Lawrence Welk
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Welk was an American musician
, accordion
ist, bandleader
, and television
impresario
, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show
from 1955 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio
, television
, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music".
In 1996, Welk was ranked #43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana Welk, ethnic Germans
who emigrated to America in 1892 from Odessa, Ukraine
, which was then part of the Russian Empire
.
The family lived on a homestead
that today is a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year under an upturned wagon covered in sod.
Welk decided on a career in music
and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion
for $400.($ as of ) He promised his father that he would work on the farm
until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family.
A common misconception is that Welk did not learn English until he was 21. In fact, he began learning English as soon as he started school. The part of North Dakota
where he lived had been settled largely by Germans from Russia; even his teachers spoke English as a second language. Welk thus acquired his trademark accent, a combination of the Russian and German accents. He took elocution lessons in the 1950s and could speak almost accent-free, but he realized his public expected to hear him say: "A-one, an-a-two" and "Wunnerful, Wunnerful!" When he was asked about his ancestry, he would always reply "Alsace-Lorraine
, Germany
," from where his forebears had emigrated to Russia (and which, at the time of Welk's birth in 1903, was still under German control).
. He led big bands in North Dakota
and eastern South Dakota. These included the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. His band was also the station band for popular radio station WNAX
in Yankton, South Dakota
. In 1927, he graduated from the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis
, Minnesota
.
Although many associate Welk's music with a style quite separate from jazz
, he did record one notable song in a ragtime
style in November 1928 for Indiana
-based Gennett Records
. "Spiked Beer" featured Welk and his Novelty Orchestra.
During the 1930s, Welk led a traveling big band
that specialized in dance tunes and "sweet" music. Initially, the band traveled around the country by car. They were too poor to rent rooms, so they usually slept and changed clothes in their cars. The term "Champagne Music" was derived from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel
in Pittsburgh, when a dancer referred to his band's sound as "light and bubbly as champagne." The hotel also lays claim to the original "bubble machine," a prop left over from a 1920s movie premiere. The band performed across the country but particularly in the Chicago
and Milwaukee areas. In the early 1940s, the band began a 10-year stint at the Trianon Ballroom
in Chicago
, regularly drawing crowds of nearly 7,000.
His orchestra also performed frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel
in New York City during the late 1940s. In 1944 and 1945, Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture "Soundies
," considered to be the early pioneers of music videos. Welk collaborated with Western artist Red Foley to record a version of Spade Cooley's "Shame on You" in 1945. The record (Decca 18698) was #4 to Cooley's #5 on Billboard's September 15 "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing. From 1949 through 1951, the band had its own national radio program on ABC
, sponsored by "The Champagne of Bottle Beer" Miller High Life.
and Paramount
companies. In November, 1928, he recorded 4 sides for Gennett spread over two days (1 side was rejected) and in 1931, he recorded 8 sides for Paramount (during two sessions) that were issued on the Broadway and Lyric labels. These records are quite rare and highly valued.
From 1938 to 1940, he recorded frequently in New York and Chicago for the Vocalion
label. He signed with Decca
in 1941, recorded for Mercury
and Coral
before moving to Dot
in the early 1950's.
. The same year, he began producing The Lawrence Welk Show
on KTLA
in Los Angeles, where it was broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom
in Venice Beach. The show became a local hit and was picked up by ABC
in June 1955.
During its first year on the air, the Welk hour instituted several regular features. To make Welk's "Champagne Music" tagline visual, the production crew engineered a "bubble machine" that spouted streams of large soap bubbles across the bandstand. Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the "Champagne Lady." His first Champagne Lady was Jayne Walton Rosen (real name: Dorothy Jayne Flanagan). Jayne left Welk's show after her marriage and later pregnancy. After Welk and his band went on television, she appeared as a guest on the show, where she sang Latin American songs and favorites that were popular when she was traveling with the Welk band. Novelty numbers would usually be sung by Rocky Rockwell. Welk also reserved one number for himself to solo on his accordion.
Welk's television program
had a policy of playing well known songs from previous years, so that the target audience
would hear only numbers with which they were familiar. In the TV show's early days, the band would rarely play tunes from the current charts except strictly as novelty numbers. On December 8, 1956, two examples on the same broadcast were "Nuttin' for Christmas," which became a vehicle for Rocky Rockwell dressed in a child's outfit, and Elvis Presley
's "Don't Be Cruel," which was sung by violin
ist Bob Lido
, wearing fake Presley-style sideburns
.
Welk never lost his affection for the hot jazz
he played in the 1920s, and when a Dixieland
tune was scheduled, he enthusiastically led the band.
