| Victor Borge in his later years here in the Verbatim ad, was a European keyboard virtuoso who made his way in the US by adding a distinctive comedy element to his solo touring performances. So it's only approprate to have him as a spokesman sitting at a computer keyboard, with his document looking not much different than sheet music. And he looks like he is tickling the ivories there, sticking mainly to the black keys I see. Maybe a bit like Irving Berlin, who was the most popular songwriter for so many decades, and who only played on the black keys. Interestingly, Berlin's personal Steinway is now in the Smithsonian since it is a one-of-a-kind chromatic piano where he could mechanically shift the musical key the black keys were tuned for. So he could get together with artists like Sinatra and play his tunes as originally written but in the singers' preferred key. Now Borge was actually quite improvisational for a clasical musician. He could get up there, introduce himself and play a number of 30 to 60 second interludes, and get away with saying or merely acting like he hadn't made his mind up what full piece to play. Then there could be a little monologue for a while which was one good reason so many were there to see him, but regardless of how excellent that was, the elephant in the room since the beginning had always been the significant percentage of the crowd who wanted nothing but the music. Zappa had this too. Borge would flip up his coat-tails, move closer to the microphone and say in his European accent "Do you want to hear Great Music? Classics?" He then quickly extends his arms in the characteristic way for more freedom of movement, puts his hands on the keys, moves closer to the microphone again and says "Too bad!" |