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Poor Tom Netherton - he’s not even dead, and yet his thread has been taken over by discussions of JoAnn Castle’s drug-fueled benders.
So - does ANYONE watch the reruns un-ironically?
by Anonymous | reply 143 | December 4, 2018 6:05 PM |
My dear Aunt Mary was lucky enough to dance with Mr. Welk on one of the earlier shows.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | January 11, 2018 10:44 PM |
If it's on, I have to watch. They were in on the joke, to some degree. Here's LW dressed as a hippie.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 3 | January 11, 2018 10:51 PM |
Watched one a few weeks back, definitely a blast from another era. There was a bizarro segment where all these women stand in line to dance 15 seconds with Laurence...
by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 11, 2018 10:56 PM |
r2 Stop reposting erroneous information.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 11, 2018 10:56 PM |
R6 - One Toke Over The Line remains my favorite Lawrence Welk cover.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | January 11, 2018 11:05 PM |
I know it's pure schmaltz but if I'm flipping around channels and the PBS station over in Buffalo happens to be showing Mr. Welk et al, I'll watch for a few minutes. It brings back warm, cozy memories of watching with my grandparents back in the 70's when I was a kid.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | January 11, 2018 11:07 PM |
My grandmother's favorite show
by Anonymous | reply 9 | January 11, 2018 11:09 PM |
We had to sing this in choir...it took forever to learn the damn lyrics :)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 11 | January 11, 2018 11:20 PM |
The sweet spot of Lawrence Walk shows for me was the mid to late 70's.
In color, no Lennon Sisters, no fucking Joann Castle and her honky-tonk piano.
Larry Hooper before cancer finished him off, Ken Delo's amazing toupee, Tom, he's still single ladies, Netherton, Sandi, Gail and Mary Lou. They were good times.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | January 12, 2018 1:27 AM |
I thought Ken just did a massive comb over.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | January 12, 2018 2:16 AM |
Lynn Anderson appears to be a robot in that video and the song is just stupid. The last time I tried to watch Welk it was a tribute to Duke Ellington and the arrangements appeared to be tone deaf. The show was at its most typical around the time it made the transition to color--Neil Levang on the guitar, Irish Tenor Joe Feeney, Aladdin with those morose readings from Helen Steiner Rice of Cincinnati, Ohio (you can just picture thousands of poor Cincinnatians cringing), Joe Ann Castle mugging for the camera, Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts as the chaset middle aged lovers, and Welk dancing with old ladies in the audience.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | January 12, 2018 2:46 AM |
R13: The show was one big combover.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | January 12, 2018 2:47 AM |
I thought the female piano player was a drag queen.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | January 12, 2018 2:57 AM |
Don't forget that pedo Bob Ralston--picked up an underage boy in Times Square and brought him to California. Bob was married and a very bad boy.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | January 12, 2018 3:00 AM |
LOL R15!
I, too, was tortured with my grandparents’ favorite show, R8.
I remember the night this hot tamale joined the cast.
She’s so sweet and purdy...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 18 | January 12, 2018 3:28 AM |
I liked it when Lawrence would do his version of the current hits, like "Let's Spend The Night Together."
by Anonymous | reply 19 | January 12, 2018 11:00 AM |
Oh yes we do, husband is a professional musician so we watch type of every music show because there are so few of them. He likes seeing the instruments and is mainly interested in the band. I am interested in imagining Myron Floren nude, myself.
We both were 1970s kids with those memories of watching it at Grandmother's house. The best singer of the bunch is the Irish tenor guy. The music isn't my style but I respect that kind of talent.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | January 12, 2018 12:03 PM |
My elderly mother still watches it religiously.
Amazing how all these men in late middle age kept a full head of dark hair.
Lawrence didn't hire baldies.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | January 12, 2018 12:09 PM |
Remember the 2 dancers, I think their names were Bobby and Sissy. Can't remember. I remember his blinding white perfect teeth. IIRC, he is a dance teacher in CA somewhere.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | January 12, 2018 12:09 PM |
R22: That's Bobby Burgess. He was one of the original Muskateers (along with dear dead Annette Funicello). His dance partner was Cissy (not Sissy).
