finished reading the linked Ed Lacy’s Blonde Bait, and I must say it’s a he11 of a good story. You can get to it all from here:
sagaciousiconoclast.blogspot.com/2007/09/dashiell-hammett.html
One last thing, since we’re here anyway; when it comes to studying the classics, we should never forget Chazan Shepsil Kanarek and (at the end of this video) Menasich Goodman’s famous sketch.
video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-680337333793699968
I LOVE Victor Borge! What a fine way to start the day! [I saved this about three hours ago when there was a Server Error and I couldn’t post.] Thanks, Vitruvius and Kate.
I wonder if Borge ever had a gig with his female counter-part(-point!), Anna Russell, who used the same kind of knowledge, wit, and hilarity to spoof highfalutin music. The two of them together would have provided a Wagnerian sized LAUGH!
When I compare the learning, skill, grace, fun, and sheer brilliance of such artists as Borge and Russell with the thinly veiled thuggery and outright ignorance, incompetence, and “nincompoopery” of so much of what passes for “pop” music these days, I despair. The comparison is a stark example of the precipitous decline of Civilization in the West since the “sinister sixties”.
(Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist and journalist, writes with authority and grace about these things. His latest book, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, would be worth a look: Dalrymple’s always worth a Google.)
Too bad nobody in the audience caught his ‘die aria’ gag. 🙁 He seemed not to speak it too clearly. Perhaps he thought he should stick to classical music and leave ‘scat’ alone. (Stick to scat… eeeww.) Anyway.
Thanks Kate and Vitruvius. Having played the piano for most of my life I’ve always loved Victor Borge.
He was a first-class act and wonderfully funny and cultured.
He certainly had the ability for you to enjoy classical music from a different perspective.
another great artist that is truly missed
thanks Vitruvius
His “Inflationary Language” bit is hilarious – Any two for a fivesome of elevenis?
I’ve known funnier comedians, and I’ve known better musicians. Better never a better combination of the two. Pure genius.
I remember being introduced to Borge in elementary school and laughing til the class cried. Then, again, seeing some of his routines when an aging teacher brought in a tape to show us skeptical and jaded junior high kids. Again, brought the house down.
Clean as a whistle, and funnier than anything a shock jock could come up with.
At a performance of Elisir d’amore at the Vienna State Opera I found myself seated beside Maestro Borge. During the interval we chatted, and he said he preferred the the pre-war house to the re-built one. “Too republican” he said.
When the performance was over and the young conductor came on to the stage to take his bow (a fairly new thing in 1980 – conductors used to take their bows from the pit), Borge cupped his hands around his mouth, and in a voice just less than a shout, exclaimed “Composer! Composer!” His mischieviousness was a delight.
Thanks Kate.
Err, the should be, “but never…” rather than, “better never”. Stupid twitchy post-workout fingers.
two-derful!
Just home from a hernia operation years ago, I turned on the TV and there was Mr. Borge.
Agonizing, but I watched it all.
what a lift. the man was great. never failed to leave me laughing.
When I was in highschool (late 70’s) Victor Borge came to Halifax, and performed at the Rebecca Cohn Aud. My piano teacher always had season’s tickets to the Cohn, and brought her students (one at a time!) to the concerts there. I was the lucky one who went to see Victor Borge. He was extremely funny and an excellent entertainer. I’ve always been grateful for my introduction to the Cohn, and the delights of live performances!
“…and the chorus comes in, and nobody knows why, but Mozart, and he’s dead.”
LOL!
What a classic. Ahh, Victor, there will never be any other like ye.
But in all seriousness though, why is it that it’s impossible for a comedian to be funny sans vulgarity these days? Many of the best of yesteryear were squeaky clean AND gut busting. It’s a lost art.
Btw, if anyone has a good Red Skelton clip to add I’d love to watch something from him too.
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen or heard. I’ll be attending the opera in a couple of weeks, and it’s going to be very hard to get this out of my head before I do.
This is cute and everything, but is there a reason it was posted?
I think, randall, because it makes us laugh, which is good for us. It also honours a fine talent and a fine man.
God bless Victor Borge, who enriched the lives of so many.
Thanks lookout, I wondered if there was some recent event to inspire it. Just worried I was missing something…
Thank you, Vitruvius. I saw Victor Borge at the Queen Elizabeth theatre, Vancouver, back in the 1980’s.
He was, imho, the greatest entertainer in show business. He did all his great routines, and ended with an absolutely stunning
“straight” operatic piece, accompanied by a singer, I think her name was Marilynn Maxwell, which “brought the house down”.
After a two hour show, Victor Borge was the most loved man in the city. An absolutely marvellous, charming, and very funny comedian, and a superb pianist.
It’s too bad the Victor Borge’s of this world can’t be around longer, eighty years wasn’t enough.