The type of music on The Lawrence Welk Show was almost always conservative
, concentrating on popular music
standards, polka
s, and novelty song
s, delivered in a smooth, calm, good-humored easy listening
style and "family-oriented" manner. Although described by one critic as "the squarest music this side of Euclid,", this strategy proved commercially successful and the show remained on the air for 31 years.
Much of the show's appeal was Welk himself. His unusual accent appealed to the audience. While Welk's English was passable, he never did grasp the English "idiom
" completely and was thus famous for his "Welk-isms," such as "George, I want to see you when you have a minute, right now" and "Now for my accordion solo; Myron, will you join me?" His TV show was recorded as if it were a live performance, and it was sometimes quite free-wheeling. Another famous "Welk-ism" was his trademark count-off, "A one and a two . . . ," which was immortalized on his California automobile license plate that read "A1ANA2." This plate is visible on the front of a Model A
Ford
in one of the shows from 1980.
Musical satirist Stan Freberg
and his frequent collaborator, arranger Billy May
, recorded a scathing 1957 parody of the Welk TV show titled "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" featuring Freberg, voice actor Daws Butler
and members of Jud Conlon's Rhythmairs, mocking the show's corny nature, the band's more predictable arrangements and Welk's own mediocre accordion work. Studio musicians on the session included top Hollywood jazz players, many of whom scorned Welk's music and eagerly participated in the parody. After several "performances" and frequent asides from Freberg of "turn off the bubble machine," the machine spun out of control, sending the Santa Monica Ballroom floating out to sea. Welk was not pleased with Freberg's parody (a hit single that year) and denied he ever used the phrase "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" though it later became the title of his autobiography.
He often took women from the audience for a turn around the dance floor. During one show, Welk brought a cameraman out to dance with one of the women and took over the camera himself.
Welk's musicians were always top quality, including accordionist Myron Floren
, concert violinist Dick Kesner, guitarist Buddy Merrill
, and New Orleans Dixieland
clarinet
ist Pete Fountain
. Though Welk was occasionally rumored to be very tight with a dollar, he paid his regular band members top scale - a very good living for a working musician. Long tenure was very common among the regulars. For example, Floren was the band's assistant conductor throughout the show's run. He was noted for spotlighting individual members of his band and show. His band was well disciplined and had excellent arrangements in all styles. One notable showcase was his album with the noted jazz saxophonist
Johnny Hodges
.
Welk had a number of instrumental hits, including a cover of the song "Yellow Bird." His highest charting record was "Calcutta"
, which achieved hit status in 1961.
Welk himself was indifferent to the tune, but his musical director, George Cates
, said that if Welk did not wish to record the song, he (Cates) would. Welk replied, "Well, if it's good enough for you, George, I guess it's good enough for me." Despite the emergence of rock and roll
, "Calcutta" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop charts in 1961; it was recorded in only one take. The tune knocked the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow
" out of the #1 position, and it kept the Miracles' "Shop Around
" from becoming the group's first #1 hit, holding their recording at #2. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc
.
The album "Calcutta" also achieved number-one status. The albums "Last Date," "Yellow Bird," "Moon River," "Young World" and "Baby Elephant Walk and Theme from the Brothers Grimm," produced in the early 60s, were in Billboard's top ten; nine more albums produced between 1956 and 1963 were in the top twenty. His albums continued to chart through 1973.
Welk's insistence on wholesome entertainment led him to be a somewhat stern taskmaster at times. For example, he fired Alice Lon, at the time the show's "Champagne Lady," because he believed she was showing too much leg. Welk told the audience that he would not tolerate such "cheesecake
" performances on his show; he later tried unsuccessfully to rehire the singer after fan mail
indicated overwhelmingly that viewers disagreed with her dismissal. He then had a series of short-term "Champagne Ladies" before Norma Zimmer filled that spot on a permanent basis. Highly involved with his stars' personal lives, he often arbitrated their marriage disputes.
The Lawrence Welk Show embraced changes on the musical scene over the years. For as long as it existed, the show featured fresh music alongside the classics, even music originally not intended for the big-band sound. During the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, the show incorporated material by the contemporary sources The Beatles
, Burt Bacharach
and Hal David
, The Everly Brothers
and Paul Williams
and so on, albeit in Welk's signature "Champagne" style. Originally produced in black and white, in 1957 the show began being recorded on videotape
, and it switched to color
for the fall 1965 season. In time, it featured synthesized music and, toward the end of its run, early chroma key
technology added a new dimension to the story settings sometimes used for the musical numbers. Welk referred to his blue-screen effect in one episode as "the magic of television."
