Evening star., 1951-02-06
On the Air
| Refreshing
| Is the Word
For Borge
By Harry Macarthur

By Harry Macarthur
The general level of television
comedy was raised several MOTTO
able notches Saturday night at z
when Victor Borge set t~up in busi-
ness on NBC-TV (WNBW). Ad-
mirers of Milton Berle and Abbott
and Costello may still be waiting
for Borge to be funny. but any
Borge admirer must have found
his TV debut a refreshing tonic.
The Borge style usually is called
indefinable and a sensible man
would leave it at that. 1t is safe
to point out, though. that his
satire is sharp and deftly welded
and makes Henry Morgan's at
tempts along the same line seem
in comparison clumsy burlesques.
The Borge version of cigarette
commercial at the close Of some
thing he called die Schlager Pa
rade of Old Vienna" Saturday
night will stand as one of the sea-
sons more comic TV moments.
Mr. Borge's impersonation of a
concert pianist is a fine, funny
thing, too. II am now going to
play 'Liebestraum,'" he announces,
glaring balefully at the piano as
if he expected it to strike the
first blow. Il hate Liebestraum'
:. but have to play something"
The Borge face is rare comedy
instrument, too, but 'indescriba-
BILE" is the best word for the use
he makes of it. How he does it is
his own secret, but he can get
humor out of a simple statement
about the size of the orchestra.
He conjures up thoughts of all
sorts of diabolical plots when he
says darkly, This concerto was
written for a symphony Of about
80 men; for some reason known
only to the sponsor we are 50
short"
Mr.. Borge has hell throughout
this intimate revue, to use the lat
ter term loosely, and 1t is hand
somely dressed production. The
stamp of the Borge zaniness is on
the whole thing, however, and a
welcome stamp 1t is.
X II X II
Scheduling the Borge show at
7 pm. on Saturdays is a move not
exactly calculated to cheer the
people who should have the
warmest greetings for Borge The
week before CHS (WTOP-TV) in
stalled the new program based on
Sam Levenson's refreshingly diff
ferent humor in that same half
hour. Pitting two entertainers
whose comedy is above television's
10 average against each other is
really splitting the audience. A
Borge fan wouldn't mind passing
up anything else on the CBS-TV
Saturday night schedule, but a |
Levenson man passing up Leven-
son is no happier than a Borge |
passing up Borge. It's either two
television sets or schizophrenia, |
unless CHS or NBC does some
thing about this.
Televiewing: Jerry Strong did,
as the sponsor hoped he would.
put some new life into Bouquets |
and Bonuses" Sunday (WMAL-TV
-4:30 p.mD. The show still could
stand some alteration in the for
mat, however; it can't seem to
make up it's mind whether it's a
quiz or a musical program, though
Betty Madigan is one of Washing
tons more talented young singers
right now. THE Comedy Hour
(WNBW-Sunday, p.mD was a
wild slapstick when Dean Martin
and Jerry Lewis returned to it.
These boys are too strenuous for
regular weekly consumption, but
at periodic intervals like this they
can be mighty funny. . Reader
Eleanor Scherzer wants to know
where Gene Klavan has been hid
ing. She thinks Movie Museum"
(WTOP-TV-Sunday. 2:30 PM
was both "cute and funny, thanks
to Mr.. Klavan."
x Il
Programs and People: Evelyn
Davis, the talented local dancer,
will be on Nancy Osgood's program
(WNBW-12:30 p.m.) tomorrow to
tell the people about her groups
dance concert next Thursday, Fri
day and Saturday nights. i
Raymond Massey has two televi-
sion chores lined up. Next Monday
night on "Video Theater" (WTOP-
Tvs p.mD he'll recreate his title
role in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois.
Tomorrow night at 9 he'll be a
guest on Don McNeill's "TV Club"
(WMAL-TV). The "Television
Theater" play tomorrow (WNBW
-9p.m) will be "The Glass Noun
tain" with Blanche Yurka head
ing cast which also includes Pat
Wheel and Robert Pastene.
X X y X
There are now 233,910 television
receivers in the Washington area.
That's the February l figure an
nounced by the Washington Tele-
,srS~