Today the entertainer and classical pianist Victor Borge would have turned 100.
Victor Borge was born in 1909 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He grew up in a Jewish home with very musical parents. His dad a violinist, his mother a pianist.
When the Germans invaded Denmark in 1940 he escaped to Sweden then to America, where he got his breakthrough on the Bing Crosby radio show. He didn’t speak English, so during his appearance on the show he read a transcript of one of his Danish acts, translated to English by his wife, Elsie.
He knew he was good at the piano, but he also knew he wasn’t great. Instead he combined his classical performances with satire. Usually he would enter the stage sharp dressed and serious looking. Then he would begin to speak.
A week has passed since the president election. We’ve heard from both of the competitors - mostly from the president-elect, Barack Obama. The defeated presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, has kept a low profile.
During the president election campaign this fall, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had a few slips of the tongue. Some due to ignorance, other due to lack of experience with the press.