During its network run, The Lawrence Welk Show aired on ABC on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. (Eastern Time
), moving up a half-hour to 8:30 p.m. in the fall of 1963. In fact, Welk headlined two weekly prime-time shows on ABC for three years. From 1956 to 1958, he hosted a show titled Top Tunes and New Talent, which aired on Monday nights. The series moved to Wednesdays in Fall 1958 and was renamed The Plymouth Show, which ended in May 1959. During that time, the Saturday show was also known as The Dodge Dancing Party. ABC cancelled the show in the spring of 1971, citing an aging audience. Welk thanked ABC and the sponsors at the end of the last network show. The Lawrence Welk Show continued on as a first-run syndicated show on 250 stations across the country until the final original show was produced in 1982.
Welk was married for 61 years, until his death, to Fern Renner, with whom he had three children. One of his sons, Lawrence Welk Jr., married fellow Lawrence Welk Show performer Tanya Falan
; they later divorced. Welk had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of them, grandson Lawrence Welk III, who usually goes by "Larry Welk," is a reporter and helicopter
traffic pilot for KCAL-TV
and KCBS-TV
in Los Angeles. One of the great-grandchildren, Nate Fredricks, reportedly enjoys the same love for music as his great-grandfather did and plays guitar in a band.
Known as an excellent businessman, Welk had investments in real estate
and music publishing. Welk was the general partner in a commercial real estate development located at 100 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, California. The 21-story tall white tower is the tallest building in Santa Monica and is located on the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica Bay. It was informally named "The Lawrence Welk Champagne Tower."
Welk enjoyed playing golf
, which he first took up in the late 1950s, and was often a regular at many celebrity pro-ams such as the Bob Hope Desert Classic
.
A devout, life-long Roman Catholic, Welk was a daily communicant, which is corroborated in numerous biographies, by his autobiography and by his family and his many staff, friends and associates throughout the years
specials in 1984 and 1985.
Welk died from pneumonia
in Santa Monica, California
in 1992 at age 89 and was buried in Culver City
's Holy Cross Cemetery
.
Sources: Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 Billboard Top Adult Songs 1961-2006 Billboard Bubbling Under The Hot 100 1959-2004
.
He served as the Grand Marshal
for the Rose Bowl
's Tournament of Roses parade in 1972.
In 1994, he was inducted into the International Polka Music Hall Of Fame.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
, located at 6613½ Hollywood Blvd.
In 2007, he became a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana
.
. In addition, the television show has been repackaged for broadcast on PBS
stations, with updates from show performers appearing as wraparounds where commercial breaks were during the original shows. The repackaged shows are broadcast at roughly the same Saturday-night time slot as the original ABC shows, and special longer Welk show rebroadcasts are often shown during individual stations' fund-raising periods. These repackaged shows are produced by the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
.
A resort community developed by Welk and promoted heavily by him on the show is named for him. Formerly known as "Lawrence Welk Village," the Welk Resort and Champagne Village are just off Interstate 15
north of Escondido, California
, about 38 miles north of downtown San Diego. Lawrence Welk Village was where Welk actually lived in a rather affluent "cottage." The resort is open to the public and contains two golf
courses, dozens of upscale timeshares, and a theater that contains a museum of Welk's life. The Welk Resort Theatre performs live Broadway musicals year round.
His organization, The Welk Group, consists of: his resort communities in Branson and Escondido; Welk Syndication, which broadcasts the show on public television; and the Welk Music Group, which operates record labels Sugar Hill, Vanguard
and Ranwood
. From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the Welk Group was known as "Teleklew," in which tele stood for television and klew was Welk spelled backwards.
The "Live Lawrence Welk Show" makes annual concert tours across the United States
and Canada
, featuring stars from the television series, including Ralna English
, Mary Lou Metzger
, Jack Imel
, Gail Farrell
, Anacani
and Big Tiny Little
.
Welk's variety show has been parodied in a recurring 2000s sketch on Saturday Night Live
, in which he is portrayed by Fred Armisen
.
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
), except where indicated:
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
ist, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
from 1955 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music".
In 1996, Welk was ranked #43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Early life
Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North DakotaStrasburg, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 549 people, 216 households, and 136 families residing in Strasburg. The population density was 1,823.0 people per square mile . There were 245 housing units at an average density of 813.5 per square mile . The racial makeup of the town was 96.72% White, 0.18%...
. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana Welk, ethnic Germans
Germans from Russia
Germans from Russia refers to the large numbers of ethnic Germans who emigrated from the Russian Empire, peaking in the late 19th century. The upper Great Plains in the United States and southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan have large areas populated primarily of descendants of Germans from Russia...
who emigrated to America in 1892 from Odessa, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, which was then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
The family lived on a homestead
Ludwig and Christina Welk Homestead
The Ludwig and Christina Welk Homestead built in 1893 is an historic farm house located at 845 88th Street, South East in Strasburg, North Dakota. It is also known as the Lawrence Welk Birthplace, the Mike Welk Farm and ND SITS 32 EM 46...
that today is a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year under an upturned wagon covered in sod.