As an eldergay, I watche an earlier version that most of you - the early 60's (also at my grandmother's house). "The Lennon sisters are on!"
Joe Feeney was my favorite. During the "family" Christmas show he would trot out all 93 of his children. A good Irish Cathoilc. He would die of lung cancer caused by 2nd hand cigarette smoke inhaled during his nightclub shows.
Interesting note about Ken Delo; I wonder about the rest of the cast.
The audience definitely skewed older; even at 5 years old, I knew what Geritol was for.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | January 12, 2018 12:40 PM |
Norma Zimmer, the Champagne Lady!
by Anonymous | reply 24 | January 12, 2018 1:32 PM |
I've always wondered if they actually sang live on camera or if it was all lip-synced? I can never fully tell when watching these weird reruns.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | January 12, 2018 1:36 PM |
Funny you should start this thread. Spent Christmas in Florida with my partner, and his mother at his older brothers house. They watch the Welk show every night completely unironically and remember all the names. They still love it.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | January 12, 2018 1:48 PM |
[quote]As an eldergay, I watche an earlier version that most of you - the early 60's (also at my grandmother's house). "The Lennon sisters are on!"
Me too. And even at seven years old I knew it was the lamest thing around.
The Lawrence Welk Show and Sing Along With Mitch.... good God.
But looking back on it today there is a genteel innocent charm...long gone... that I do miss in our society.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 27 | January 12, 2018 1:49 PM |
I love Ralna. Seriously. I still do, all these years later.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 28 | January 12, 2018 1:54 PM |
Well, I never promised you a rose garden.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 29 | January 12, 2018 1:55 PM |
I always loved the fact that Art Duncan - the only black in the cast - was also the show's only tap dancer.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | January 12, 2018 3:56 PM |
Eldergay here. I’ve been told I am an ‘old soul’. Even as a little gayling I preferred Judy At Carnegie Hall to the Doors and Led Zeppelin, which is what my classmates were listening to.
But I never could abide Lawrence Welk. Even my midwestern-born, Sinatra-era parents, whose idea of a fun Sunday night was an early dinner followed by The Ed Sullivan Show, thought Welk was too white bread for them
by Anonymous | reply 31 | January 12, 2018 4:07 PM |
I wunder if there were any backstage sexcapades.?
by Anonymous | reply 32 | January 12, 2018 4:37 PM |
I didn't like it much but I enjoyed watching it with my grandmother as a boy because it made her happy.
The musicians in fact are excellent it's just often what they're playing and the soupy arrangements make your skin crawl. They even turn the great Broadway and classical composers into muzak.
The only singers I liked were the Lennon sisters because I thought they were pretty and probably had hot boyfriends.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | January 12, 2018 7:25 PM |
But these were real human beings playing music. On instruments they had mastered. A living breathing orchestra! I don't care how square they are, and they are. really. square. Still, is it true that Miles Davis would sit in with these L-7's when they played at The Santa Monica Pier?
by Anonymous | reply 34 | January 12, 2018 7:34 PM |
My grandmother and great aunts always talked about how much I resemble Janet Lennon. I'm a guy.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | January 12, 2018 7:49 PM |
FUCK that Zimmer bitch!!!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 36 | January 12, 2018 7:57 PM |
Are you sure Janet isn't as well r35?
by Anonymous | reply 37 | January 12, 2018 7:59 PM |
R30. Even as a kid I knew that shit was wrong. And, they always paired him with the other "other" Anacani
by Anonymous | reply 38 | January 12, 2018 11:13 PM |
My grandmother is 101 years old and she still watches Lawrence Welk.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | January 12, 2018 11:20 PM |
Oh why couldn't Larry live forever?
by Anonymous | reply 41 | January 12, 2018 11:54 PM |
OMG, r14 -- Helen Steiner Rice!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 43 | January 13, 2018 12:12 AM |
Bobby and Cissy....clogging!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 44 | January 13, 2018 12:17 AM |
[quote]Aren't they just adorable?
