It's Victor Borge's birthday (January 3, 1909).

He was a comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark, The Unmelancholy Dane, and The Great Dane. He artfully blended one-liners with concert piano music, often playing in eccentric ways while always seeming, for the most part, to create an slightly dignified presence. (But not really always.)

Click the Victor Borge image to open his classic performance of Phonetic Punctuation.

Click the Hirschfield Victor Borge to open a performance representative of his humor and talent. (Note: We distinguish between his humor and his talent!)

Victor Borge used physical and visual elements in his performances. He would play a strange-sounding piano tune from sheet music, looking increasingly confused. Turning the sheet upside down or sideways, he would then play the actual tune, flashing a joyful smile of accomplishment to the audience (he had, at first, been literally playing the tune upside down or sideways). 

When his energetic playing of another song would cause him to fall off the piano bench, he would open the seat lid, take out the two ends of an automotive seat belt, and buckle himself onto the bench, "for safety." Conducting an orchestra, he might stop and order a violinist who had played a sour note to get off the stage, then resume the performance and have the other members of the section move up to fill the empty seat while they were still playing. From off stage would come the sound of a gunshot.

He enjoyed interacting with the audience. Seeing an interested person in the front row, he would ask them, "Do you like good music?" or "Do you care for piano music?" After an affirmative answer, Borge would take a piece of sheet music from his piano and say, "Here is some," and hand it over. After the audience's laughter died down, he would say, "That'll be $1.95."