Welk decided on a career in music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
for $400.($ as of ) He promised his father that he would work on the farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family.
A common misconception is that Welk did not learn English until he was 21. In fact, he began learning English as soon as he started school. The part of North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
where he lived had been settled largely by Germans from Russia; even his teachers spoke English as a second language. Welk thus acquired his trademark accent, a combination of the Russian and German accents. He took elocution lessons in the 1950s and could speak almost accent-free, but he realized his public expected to hear him say: "A-one, an-a-two" and "Wunnerful, Wunnerful!" When he was asked about his ancestry, he would always reply "Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
," from where his forebears had emigrated to Russia (and which, at the time of Welk's birth in 1903, was still under German control).
Early career
On his 21st birthday, having fulfilled his promise to his father, Welk left the family farm to pursue a career in music, which he loved. During the 1920s, he performed with the Luke Witkowski, Lincoln Boulds, and George T. Kelly bands before starting his own orchestraOrchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. He led big bands in North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
and eastern South Dakota. These included the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. His band was also the station band for popular radio station WNAX
WNAX (AM)
WNAX is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. It is licensed to Yankton, South Dakota. Due to the flat landscape of the Upper Great Plains and its location near the bottom end of the AM band, the station's 5,000-watt signal covers large portions of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa,...
in Yankton, South Dakota
Yankton, South Dakota
Yankton is a city in, and the county seat of, Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 14,454 at the 2010 census. Yankton was the original capital of Dakota Territory. It is named for the Yankton tribe of Nakota Native Americans...
. In 1927, he graduated from the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.
Although many associate Welk's music with a style quite separate from jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, he did record one notable song in a ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
style in November 1928 for Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
-based Gennett Records
Gennett Records
Gennett was a United States based record label which flourished in the 1920s.-Label history:Gennett records was founded in Richmond, Indiana by the Starr Piano Company, and released its first records in October 1917. The company took its name from its top managers: Harry, Fred and Clarence Gennett....
. "Spiked Beer" featured Welk and his Novelty Orchestra.
During the 1930s, Welk led a traveling big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
that specialized in dance tunes and "sweet" music. Initially, the band traveled around the country by car. They were too poor to rent rooms, so they usually slept and changed clothes in their cars. The term "Champagne Music" was derived from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel
William Penn Hotel
The Omni William Penn Hotel is located at 530 William Penn Place on Mellon Square in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A variety of luminaries have stayed at the hotel, including John F. Kennedy. The hotel staff innovated Lawrence Welk's now famous bubble machine, and it was the site of Bob...
in Pittsburgh, when a dancer referred to his band's sound as "light and bubbly as champagne." The hotel also lays claim to the original "bubble machine," a prop left over from a 1920s movie premiere. The band performed across the country but particularly in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Milwaukee areas. In the early 1940s, the band began a 10-year stint at the Trianon Ballroom
Trianon Ballrooms
The Trianon Ballrooms were located in a number of cities during America's bigband era. The most prominent Trianon was in Chicago, Illinois, but there were others as well, located in places such as Cleveland, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toledo, and the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, regularly drawing crowds of nearly 7,000.
His orchestra also performed frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel
Roosevelt Hotel (New York)
The Roosevelt Hotel is at Madison Avenue and 45th Street in midtown Manhattan, named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt. The New York City hotel opened on September 22, 1924. The hotel closed in 1995 and reopened in 1997 after a $65-million extensive renovation.-Guest rooms:There are a total...
in New York City during the late 1940s. In 1944 and 1945, Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture "Soundies
Soundies
Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946, often including short dance sequences. The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was...
," considered to be the early pioneers of music videos. Welk collaborated with Western artist Red Foley to record a version of Spade Cooley's "Shame on You" in 1945. The record (Decca 18698) was #4 to Cooley's #5 on Billboard's September 15 "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing. From 1949 through 1951, the band had its own national radio program on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, sponsored by "The Champagne of Bottle Beer" Miller High Life.
Recordings
In addition to the above mentioned "Spiked Beer", Welk's territory band made occasional trips to Richmond, Indiana and to Grafton, Wisconsin to record a handful of sessions for the GennettGennett Records
Gennett was a United States based record label which flourished in the 1920s.-Label history:Gennett records was founded in Richmond, Indiana by the Starr Piano Company, and released its first records in October 1917. The company took its name from its top managers: Harry, Fred and Clarence Gennett....
and Paramount
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
companies. In November, 1928, he recorded 4 sides for Gennett spread over two days (1 side was rejected) and in 1931, he recorded 8 sides for Paramount (during two sessions) that were issued on the Broadway and Lyric labels. These records are quite rare and highly valued.
