Victor Borge Editorial Photo

Danish comedian, pianist, musical conductor, actor and stage performer Victor Borge is dapper as he regales a large audience at the Chicago Theater in Chicago, Illinois on February 11, 1982. Borge`s tart tongue got him in hot water with his jokes against the Nazis. As they took over Denmark, he fled to the United States in 1940. Not speaking a word of English, the former Borge Rosenbaum learned it in short order by frequenting movie theaters on a regular and accelerated basis. Within a few years he became quite popular for his frequent radio appearances and nightclub act. In 1953 he had a two-week Broadway engagement, `Comedy in Music,` which was so popular it ran for 3 years. He said he was not making fun of music, but rather of musicians. HIs routines and comic riffs of musical satire were as inventive and original as they were legendary. A prolific global performer, even at the age of 90, the `unmelancholy Dane` died on December 23, 2000, 11 days shy of his 92nd birthday.