Remembering a song from Lolita: Seeman

There are only a handful of German songs that have ever made it big in the USA and one of them was the song "Seeman" (translated title "Sailor")  by Lolita. In 1959 in reached #5 on the hit list. German isn't known as a beautiful language of song. Perhaps it was the charming voice of Austrian singer Lolita or all of those German immigrants pining for their homeland.

Listen to the song with its English translation in the middle (not too accurate but what do you expect for an American release?). Click here.

Why was the song a big hit? Maybe it was just because the song is catchy and melancholic? It's about a sailor and how his home is the sea. My parents played this song and the whole album over and over when I was growing up (they are from Germany). My grandma loved this song and my step grandpa didn't understand German. He heard the song so many times he finally made up his own English version "Sea man, Sea man, go jump in a lake!"

 It's amazing to read the comments on Youtube about how this song affected people. Seems like lots of German immigrant kids recall their elders listening to Seeman. Nice.

Lolita released a few albums in the US but never had another big hit here. She was a big star in Europe and continued appearing on TV and making records until her death from cancer several years back.

Fifty like me: Disney's "It's A Small World" ride

Well, folks, I turned fifty this year, but I'm in good company. The Disney ride "It's A Small Small World" is turning fifty this year as well and it is holding up just as good as I am (!).

Heike and I visited Walt Disney World recently and here are some pics of this iconic ride.

At the entrance getting ready for a "cruise"

           look how enchanted I am with this ride!

                           I got Heike with the "German" cuckoo clocks in the background

Years ago as a kid I bought the record to the ride. This is what it looks like:

Click here to hear that iconic song....And as the world celebrates the 50th anniversary, here are a few pics I found of the original:

Truth be told, me favorite ride isn't "It's a Small World." My favorite is the Carousel of Progress, which apparently is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, too.  It had a catchy song as well, but not as catchy as "It's A Small World" so maybe that's why the media is focusing on all of those dancing dolls.

Kids are always fascinating to watch at Disney World. One young boy was terrified about getting on this ride. He was screaming at the top of his lungs. I guess the thought of dancing dolls was just too much for him. His Mama said "you are going to GET on that boat...NOW!" and he did!

By the way, Walt Disney World is doing a great job keeping these nostalgic rides open for new generations to enjoy. I'm not amused at the increasing ticket prices or huge crowds that make you feel like sheep being herded from one ride to another, but it still is The Wonderful World of Disney.

My Little Margie, another lost TV show rediscovered

Many of the TV shows and stars of the 1950s seem to have faded away. Time to turn the light back on and showcase one of them called "My Little Margie" starring Gale Storm. It started off as a summer replacement show for "I Love Lucy." It ran for two years on CBS, then moved to NBC.  Just like Lucy, Margie was rather scatterbrained and conniving but instead of Ricky, her foil was her father, played by former silent movie star Charles Farrell.

I saw this show in reruns back in the 1980s on CBN Cable, so the films do exist. Too bad some station doesn't pick them up and show them. Maybe Margie hasn't been forgotten. That is probably the wrong word to use. The tv programmers of today probably don't even know about the show!

If you are ready to re-discover or discover "My Little Margie" click here.

 Gale Storm was also a recording star and had some big hits. Click here or here to listen to them.

And of course the obligatory 1950s comic book:

The Amazing Story of Singer Jill Corey

Many talented people hone their craft for years hoping for fame and fortune. I imagine most never attain it. The rags to riches/nobody to star scenario is always fascinating and intriguing. An example is the Jill Corey story (that rhymes pretty nicely, doesn't it?)

Apparently she loved to sing but didn't have any connections to help her in the music biz. In the early 1950s she won a local Lions club competition and was a local success. She put together a tape recording to send to Columbia Records on the fat chance that somebody would listen to it.  Mitch Miller did and summoned her to New York. Within a few weeks she was on the cover of LIFE magazine!

 Jill soon had several hit records and appeared on TV with Ed Sullivan, Dave Garroway and Johnny Carson.

 I'm not sure if Hugh Hefner heard this song, but it could be an early Playboy reference.  Click here to listen to the 1950s version of sexy.

 Click here to listen to Jill sing one of her prettiest songs in my opinion. Here's a cool clip of YOUR HIT PARADE with Jill including an interview of Jill with Richard Dawson (I didn't know Richard did a talk show....)

It looks like Jill is still doing well and you will probably enjoy visiting her website here.

I wanna hear the Olympic Fanfare!

It's time for the Winter Olympics. I've been watching a bit but am not an avid sports fan.  Of course that got me a bit nostalgic for the Olympics of the past so here are a few pics you might enjoy... Wow look at the price of postage...

Watching NBC's coverage I have to say I miss the original Olympic Fanfare that ABC used for all of those years it had the TV rights. From what I understand John Williams wrote the music we hear now which included parts of the fanfare by Leo Arnaud, which we used to hear much more of. Here and here are a couple of links if you're pining for that song....

Tell Him No! Travis and Bob

It's already the middle of January so it's about time I post something for the new year. The problem with loving the things of the past so much is sometimes it seems like there is nothing new to discover! I've posted so many of my favorite things on this blog and don't want to repeat myself and bore all of my millions of readers....well maybe hundreds....well maybe all ten of you.........well maybe a hand full anyway.

All the more fun that I discovered a "one hit wonder" late 1950s duo called Travis and Bob. They hailed from Alabama and their hit "Tell Him No" sounds a bit like the Everly Brothers. I don't know much about them and from other internet sources there isn't much of a story to tell other than they hit it big with this one song and then faded.

Listen to the song on Youtube here and enjoy the Nostalgic Rambler's latest discovery. If he offers his ring, tell him NO!
It's another 1950s fun song.

Perry's back, but....Missing those old Christmas specials

Run to Amazon or your local mall store and pick up the Nostalgic Rambler gem find of the month, the dvd release of Perry Como's Christmas Show. It looks like its already on backorder at the official website, so maybe that's a good sign that they are selling?

 

This CBS classic from 1974 features Perry, The Carpenters, ice skating star Peggy Fleming and Rich Little (doing an impression of Jack Benny as a mall Santa Claus!). This release is done by mpi home video and is not your usual public domain blurry crapola we usually have to put with to see a good old show. We are even treated to a commentary by Richard Carpenter about Perry Como and his Christmas legacy. It features some COLOR excerpts from Perry's television shows (nice to see they are locked away someplace and not lost...now if we could only see ALL of them and not just a few snippets!). Anyhow, hope you buy this dvd so we can get more them. It's copyrighted by Perry's company Roncom, so maybe there is still a light in the office somewhere and we will see more of this in the future. One can only hope. 

 

It was good to see Perry as well as the Carpenters again.

 

It's been a while since we've had some really good CHRISTmas specials on television. In fact, it's been years.  Too bad some of the old "specials" aren't shown on TV anymore. Bing Crosby's CHRISTmas specials were always stellar. Bob Hope was one of my favorites. I guess some people still must recall those glory days of CHRISTmas programming. There is even a Bob Hope ornament out:

 

 

 

 For years Bob's show was on for Texaco and he did a lot of the commercials. Of course his wife Delores usually made a cameo appearance as he sang "Silver Bells" to her.

It's a few weeks off but since things usually get a bit hectic around here, I want to wish you a very merry CHRISTmas!