From 1938 to 1940, he recorded frequently in New York and Chicago for the Vocalion
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
label. He signed with Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
in 1941, recorded for Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
and Coral
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
before moving to Dot
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...
in the early 1950's.
The Lawrence Welk Show
In 1951, Welk settled in Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. The same year, he began producing The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
on KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
in Los Angeles, where it was broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom
Aragon Ballroom (Venice Beach)
The Aragon Ballroom on Lick Pier in the Ocean Park district of Santa Monica, California was a social-dance venue opened under the Aragon name in March 1942 by Swing Shift dance promoter Harry Schooler.-History:...
in Venice Beach. The show became a local hit and was picked up by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in June 1955.
During its first year on the air, the Welk hour instituted several regular features. To make Welk's "Champagne Music" tagline visual, the production crew engineered a "bubble machine" that spouted streams of large soap bubbles across the bandstand. Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the "Champagne Lady." His first Champagne Lady was Jayne Walton Rosen (real name: Dorothy Jayne Flanagan). Jayne left Welk's show after her marriage and later pregnancy. After Welk and his band went on television, she appeared as a guest on the show, where she sang Latin American songs and favorites that were popular when she was traveling with the Welk band. Novelty numbers would usually be sung by Rocky Rockwell. Welk also reserved one number for himself to solo on his accordion.
Welk's television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
had a policy of playing well known songs from previous years, so that the target audience
Target audience
In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed .....
would hear only numbers with which they were familiar. In the TV show's early days, the band would rarely play tunes from the current charts except strictly as novelty numbers. On December 8, 1956, two examples on the same broadcast were "Nuttin' for Christmas," which became a vehicle for Rocky Rockwell dressed in a child's outfit, and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "Don't Be Cruel," which was sung by violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist Bob Lido
Bob Lido
Bob Lido was an American musician and singer who was a regular member of television's The Lawrence Welk Show, his instrument was the violin....
, wearing fake Presley-style sideburns
Sideburns
Sideburns or sideboards are patches of facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to below the ears and worn with an unbearded chin...
.
Welk never lost his affection for the hot jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
he played in the 1920s, and when a Dixieland
Dixieland Jazz
Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...
tune was scheduled, he enthusiastically led the band.
The type of music on The Lawrence Welk Show was almost always conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, concentrating on popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
standards, polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
s, and novelty song
Novelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
s, delivered in a smooth, calm, good-humored easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
style and "family-oriented" manner. Although described by one critic as "the squarest music this side of Euclid,", this strategy proved commercially successful and the show remained on the air for 31 years.
Much of the show's appeal was Welk himself. His unusual accent appealed to the audience. While Welk's English was passable, he never did grasp the English "idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
" completely and was thus famous for his "Welk-isms," such as "George, I want to see you when you have a minute, right now" and "Now for my accordion solo; Myron, will you join me?" His TV show was recorded as if it were a live performance, and it was sometimes quite free-wheeling. Another famous "Welk-ism" was his trademark count-off, "A one and a two . . . ," which was immortalized on his California automobile license plate that read "A1ANA2." This plate is visible on the front of a Model A
Model A
Model A may refer to:* Ford Model A , a model of car built by the Ford Motor Company* Ford Model A , a model of car built by the Ford Motor Company* One of the letter-series models of Farmall tractors...
Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
in one of the shows from 1980.
Musical satirist Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
and his frequent collaborator, arranger Billy May
Billy May
William E. "Billy" May was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music, for The Green Hornet , Batman , and Naked City and collaborated on films, such as Pennies from Heaven , and orchestrated Cocoon, and Cocoon: The Return among...
, recorded a scathing 1957 parody of the Welk TV show titled "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" featuring Freberg, voice actor Daws Butler
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
and members of Jud Conlon's Rhythmairs, mocking the show's corny nature, the band's more predictable arrangements and Welk's own mediocre accordion work. Studio musicians on the session included top Hollywood jazz players, many of whom scorned Welk's music and eagerly participated in the parody. After several "performances" and frequent asides from Freberg of "turn off the bubble machine," the machine spun out of control, sending the Santa Monica Ballroom floating out to sea. Welk was not pleased with Freberg's parody (a hit single that year) and denied he ever used the phrase "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" though it later became the title of his autobiography.
He often took women from the audience for a turn around the dance floor. During one show, Welk brought a cameraman out to dance with one of the women and took over the camera himself.
Welk's musicians were always top quality, including accordionist Myron Floren
Myron Floren
Myron Floren was an American musician best known as the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show between 1950 and 1982...