Not in those fluorescent, magenta disco pants, they're not.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | January 13, 2018 12:19 AM |
Will love keep Bobby and Cissy together?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 46 | January 13, 2018 12:22 AM |
R29, if you believe that's Lynn Anderson, here's a photo of Reba McEntire for you.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 47 | January 13, 2018 12:28 AM |
I always thought the country singer was hot.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 48 | January 13, 2018 12:32 AM |
I'm like many here..I watch it once in awhile for sentimental reasons. My immigrant parents used to watch it and they're long gone now.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | January 13, 2018 12:32 AM |
Ooh, I REALLY like his sweater r48!
by Anonymous | reply 50 | January 13, 2018 12:36 AM |
R25, in a interview the Lennon Sisters said all songs were recorded on Thursday for Saturday's show.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | January 13, 2018 12:44 AM |
Natalie Nevins was on the show for five years. Welk fired her in 1970 after missing a concert appearance and lying about an illness. She died in 2010 at 85.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | January 13, 2018 12:52 AM |
r36, don't blame Norma. Alice quit over music choices and money. When the protest mail rolled in, Lawrence caved and offered Alice her job back. She refused. In 1960 Zimmer was given the "Champagne Lady" title.
by Anonymous | reply 53 | January 13, 2018 1:01 AM |
Saw it a lot as a preschooler. I remember the day I noticed the footage of the old people dancing was a loop.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | January 13, 2018 1:04 AM |
Another gay boy here who grew up watching it with my Grandma. My family would talk about those people like they knew them, which I always thought was so funny.
But, here I am on DL and can carry on conversations about 80s/90s pornstars...so I'm going to be a little less judgmental.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | January 13, 2018 1:04 AM |
Until recently Lawrence was on WLIW-21 in Metro New York at 5:00 on Saturdays. Now replaced by Beg-A-Thons.
by Anonymous | reply 56 | January 13, 2018 1:08 AM |
Guy and Ralna were the Brad and Angie in that group.
by Anonymous | reply 57 | January 13, 2018 1:29 AM |
Each show is one hour of flavorless, soulless, milky-white entertainment. This is what we'd be watching if the South had won the Civil War, except with more minstrels.
by Anonymous | reply 58 | January 13, 2018 1:59 AM |
I can't believe old people watched shit like Lawrence Welk
by Anonymous | reply 59 | January 13, 2018 2:14 AM |
You should watch Guy Lombardo. The band leader who was the Anderson Cooper of his day.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | January 13, 2018 3:30 AM |
I never heard of anyone playing spoons by hitting spoons on their thighs until this was on the LW Show. What part of the USA does that come from? I think the black guy did this.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | January 13, 2018 4:00 AM |
It was a vaudeville thing. Like people playing saws on a string.
by Anonymous | reply 62 | January 13, 2018 4:20 AM |
Big Bobby and Barbara fan here. I wanted to be Barbara so I could dance with Bobby.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | January 13, 2018 4:26 AM |
The Lawrence Welk Orchestra get LIT with the extended mix of the theme song from "Family Affair". I can't help it.... when that melodica and harpsichord go off I just lose my shit.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 65 | January 13, 2018 4:58 AM |
Nice find R65 - always cool to see those TV themes played by an orchestra, live all at once, the way they used to do it back then. That "melodica" sounds like the lead instrument in the Skippy theme, never really visualized what it was.
by Anonymous | reply 66 | January 13, 2018 5:48 AM |
I laughed so hard at R47.
by Anonymous | reply 67 | January 13, 2018 1:03 PM |
R47 That's a terrific picture of Reba, then. Here's a little more.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 68 | January 13, 2018 1:09 PM |
Fascinating stuff, these LWS stories. For some of the younger visitors to DL, this is the kind of show that filled air time when TV was new and each network tried to fill hour after hour with programming. Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Your Hit Parade, Sid Ceasar, Milton Berle and Lawrence Welk and others (read about Steve Allen's original Tonight Show) made it possible to have fresh programming available on a weekly basis.
