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, November 25, 2012

The Story of Christmas with Tennessee Ernie Ford

 Alright, alright, I know CHRISTmas isn't for several weeks but I want to give you this info so you can get a copy of it if you want to in time! The neighbors already have their CHRISTmas lights up, which drives me crazy. They are the ones that start taking everything down when December 25th arrives. By then they are sick of it all...

Anyhow,  in a time long long ago called the 1950s, record buyers had taste. So much so that they made this album a million seller:
Star Carol was one of the rare albums that sold that many back in the 1950s. The public snapped up several recordings Tennessee Ernie Ford made featuring Christian hymns.

In the 50s, Ford had a popular TV show. By the early 1960s Ernie Ford had gained enough stature in the industry for him to do whatever he wanted. His clout let him present a program entitled "The Story Of Christmas" on NBC, December 22, 1963. 
 
The hour long prime time show featured some unusual animation by Eyvind Earle and plenty of music by Ford and the Roger Wagner Chorale. Critics and audiences loved it.  

 Daily Variety said "The tape should be preserved and played back for years on end. It's brilliance will never be dimmed or excelled."  Unfortunately, the TV programmers have been dimmed and don't excel at much of anything anymore. Therefore a Christian based musical program isn't about to be seen on the network primetime agenda in 2012.

 Fortunately the master tape was found and released on dvd several years ago..........
 and the music from the special is still remembered enough that a cd was released.
Here are a few teaser clips I found on Youtube. Click here for a clip featuring the animation or if you want to see one of Ernie's records spinning around a nativity scene (!) click here

 I bought my copy of the show at www.ErnieFord.com.

December can be a hectic month so if I don't get to do another post, then Merry CHRISTmas to you all. Thanks so much for reading the ramblings of the Nostalgic Rambler!

Friday, November 16, 2012

A Christmas Story: revisited

 Back in 1983 when I was in college I remember going to the movies with my college roommate John to see a new movie called "A Christmas Story."  That was 29 years ago (!?). I don't remember much about the film. I was in my 20s then and recall something about a boy wanting a bb gun and a lamp that looked like a woman's leg. It didn't leave much of an impression on a young man.

Fast forward to today and I find out that this movie is now a cult classic favorite! Our local "Ocala Civic Theatre" (I don't like it when they call a theater a theatRE...but that's another subject) is putting on the stage version of the movie.

We went to see it and it really is a heartwarming story. Not only that, but it is set in the 1940s so you get plenty of Nostalgic Rambler type references including Ovaltine, Little Orphan Annie, radio shows, and during the intermission plenty of classic CHRISTmas music from Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, and Kate Smith!

I never had a lamp that looks like a woman's leg. I did have a bb gun as a kid. 

If you live near Ocala, FL, the show runs through November 25, 2012. If you don't live here, rent the movie. I think I'll watch it again after 29 years.

Apparently this movie is so popular the home it was shot at in Cleveland is now a museum. I bet "Miracle on 34th Street" or "It's A Wonderful Life" doesn't even have THAT!