, concert violinist Dick Kesner, guitarist Buddy Merrill
Buddy Merrill
Buddy Merrill is an American guitar player and musician who was best known as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show. His style of guitar playing is known as multi-tracking.- Early Beginnings :...
, and New Orleans Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
ist Pete Fountain
Pete Fountain
Pete Fountain , is an American clarinetist based in New Orleans. He has played jazz, Dixieland and Creole music.-Early life and education:...
. Though Welk was occasionally rumored to be very tight with a dollar, he paid his regular band members top scale - a very good living for a working musician. Long tenure was very common among the regulars. For example, Floren was the band's assistant conductor throughout the show's run. He was noted for spotlighting individual members of his band and show. His band was well disciplined and had excellent arrangements in all styles. One notable showcase was his album with the noted jazz saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
.
Welk had a number of instrumental hits, including a cover of the song "Yellow Bird." His highest charting record was "Calcutta"
Calcutta (song)
"Calcutta" was written in 1958 by Heino Gaze and Hans Bradtke . The original title was "Tivoli Melody", but it then re-titled several times, until it became known as "Calcutta"...
, which achieved hit status in 1961.
Welk himself was indifferent to the tune, but his musical director, George Cates
George Cates
George Cates was an American music arranger, conductor, songwriter and record executive known for his work with Lawrence Welk and his orchestra....
, said that if Welk did not wish to record the song, he (Cates) would. Welk replied, "Well, if it's good enough for you, George, I guess it's good enough for me." Despite the emergence of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, "Calcutta" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop charts in 1961; it was recorded in only one take. The tune knocked the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow", also known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and originally recorded by The Shirelles. It has been recorded by many artists and was ranked among Rolling Stone 's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #125...
" out of the #1 position, and it kept the Miracles' "Shop Around
Shop Around
"Shop Around" is a 1960 single by The Miracles for the Tamla label, catalog number T 54034. It is notable as being the label's first #1 hit on the Billboard magazine R&B singles chart, and also hit #2 on the Hot 100....
" from becoming the group's first #1 hit, holding their recording at #2. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
The album "Calcutta" also achieved number-one status. The albums "Last Date," "Yellow Bird," "Moon River," "Young World" and "Baby Elephant Walk and Theme from the Brothers Grimm," produced in the early 60s, were in Billboard's top ten; nine more albums produced between 1956 and 1963 were in the top twenty. His albums continued to chart through 1973.
Welk's insistence on wholesome entertainment led him to be a somewhat stern taskmaster at times. For example, he fired Alice Lon, at the time the show's "Champagne Lady," because he believed she was showing too much leg. Welk told the audience that he would not tolerate such "cheesecake
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
" performances on his show; he later tried unsuccessfully to rehire the singer after fan mail
Fan mail
Fan mail is mail sent to a public figure, especially a celebrity, by their admirers or "fans".In return celebrities may send a poster or picture and usually a return letter.-Overview:...
indicated overwhelmingly that viewers disagreed with her dismissal. He then had a series of short-term "Champagne Ladies" before Norma Zimmer filled that spot on a permanent basis. Highly involved with his stars' personal lives, he often arbitrated their marriage disputes.
The Lawrence Welk Show embraced changes on the musical scene over the years. For as long as it existed, the show featured fresh music alongside the classics, even music originally not intended for the big-band sound. During the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, the show incorporated material by the contemporary sources The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
and Hal David
Hal David
Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
, The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
and Paul Williams
Paul Williams (songwriter)
Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American composer, musician, songwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World",...
and so on, albeit in Welk's signature "Champagne" style. Originally produced in black and white, in 1957 the show began being recorded on videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
, and it switched to color
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
for the fall 1965 season. In time, it featured synthesized music and, toward the end of its run, early chroma key
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
technology added a new dimension to the story settings sometimes used for the musical numbers. Welk referred to his blue-screen effect in one episode as "the magic of television."
During its network run, The Lawrence Welk Show aired on ABC on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. (Eastern Time
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
), moving up a half-hour to 8:30 p.m. in the fall of 1963. In fact, Welk headlined two weekly prime-time shows on ABC for three years. From 1956 to 1958, he hosted a show titled Top Tunes and New Talent, which aired on Monday nights. The series moved to Wednesdays in Fall 1958 and was renamed The Plymouth Show, which ended in May 1959. During that time, the Saturday show was also known as The Dodge Dancing Party. ABC cancelled the show in the spring of 1971, citing an aging audience. Welk thanked ABC and the sponsors at the end of the last network show. The Lawrence Welk Show continued on as a first-run syndicated show on 250 stations across the country until the final original show was produced in 1982.