Yes it all seems bland and white now, but when TV was new, it was thrilling to have musical acts or comedy in your living room regularly. Honestly, if you look and early episodes of the programs (before they became very stale and repetitive) they were eye-opening for many viewers.
None of the men at the helm of the programs were nice - read about Arthur Godfrey - they were cheap, there were many demands upon them (think of how expensive a program with a full orchestra and cast of singer and dancers could be!) and they really did become tyrants.
Thankfully there are kinescopes and recordings of these programs - they provide a look at a very different America, one that would be gone by 1968.
I like Alice Lon's voice, surprised she didn't become a pop singer.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | January 13, 2018 3:10 PM |
[quote]I always loved the fact that Art Duncan - the only black in the cast - was also the show's only tap dancer.
And he always brought it on home by doing a windmill at the end, to thunderous applause.
by Anonymous | reply 70 | January 13, 2018 3:31 PM |
R68 makes me think Sunset Blvd. could have had a happy ending if they'd just ended at the police station with Norma having her mugshot taken... she'd have been thrilled!
by Anonymous | reply 71 | January 13, 2018 3:57 PM |
Arthur Duncan made me cringe--a black tap dancer as the only African-American person on the show, performing in a stereotyped idiom and basically doing the same thing every week (which was par for most people on that show). If they'd some other African-American performers (or even guests), it would have seemed more "normal".
According to wiki he's still alive and occasionally performs.
by Anonymous | reply 72 | January 13, 2018 4:42 PM |
The show was always an exercise in nostalgia. Welk had to be talked into doing "Calcutta" which was his one pop chart topping song, in 1960---George Cates, his arranger and, later, conductor was the one who pushed for it. Cates had much more eclectic tastes than Welk, even so, he probably was the one who was responsible for the awful arrangements that slowed things down or ended songs with flourishes. Welk had high technical standards for musicians but did not pay well, still a steady paycheck is better than none. and tv exposure got them gigs elsewhere.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | January 13, 2018 4:49 PM |
You been screwin' the milk man?!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 74 | January 13, 2018 4:54 PM |
He and Gregory Hines should have teamed up and toured the country tap dancing while making cakes r72.
by Anonymous | reply 75 | January 13, 2018 5:01 PM |
Hines, with and without his brother and father managed not to be cringeworthy despite doing tap when it seemed minstrel-ish.
My guess is that Duncan was/is gay as springtime.
by Anonymous | reply 77 | January 13, 2018 5:09 PM |
I recall seeing Arthur Duncan on an episode of Dick Van Dyke's "Diagnosis: Murder." He played, yes, a tap dancer, and he did a brief routine at the end of the show.
by Anonymous | reply 78 | January 13, 2018 5:13 PM |
You would be absitively, posilutely amazed how an accordian sounds in HI-FI!!!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 79 | January 13, 2018 5:15 PM |
If you're ever in Escondido, CA (northern San Diego Co.), you MUST stop in at the Welk Resort and check out the theater there-- the lobby is a veritable Lawrence Welk museum, complete with a giant champagne glass.
They actually do decent versions of musicals there, although ironically they use canned music instead of a live orchestra. I saw "The Full Monty" there, and it contains a song that name-checks Welk himself. How meta!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 80 | January 13, 2018 6:08 PM |
Isn't "The Fully Monty" a bit risque for the Welk Resort? It has homosexualist characters!
by Anonymous | reply 81 | January 13, 2018 6:18 PM |
The musical family seems surprisingly open minded and Welk himself is long expired--Bob Ralston the pedo has played in reunion shows. Jo Anne castle--a total trainwreck--had a couple second chances with Welk touring shows.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | January 13, 2018 6:48 PM |
Mr Welk used to make me watch him masturbate on the plastic plants in the lobby of his resort!
by Anonymous | reply 83 | January 13, 2018 6:56 PM |
Years ago, the reruns on PBS stations used to have recently filmed intros and remembrances from members of the musical family, including Jo Ann Castle, Norma Zimmer, Myron Floren, various Lennons and many others.
