Lost Episodes of Victor Borge Volume II

Customer Reviews:

You can't lose if you like to laugh.......2007-03-09

Both a brilliant pianist and an exceptional comedian, Victor Borge is scintillatingly, if not outrageously, funny in several of his most famous skits. Well worth the cost, and worth the time to watch, if you like clean humor.

At Carnegie Hall!.......2006-04-05

This episode was shot at Carnegie Hall, live, possibly as early as 1959. It was created by recording the surviving black-and-white kinescope film onto VHS.

It begins with glorious shots of the full house, audience standing, as a chorus sings an awe-inspiring hymn of praise -- to Borge. And of course, at its height, the hymn collapses into a dissonant musical joke.

Strangely enough, during the entire episode, we never see the orchestra or the chorus. My guess is they would have required more pay, residuals, or that the paperwork would have been too much for a TV Special.

What we do see is GRAND!

A young Mike Wallace interviews Borge, who is performing as Franz Liszt, in a format like the one used by Murrow on Person to Person. That is, Wallace is seated before a TV monitor on which is shown the home of the guest. Wallace talks to Liszt respectfully and proves an able straight-man for Borge, who is barely recognizable in his period wig.

Liszt (Borge) accepts Wallace's offer to play, and performs with his usual virtuosity, with the fluent addition of children's favorites such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Then Borge brings out one of his "students" to play a duet. They sit side by side at the piano and each plays the other's half of the keyboard. And they keep playing, even when one or the other ends up on the floor!

The camera work for the time is breathtaking. There are views of Borge and a colleague on the Carnegie Hall stage sitting at two opposing GRAND pianos, taken from the CEILING of the hall.

The humor shines through the medium. If you buy a VHS, though, try to be sure it was recorded at regular, not extended speed. The regular speed shows up a bit crisper.

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