Welcome to the Nostalgic Ramber





Hans Jeff Borger is heard on WRGE 97.9 FM in Ocala, FL featuring Christian programming.

"The Nostalgic Rambler" radio show can be heard on Youtube. Just search for Hans Jeff Borger Nostalgic Rambler.





Why a blog? I wrote a book "The Little Grownup: a nostalgic Michigan boyhood" which should appeal to most baby boomers. A mass market book? Well, not yet...but the potential is there! (Be sure to buy it at "finer on line bookstores" everywhere!)

The comments presented in "The Nostalgic Rambler" probably won't be of interest to the masses...anymore. If grandma and grandpa and their friends were still alive, then it would be a different story.

I live in the past. My time warp is a comfortable cocoon even if it sometimes drives my wife crazy. The music of the 1940s and 50s, the stars of those days were big stuff in their day, but are now almost forgotten. Oddly enough, I was born in '64 so those iconic years were for the most part over by that time.

Through "The Nostalgic Rambler" I maybe can help share my love and knowledge for those times and things...all at one time important pieces of Americana but now a bit faded in memory.

The woman who did the blog about cooking all of Julia Childs' French Cuisine Cookbook in a year got a sweet movie deal out of her blog experience. I wouldn't mind that but would be happy to know that you are reading this....and maybe enjoying my time warp, too.



Hans Jeff Borger



Sunday, August 29, 2010

Perry Como Salute








































It's a few more months until radio stations will unearth the classic CHRISTmas recordings by other long forgotten singers. Perry Como is one of these. Why it's cool to listen to Bing and Perry at CHRISTmas but not the rest of the year is beyond me, so this week "The Nostalgic Rambler" salutes Mr. C, Mr. Relaxation, Mr. Perry Como.

Some statistics: between 1945 and 1970 he sold over 100 million records. Only Bing Crosby, Elvis and the Beatles topped him. He had 17 Gold records between 1945 and 1958. His thousands of tv shows included "The Kraft Music Hall" which back in 1959 was a 25 million dollar contract for two years.

Rather than list too many statistics, let me introduce (or re-introduce you) to Perry's work. Many of his "Kraft Music Hall" shows are available to watch here. Perry's guest stars on these shows are a cavalcade of great artists, from pianist Roger Williams to singer Nat King Cole to dog star Rin Tin Tin. Youtube also has plenty of Como to listen or watch. Try here and here for an example.

A Perry Como biography came out not too long ago. It is filled with lots of nostalgic tidbits that I just eat up. Not too much about Perry's personal life however. He was a family man and apparently kept his private life out of the spotlight which the biographers continued to respect.

I got to see Perry at a Christmas show in Daytona Beach, Florida back in 1991. By that time he was quite old, but his voice was still there. When he got tired, he simply pointed to the choir behind him. It wasn't his heyday 1940s to 50s best, but it was obvious that we were still watching a master a work.

For a bit of fun, notice the "TV Song Stars" magazine on the top of this blog post. Notice anything odd? Yes, the TV show is in color and Eddie Fisher, another famed song master of the era, is tuning ME in on the screen.

I've included some other great shots of Perry in his prime plus the autograph I got!

Sing to me, Mr. C!

2 comments:

  1. I guess you are one of Eddie Fisher's favorite TV song stars....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was I could find the old kinescopes of my program :)

    ReplyDelete