by Anonymous | reply 84 | January 13, 2018 7:00 PM |
My mother used to watch those reruns with the new intros every week and comment on who had aged well and who hadn't. She could have been a DL'er!
by Anonymous | reply 85 | January 13, 2018 7:06 PM |
On now with Bobby Burgess hosting. Bicentennial salute!
by Anonymous | reply 86 | January 13, 2018 11:05 PM |
Who was in line to be the new Mrs. Lawrence Welk? Our lovely Mexican senorita Anacani?
by Anonymous | reply 88 | January 14, 2018 1:34 AM |
Ana Cani was (is?) married to a judge in California. They were friends of friends.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | January 14, 2018 3:40 AM |
Mr. Welk? Massive pussyhound. Big Nixon supporter
by Anonymous | reply 90 | January 14, 2018 3:42 AM |
I want to know how Barbra learned the truth r87!
by Anonymous | reply 91 | January 14, 2018 3:47 AM |
Lawrence Walk looked like my Uncle Joe.
I miss Uncle Joe.
by Anonymous | reply 92 | January 14, 2018 4:02 AM |
My mother said she saw Bobby on a recent Mickey Mouse TV birthday celebration special, and that he (Bobby, not Mickey!) had become fat.
by Anonymous | reply 93 | November 29, 2018 2:28 AM |
Bobby Burgess married Kristie Floren, daughter of Myron Floren in 1971. True love or job security? They have four kids.
Bobby actually got Cissy kicked off the show when he got tired of working with her. Who knows what else was going on though.
Guy & Ralna got divorced as soon as the show ended, but still perform together. He got remarried, she did not.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 94 | November 29, 2018 3:05 AM |
[quote]I've always wondered if they actually sang live on camera or if it was all lip-synced
Welk always insisted on performing and recording the show straight through, as if it were being broadcast live. He felt this gave the show more energy and the performances would be better.
by Anonymous | reply 95 | November 29, 2018 3:13 AM |
I love watching this when I'm stoned!
by Anonymous | reply 96 | November 29, 2018 5:00 AM |
Wow, R87, who knew Mr. Welk could bring the sizzle to a '70s gossip rag?
by Anonymous | reply 97 | November 29, 2018 5:09 AM |
They were always making poor Anacani dress up like a Spanish doña or a Mexican maiden or Carmen Miranda.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 98 | November 29, 2018 5:16 AM |
The Lennon Sisters were pre-recorded. A few years ago I read an interview with one of the girls (the youngest?) and she said Welk was worried they'd mess up live so they lip-synched on the show.
by Anonymous | reply 99 | November 29, 2018 6:14 AM |
The Lennon Sisters' Velveeta-esque cover of "Georgy Girl" made Judith Durham seem like Etta James.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 100 | November 29, 2018 6:19 AM |
"Velveeta-esque." hahahahaha.
by Anonymous | reply 101 | November 29, 2018 7:42 AM |
R100, the fuck is wrong with them? Are they retarded? What's up with those weird facial expressions.
by Anonymous | reply 102 | November 29, 2018 9:08 AM |
Arthur Duncan wasn't the only tap dancer on the show. Bobby Burgess, Jack Imel and Mary Lou Metzger also tapped.
That gossip mag headline about "The New Mrs. Lawrence Welk" was a tease. It was probably a story about his son's engagement.. Lawrence Welk, Jr. married Tanya Falan, a singer on the show, in 1968. They had a couple of sons and then divorced in 1979.
I am so pleased to find that I'm not the only un-ironic Welk watcher or Joe Feeney fan. My very first crush was Joe Feeney when I was 11, just the beginning of a lifetime obsession with tenors.
by Anonymous | reply 103 | November 29, 2018 9:50 AM |
My grandma and my aunt & uncle who lived with her would watch this in the 70's on Saturday night. My mom preferred The Carpenters. Speaking of Helen Steiner Rice I remember giving my Mom a book of her for Mother's Day.
by Anonymous | reply 104 | November 29, 2018 10:59 AM |
[quote]You should watch Guy Lombardo. The band leader who was the Anderson Cooper of his day
I only know he had the New Years Eve show and as a kid I found it boring
by Anonymous | reply 105 | November 29, 2018 11:04 AM |
> Oh why couldn't Larry live forever?
