The Victor Borge Show

The Victor Borge Show is a 30-minute American variety television program that was broadcast live on NBC from February 3, 1951, to June 30, 1951.[1] It was sponsored by Kellogg.[2]

Premise

The program starred Victor Borge, an "internationally known pianist and comic interpreter of music".[3] Episodes usually included Borge's playing both a straight concert piece and a humorous interpretation. The Phil Engalls Orchestra provided musical support. Episodes also included guest stars who performed and chatted with Borge.[3]

Perry Lafferty was the director, with Borge, Eddie Lawrence, and Max Wilk as writers. The program was a mid-season replacement for the Hank McCune Show. Its network competitors were Hollywood Theatre Time on ABC and The Sam Levenson Show on CBS.[4] It was replaced by Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.[5]

A review in the trade publication Billboard said: "This is not a program which produces multitudes of belly laughs. But it is filled with sly good humor and clever satire."[2]

Problems

Borge "was better in guest spots than having his own show."[6] Lafferty said years later that trying to convert Borge's talented, but specialized, skills into a TV program "was the hardest thing in my career."[4] Lawrence and Wilk managed to create new routines each week even though, as Lafferty said, "Borge fought everything we tried to do."[4] One of the skits had Borge encountering difficulty trying to play a song, but other people walked in and played it perfectly.[4]

Radio

Borge's television series was preceded by The Victor Borge Show on radio.[7] Four versions of the program were broadcast on network radio.

The Victor Borge Show on Radio
Starting DateEnding DateLengthNetworkSponsorOrchestra
March 8, 1943July 9, 194315 minutesBlue
July 3, 1945September 25, 194530 minutesNBCJohnson's WaxBilly Mills Orchestra
September 9, 1946June 30, 194730 minutesNBCSocony OilBenny Goodman Orchestra
January 1, 1951June 1, 19515 minutesMutualKellogg
October 1, 1951December 28, 19515 minutesABCKellogg

Source: On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio[8]

References
  1. McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 884. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. Chase, Sam (February 24, 1951). "Television-Radio Reviews: Victor Borge show" (PDF). Billboard. p. 8. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  3. Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (24 June 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 1470. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  4. Hyatt, Wesley (6 October 2015). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops. McFarland. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4766-0515-9. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  5. "Network Accounts" (PDF). Television Digest. July 14, 1951. p. 9. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  6. Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  7. Barkan, Elliott Robert (2001). Making it in America: A Sourcebook on Eminent Ethnic Americans. ABC-CLIO. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-57607-098-7. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  8. Dunning, John (7 May 1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. pp. 702–703. ISBN 978-0-19-984045-8. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
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