Personal life
Tanya Falan Welk
Tanya Falan Welk is an American singer who appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1968 to 1977.Born and raised in Glendale, California, Tanya began singing at age four at her uncle's Los Angeles restaurant. As a teenager, she worked at Disneyland where she had her own band known as Tanya and the...
; they later divorced. Welk had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of them, grandson Lawrence Welk III, who usually goes by "Larry Welk," is a reporter and helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
traffic pilot for KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
and KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
in Los Angeles. One of the great-grandchildren, Nate Fredricks, reportedly enjoys the same love for music as his great-grandfather did and plays guitar in a band.
Known as an excellent businessman, Welk had investments in real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
and music publishing. Welk was the general partner in a commercial real estate development located at 100 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, California. The 21-story tall white tower is the tallest building in Santa Monica and is located on the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica Bay. It was informally named "The Lawrence Welk Champagne Tower."
Welk enjoyed playing golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, which he first took up in the late 1950s, and was often a regular at many celebrity pro-ams such as the Bob Hope Desert Classic
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic
The Bob Hope Classic is a professional golf tournament played each January in California's Coachella Valley. Part of the PGA Tour's early season West Coast Swing, this tournament is well known for its celebrity pro-am, as well as having five daily 18-hole rounds of competition vs. the Tour standard...
.
A devout, life-long Roman Catholic, Welk was a daily communicant, which is corroborated in numerous biographies, by his autobiography and by his family and his many staff, friends and associates throughout the years
Later years
After retiring from his show and from the road in 1982, Welk continued to air reruns of his shows, which were repackaged first for syndication and, starting in 1986, for public television. He also starred in and produced a pair of ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
specials in 1984 and 1985.
Welk died from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
in 1992 at age 89 and was buried in Culver City
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
's Holy Cross Cemetery
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Holy Cross Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles....
.
Singles
- Moritat A Theme From Three Penny Opera { US # 17 - March 1956 }
- The Poor People Of Paris { US # 17 - April 1956 }
- On The Street Where You Live { US # 96 - June 1956 }
- Weary Blues { US # 32 - August 1956 }
- In The Alps { US # 63 - August 1956 }
- Tonight You Belong To Me { US # 15 - November 1956 } (Featuring Lennon Sisters)
- When The White Lilacs Bloom Again { US # 70 - November 1956 }
- Liechtenstein Polka { US # 48 - December 1957 }
- Last Date { US # 21 - December 1960 }
- Calcutta { US # 1 - February 1961 }
- Theme From My Three Sons { US # 55 - April 1961 }
- Yellow Bird { US # 71 - July 1961 }
- Riders In The Sky { US # 87 - October 1961 }
- One A-Two A-Cha Cha Cha { US # 117 - December 1961 }
- Runaway { US # 56 - May 1962 }
- Baby Elephant Walk { US # 48 - September 1962 - AC # 10, 1962 }
- Zero-Zero { US # 98 - December 1962 }
- Scarlet O'Hara { US # 89 - June 1963 }
- Breakwater { US # 100 - June 1963 }
- Blue Velvet { US # 103 - October 1963 }
- Fiesta { US # 106 - October 1963 }
- Stockholm { US # 91 - March 1964 }
- Apples And Bananas { US # 75 - April 1965 - AC # 17, 1965 }
- The Beat Goes On { US # 104 - April 1967 }
- Green Tambourine { AC # 27 - March 1968 }
- Southtown U.S.A. { AC # 37 - February 1970 }
Sources: Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 Billboard Top Adult Songs 1961-2006 Billboard Bubbling Under The Hot 100 1959-2004
Honors
In 1961, he was inducted as a charter member of the Rough Rider Award from his native North DakotaNorth Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
.
He served as the Grand Marshal
Grand Marshal
Grand Marshal is a ceremonial, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "Marshal" with the first usage of the term "Grand Marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders...
for the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...
's Tournament of Roses parade in 1972.
In 1994, he was inducted into the International Polka Music Hall Of Fame.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, located at 6613½ Hollywood Blvd.
In 2007, he became a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city largely within Wayne Township, Wayne County, in east central Indiana, United States, which borders Ohio. The city also includes the Richmond Municipal Airport, which is in Boston Township and separated from the rest of the city...
.
Legacy
Welk's band continues to appear in a dedicated theater in Branson, MissouriBranson, Missouri
Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....
. In addition, the television show has been repackaged for broadcast on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
stations, with updates from show performers appearing as wraparounds where commercial breaks were during the original shows. The repackaged shows are broadcast at roughly the same Saturday-night time slot as the original ABC shows, and special longer Welk show rebroadcasts are often shown during individual stations' fund-raising periods. These repackaged shows are produced by the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority
OETA , is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service member Non-commercial educational Public television stations covering the entire state of Oklahoma....
.