Be careful what you wish for. We have CGI now. Do you *really* want a new series with Lawrence Welk doing bubbly weekly renditions of wholesome hits like "Make it rain, bitch"?
Come to think of it, that would be fucking HILARIOUS.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 106 | November 29, 2018 11:13 AM |
[quote]Arthur Duncan wasn't the only tap dancer on the show. Bobby Burgess, Jack Imel and Mary Lou Metzger also tapped.
Was Bobby Burgess a gay homosexual?
by Anonymous | reply 107 | November 29, 2018 11:56 AM |
Naw, he was one of them straight homosexuals.
by Anonymous | reply 108 | November 29, 2018 12:11 PM |
I still remember the night, oh so many decades ago, when one of the boy/girl couples were singing a song (I think it might have been Guy & Ralna) and the guy put his hand somewhere on the girl that the offstage Lawrence apparently didn't approve of, and in the middle of the song he marched out and grabbed the guy's hand and moved it to what he considered a more appropriate position. The guy keeps on singing, but the look on his face was priceless. Smiling but nervous, knowing he was in for a good chastising once the show was over.
I've read that LW was a tough taskmaster, and a cheap bastard as well. Those folks were paid a pittance. Most of them only made a decent living because of their work away from the LW show.
by Anonymous | reply 109 | November 29, 2018 12:16 PM |
Poor Tom Netherton. All those years in show business and had to die in a shitty V.A. hospital. Poor buy must have had no health insurance.
by Anonymous | reply 110 | November 29, 2018 12:19 PM |
I believe it was nostalgia for our grandparents, even back in the 60's. Welk was one of the last of a dying breed, big band-style music that was reminiscent of what the oldtimers danced and listened to in the 30's and 40's. They'd see it on movie screens, flocked to bands if they appeared locally and it was a morale booster during WWII. I too remember watching this with my grandmother, in fact, I'm sure it was the ONLY show she watched.
My weekly visits to some seniors in a nursing home doesn't actually end until I call one of them on Saturday evening, to remind her that Lawrence Welk is on. Have they seen each show a hundred times? Sure, but it doesn't matter to them. The memories it evokes brightens their lives, makes them think back to a kinder, more joyous and better place. One of the ladies always talks about she and her husband going out dancing, I suppose she feels young again. A good enough reason to watch.
by Anonymous | reply 111 | November 29, 2018 12:20 PM |
A friend was Head Dietician at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. She said of all the celebs, LW was the worst. Complained about everything. Elizabeth Taylor one of the nicest.
by Anonymous | reply 112 | November 29, 2018 12:29 PM |
My grandmother would always comment on how gorgeous all the lady's costumes were at breakfast the next day. That show gave elderly people such joy back in the day. And I admit I'll watch it if I run across a rerun. It brings back sweet memories of a much simpler time.
by Anonymous | reply 113 | November 29, 2018 12:32 PM |
I watched the color 70s version, not of my own choice though. We only had one TV and when Welk was on it was my elderly grandfathers designated TV time. He’d usually ask my mother to watch with him. I don’t think she loved the show (she had a broad range of music tastes and appreciated newer music) but she did it out of old fashioned respect and duty to her elderly father. So that’s how I remember the show really, as a symbol of an older generation that lived by different rules and had different tastes. I have to say it does make me feel nostalgic and cozy.
by Anonymous | reply 114 | November 29, 2018 12:38 PM |
In which Gale and Dale sing about weed and Welk confuses it for a modern hymn
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 115 | November 29, 2018 12:59 PM |
In a chit-chat with Mary Lou Metzger, one of the Lennon Sisters said everything was lip-synced. They recorded on Thursday. Wonder if orchestral selections were live. "The Champagne Lady" Alice Lon was fired for something that annoyed Lawrence. Replaced by Norma Zimmer.
by Anonymous | reply 116 | November 29, 2018 12:59 PM |
r116 I believe Miss Lon dared to hike her hemline ABOVE the knee.