I’m glad you liked that, Kate. Not to overanalyze, yet you may find it interesting to compare that performance to a much earlier version of Mr. Borge’s Mozart Opera routine. I find it interesting to study how a master evolved his shtick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKYzmtJ_Ueg
While we’re at it, you might like to check out some of the links I’ve found to the old Black Mask magazine; to 16 of Dashiell Hammett’s ’22 to ’26 short stories there, 20,000 other stories and novels available there, archives of Black Mask cover art, and pictures and plans of Sam Spade’s apartments. I’ve just this hour finished reading the linked Ed Lacy’s Blonde Bait, and I must say it’s a he11 of a good story. You can get to it all from here:
sagaciousiconoclast.blogspot.com/2007/09/dashiell-hammett.html
One last thing, since we’re here anyway; when it comes to studying the classics, we should never forget Chazan Shepsil Kanarek and (at the end of this video) Menasich Goodman’s famous sketch.
video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-680337333793699968
I LOVE Victor Borge! What a fine way to start the day! [I saved this about three hours ago when there was a Server Error and I couldn’t post.] Thanks, Vitruvius and Kate.
I wonder if Borge ever had a gig with his female counter-part(-point!), Anna Russell, who used the same kind of knowledge, wit, and hilarity to spoof highfalutin music. The two of them together would have provided a Wagnerian sized LAUGH!
When I compare the learning, skill, grace, fun, and sheer brilliance of such artists as Borge and Russell with the thinly veiled thuggery and outright ignorance, incompetence, and “nincompoopery” of so much of what passes for “pop” music these days, I despair. The comparison is a stark example of the precipitous decline of Civilization in the West since the “sinister sixties”.
(Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist and journalist, writes with authority and grace about these things. His latest book, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, would be worth a look: Dalrymple’s always worth a Google.)
Too bad nobody in the audience caught his ‘die aria’ gag. 🙁 He seemed not to speak it too clearly. Perhaps he thought he should stick to classical music and leave ‘scat’ alone. (Stick to scat… eeeww.) Anyway.
Thanks Kate and Vitruvius. Having played the piano for most of my life I’ve always loved Victor Borge.
He was a first-class act and wonderfully funny and cultured.
He certainly had the ability for you to enjoy classical music from a different perspective.
another great artist that is truly missed
thanks Vitruvius
His “Inflationary Language” bit is hilarious – Any two for a fivesome of elevenis?
this bit was always one of my favourites. such a natural.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buiOOwXatM
I’ve known funnier comedians, and I’ve known better musicians. Better never a better combination of the two. Pure genius.
I remember being introduced to Borge in elementary school and laughing til the class cried. Then, again, seeing some of his routines when an aging teacher brought in a tape to show us skeptical and jaded junior high kids. Again, brought the house down.
Clean as a whistle, and funnier than anything a shock jock could come up with.
At a performance of Elisir d’amore at the Vienna State Opera I found myself seated beside Maestro Borge. During the interval we chatted, and he said he preferred the the pre-war house to the re-built one. “Too republican” he said.
When the performance was over and the young conductor came on to the stage to take his bow (a fairly new thing in 1980 – conductors used to take their bows from the pit), Borge cupped his hands around his mouth, and in a voice just less than a shout, exclaimed “Composer! Composer!” His mischieviousness was a delight.
Thanks Kate.
Err, the should be, “but never…” rather than, “better never”. Stupid twitchy post-workout fingers.
two-derful!
Just home from a hernia operation years ago, I turned on the TV and there was Mr. Borge.
Agonizing, but I watched it all.
what a lift. the man was great. never failed to leave me laughing.
When I was in highschool (late 70’s) Victor Borge came to Halifax, and performed at the Rebecca Cohn Aud. My piano teacher always had season’s tickets to the Cohn, and brought her students (one at a time!) to the concerts there. I was the lucky one who went to see Victor Borge. He was extremely funny and an excellent entertainer. I’ve always been grateful for my introduction to the Cohn, and the delights of live performances!
“…and the chorus comes in, and nobody knows why, but Mozart, and he’s dead.”
LOL!
What a classic. Ahh, Victor, there will never be any other like ye.
But in all seriousness though, why is it that it’s impossible for a comedian to be funny sans vulgarity these days? Many of the best of yesteryear were squeaky clean AND gut busting. It’s a lost art.
Btw, if anyone has a good Red Skelton clip to add I’d love to watch something from him too.
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen or heard. I’ll be attending the opera in a couple of weeks, and it’s going to be very hard to get this out of my head before I do.
This is cute and everything, but is there a reason it was posted?
I think, randall, because it makes us laugh, which is good for us. It also honours a fine talent and a fine man.
God bless Victor Borge, who enriched the lives of so many.
Thanks lookout, I wondered if there was some recent event to inspire it. Just worried I was missing something…