A resort community developed by Welk and promoted heavily by him on the show is named for him. Formerly known as "Lawrence Welk Village," the Welk Resort and Champagne Village are just off Interstate 15
Interstate 15
Interstate 15 is the fourth-longest north–south Interstate Highway in the United States, traveling through the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana from San Diego to the Canadian border...
north of Escondido, California
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city occupying a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills, just north of the city of San Diego, California. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city had a population of 143,911 at the 2010 census. Its municipal government set itself an operating...
, about 38 miles north of downtown San Diego. Lawrence Welk Village was where Welk actually lived in a rather affluent "cottage." The resort is open to the public and contains two golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
courses, dozens of upscale timeshares, and a theater that contains a museum of Welk's life. The Welk Resort Theatre performs live Broadway musicals year round.
His organization, The Welk Group, consists of: his resort communities in Branson and Escondido; Welk Syndication, which broadcasts the show on public television; and the Welk Music Group, which operates record labels Sugar Hill, Vanguard
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
and Ranwood
Ranwood Records
Ranwood Records was started in 1968 by Randy Wood together with Lawrence Welk. Ranwood acquired Welk's Coral Records and Dot Records catalog for reissue on Ranwood. Most of Welk's recorded musical output from that point on was released on the Ranwood label. Welk acquired Wood's interest in the...
. From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the Welk Group was known as "Teleklew," in which tele stood for television and klew was Welk spelled backwards.
The "Live Lawrence Welk Show" makes annual concert tours across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, featuring stars from the television series, including Ralna English
Ralna English
Ralna Eve English American-born singer was born in Haskell, the seat of Haskell County, north of Abilene, Texas. She gained fame as half of the husband-and-wife singing duo of Guy & Ralna with then-husband Guy Hovis, both of whom were featured performers on The Lawrence Welk Show.English was reared...
, Mary Lou Metzger
Mary Lou Metzger
Mary Lou Metzger is an American singer and dancer best known as a cast member on The Lawrence Welk Show....
, Jack Imel
Jack Imel
Lawrence Jack Imel is an American singer, dancer, musician, and television producer who is best known for his work on The Lawrence Welk Show....
, Gail Farrell
Gail Farrell
Gail Farrell American singer and songwriter who is famous as a member of the long running TV musical variety program The Lawrence Welk Show.-Biography:...
, Anacani
Anacani
Anacani Maria Consuelo y Castillo Lopez Cantor Montoya is a Mexican-born American singer best known as a featured performer on The Lawrence Welk Show television program....
and Big Tiny Little
Big Tiny Little
Dudley "Tiny" Little, Jr. was an American musician who appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1959. His primary instrument was the piano.-Biography:...
.
Welk's variety show has been parodied in a recurring 2000s sketch on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, in which he is portrayed by Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
.
See also
- The Lennon SistersThe Lennon SistersThe Lennon Sisters are a singing group consisting of four siblings: Dianne , Peggy , Kathy , and Janet . They were all born in Los Angeles, California of German/Irish and Mexican ancestry. The original quartet were the eldest four in a family of twelve siblings...
- mainstay singers for Welk from 1955 to 1968 - Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park)
Books
All books written with Bernice McGeehan and published by Prentice HallPrentice Hall
Prentice Hall is a major educational publisher. It is an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc., based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6-12 and higher-education market. Prentice Hall distributes its technical titles through the Safari...
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 5,281. The borough houses the world headquarters of CNBC and the American headquarters of Unilever, and is home to both Ferrari and Maserati North America.Englewood Cliffs...
), except where indicated:
- Wunnerful, Wunnerful: The AutobiographyAutobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of Lawrence Welk, 1971, ISBN 0-13-971515-0 - Ah-One, Ah-Two! Life with My Musical Family, 1974, ISBN 0-13-020990-2
- My America, Your America, 1976, ISBN 0-13-608414-1
- Lawrence Welk's Musical Family Album, 1977, ISBN 0-13-526624-6
- Welk with McGeehan, illustrated by Carol Bryan, Lawrence Welk's Bunny Rabbit Concert, Indianapolis: Youth Publications/Saturday Evening Post Co., 1977, ISBN 0-89387-501-5 (children's book)
- This I Believe, 1979, ISBN 0-13-919092-9
- You're Never Too Young, 1981, ISBN 0-13-977181-6
External links
- Lawrence Welk's recordings in the 1920s and 1930s, along with other info
- "Spiked Beer," from the aforementioned website
- Lawrence Welk's Best Kept Secret
- Welk Musical Family website
- WelkNotes fansite
- "Old Fans Still Bubble Along to Lawrence Welk" article (The New York Times)
- Welk Musical Family blog
- Lawrence Welk Collection at North Dakota State University