I wonder what contemporary songs Welk would have on a present-day show?
by Anonymous | reply 117 | November 29, 2018 1:17 PM |
There was always PR emphasis on the singers all being avid church goers. My father would refer to the show being full of bible thumpers.
by Anonymous | reply 118 | November 29, 2018 2:41 PM |
Does anyone else remember the harpist? She always had such a pained expression on her face when the camera panned in her direction. It was almost as if she couldn’t play and smile at the same time.
Have to give props to the members of the Welk Musical Family, though. LW hit the big time in 1955 and some of the musicians were capitalizing on that gig 30, 40 and 50 years later.
LW was known for being notoriously cheap. He hated that if a band member played more than one instrument in a musical number he had to pay union scale for each instrument. I read somewhere he got into it with George Cates, the musical director, who would write pieces where the musicians in the wind section would play flute, clarinet and piccolo in one song. LW would have to pay three times as much as if folks like Dick Dale or Henry Costa had played just clarinet or saxophone in that one song.
by Anonymous | reply 119 | November 29, 2018 6:22 PM |
In the early years, the only member of the cast allowed to call him "Lawrence" on camera was Myron Floren. To everyone else, he was "Mr. Welk". I remember one episode being surprised when his daughter-in-law, Tanya Welk addressed him as "Mr. Welk". In later shows, Welk must have been less uptight about it as several of the male performers called him by his first name, but I only remember Jo Ann Castle and Gail Farrell calling him "Lawrence".
by Anonymous | reply 120 | November 29, 2018 6:50 PM |
Things were different back then. He appealed to a crowd that appreciated that kind of deference.
by Anonymous | reply 121 | November 29, 2018 6:53 PM |
Bobby Burgess and Barbara Boylan's first performance on the show.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 122 | November 29, 2018 7:02 PM |
We also have to keep in mind we didnt have a lot of choices back then.When I was growing up there were 3 stations and pbs. But yes,my grandparents and parents both loved this show.It does seem like it evokes good memories for a great many of us.My mom and grandma and I would exclaim over the gowns. I was all of 5-6 ! If I remember correctly didnt this come on right before Hee Haw?
by Anonymous | reply 123 | November 29, 2018 7:05 PM |
We watched Hee Haw too, haha. Good natured clean fun back then, I was just a kid but I remember liking it. What was up with the lighting though, Welk, Hee Haw, Carol Burnett, Mary Hartman, why did they look so bright and brash, with no depth? I don’t remember other shows looking quite so in your face and cheap.
by Anonymous | reply 124 | November 29, 2018 7:07 PM |
[quote]We also have to keep in mind we didnt have a lot of choices back then.When I was growing up there were 3 stations and pbs.
PBS didn't come around until the late '60s. Before that, it was NET.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 125 | November 30, 2018 12:14 AM |
Lawrence "Larry" Welk III (one of Lawrence's grandsons) was a helicopter pilot/reporter for LA TV stations for many years. He now runs his own aviation firm.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 126 | November 30, 2018 12:16 AM |
[quote]Be careful what you wish for. We have CGI now. Do you *really* want a new series with Lawrence Welk doing bubbly weekly renditions of wholesome hits like "Make it rain, bitch"?
Anna now, please welcome Miss Natalie Nevins to parfarm one of the newer-a songs, "Bodacka Yellah."
by Anonymous | reply 127 | November 30, 2018 12:21 AM |
Sometimes I watch the Lawrence Welk Show reruns and think, "Imagine a world so safe and honest and clean and happy that THIS is considered entertainment." But the world has never been that way and never will be.
