Victor Borge will not be known to many modern audiences, mostly because he didn't make many movies in his career. Most people whom he entertained from the mid- to late-20th century saw "The Great Dane," as he was to become affectionately called, on TV shows and heard him on radio. Thankfully, we have the technology today so that younger generations can see and hear this great comic and musician on DVD and other recordings of his shows and performances.
This TV production was made of the 80th birthday special program held for Borge at Wolf Trap National Park in Venna, Virginia, west of Washington, D. C. A number of musicians and groups join Borge on stage, and some by video, to pay tribute to him. And, he entertains the huge audience with some of his favorite classic routines. I can't think of another comedian with a routine as funny as Borge's "Phonetic Punctuation." I don't think it's possible for anyone to keep a straight face when watching or listening to Borge doing that routine. He was indeed a genius, not only on the piano, but of original comedy.
The Danish-born musician was a truly great classical pianist. He began performing at an early age. With a naturally amiable sense of humor, he began adding small jokes and humorous banter when he played, and it soon led to his trademark type of musical comedy entertainment. He began his revue style in 1933, and included anti-Nazi jokes in his tours and performances around Europe. The Jewish-born Borge (birth name Borge Rosenbaum) was performing in Sweden when Germany marched into Denmark on April 9, 1940. Borge went to Finland where he was able to travel on the last neutral ship from there to America. While he became an American citizen, and made his home in New England, he often visited his beloved homeland. After the war he would always stop at Denmark for a time whenever he had a tour anywhere in Europe.
I had not seen this TV special for Borge at Wolf Trap when it aired, and just recently watched it on DVD. Besides the warmth and fun in watching this charming entertainer, it brought back some personal memories. My family lived in the Washington, D. C. area when Wolf Trap Farm Park - as it was first called, opened in 1971. It had been started as a land donation of 117 acres from Catherine Filene Shouse, to the National Park Service to be used for the performing arts.
Well, after the initial landscaping and construction for the outdoor stage and theater where all of the audience then sat on a tiered lawn. Wolf Trap opened to the public on June 1, 1971. It's first performance was by the NY City Opera, with pianist Van Cliburn. And that Fourth of July was the first of a traditional evening of Independence Day programs that were open free of charge to the public. Well, my wife and I and another couple went to that first Fourth of July celebration at Wolf Trap. We enjoyed Arthur Fiedler leading the Boston Pops in a rousing patriotic program that ended with fireworks right there at the foot of the stage and in front of the audience spread across the rising green from the stage.
It was a memorable event, indeed; and this is a nice DVD of a wonderful entertainer who should still bring must enjoyment and humor to audiences far into the future.