I searched his name once thinking I would find all kinds of behind the scenes secrets, but it sounds like Mr. Welk walked it like he talked it.
by Anonymous | reply 128 | November 30, 2018 1:43 AM |
Why did he have that accent? He was born in America!
by Anonymous | reply 129 | November 30, 2018 2:10 AM |
He spoke-a only Cherman until-a his early twintiez.
by Anonymous | reply 130 | November 30, 2018 2:12 AM |
The Semonski Sisters, addressing Welk's sister act fetish.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 132 | November 30, 2018 2:48 AM |
R132 The child that says BOOM is a bit scary
by Anonymous | reply 133 | November 30, 2018 4:02 AM |
I had a crush on Clay Hart and liked it when his chest hair would play peek a boo.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 134 | November 30, 2018 4:43 AM |
R119, I don't remember a lady harpist. Perhaps you're thinking of Charlotte Harris, the cello player. She was the only woman in the Welk orchestra.
by Anonymous | reply 135 | November 30, 2018 5:40 AM |
R129 - My parents/grandparents had a great affinity for Mr. Welk, as he was one of their kind. That being of German-Russian origin, and coming from a similar background. My grandparents never did speak English, even though they arrived in Canada in 1906, and died in 1962. They always spoke a dialect of a low German, the same as the Welk's.
Yea, I know, too much information in the link not relevant to the topic.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 136 | November 30, 2018 6:02 AM |
I worked in a nursing home when I was in college, and the residents watched it faithfully every Saturday night. The dining room was set up like a club, with snacks and beverages, and singing and dancing were encouraged. One of my best memories from an otherwise very depressing place.
by Anonymous | reply 137 | November 30, 2018 6:21 AM |
I just went to YouTube to watch an old 70s clip because this piqued my interest after a long time of not seeing the show. Dammit, I didn’t last two minutes after the music started before my throat and eyes filled up and the tears were dropping. It made me remember my mother and my grandfather, with me sitting on the floor while they watched. Very sweet.
by Anonymous | reply 138 | November 30, 2018 4:59 PM |
Bobby was one of the original Mouseketeers and had three dance partners over the course of the show; Barbara Boylen, Cissy King, and Elaine Balden. Cissy was a crowd favorite but was often late for rehearsals and it caused friction between her and Bobby, so she was replaced.
As someone mentioned, cellist Charlotte Harris was the only female orchestra musician. Welk would always say, "Tanka ya Charlotte for all da beautiful sounds coming from between your firm thighs."
by Anonymous | reply 139 | November 30, 2018 9:16 PM |
I love to watch the reruns with Ken Delo - he could be the twin brother of a man I worked with in the 80's, who was married and about 20 years older than me. One day we both found ourselves working late when everyone else had left the office. We were moving files from one cabinet to another when I dropped an armful of them and bent over to pick them up. "Ken" bent down to help, I looked at him and his eyes said "I want you" more clearly than words could have. I had fantasized about him but never picked up on any gay vibes until that moment. He kissed me for what seemed like five minutes. We stood up, out came his big perfect cock and I gave him a blowjob. From there on we would arrange to come in early or stay late, just to jack each other off or suck one another. Lots of close calls, which made it all the more exciting. He wanted anal but it was too big for me to even consider. At times we would meet at a hotel.
One day he came into work and said his wife was divorcing him, she found out he was sleeping with men. He seemed to age ten years in one week, it was really sad. We would still play around at work, but the divorce took something out of him and it was never the same. I left for another job and haven't seen or heard from him in more years than I can recall. He was the only man who could make me come just by kissing me, he was the best. And when we were somewhere with no chance of being seen/caught, he LOVED my feet. I mean LOVED!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 140 | November 30, 2018 9:39 PM |
R140 Thank you for dirtying-up this thread while somehow managing to stay on topic.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 141 | December 4, 2018 5:51 PM |
Welk made his singers pay for their own costumes.. He was a total cheapscape.
by Anonymous | reply 142 | December 4, 2018 5:55 PM |
The Lennon Sisters are currently performing in Branson. Such longevity!
by Anonymous | reply 143 | December 4, 2018 6:05 PM |
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