It was halftime at the Packers-Vikings football game, and I started channel surfing. I hit the PBS channel and some well-dressed black guy was doing a really good tap dance routine with a band in the background behind short podiums with the initials “LW” on the front, so I stopped with the remote. I watched him finish his gig, and all of a sudden, there was Lawrence Welk, ready to introduce his guest star, Henry Mancini.
Mancini played the piano to the tune he wrote, “Moon River,” and next directed Welk’s band in a rendition of Mancini’s theme song of the “Pink Panther” movie series. Damn, those were great movies. After that, I continued to watch singers and dancers do a variety of song and dance numbers. I noted how well everyone was dressed (“to the nines” as they used to say) and how well groomed all the men and women were. And smiles. Always the smiles from every single performer on the stage.
By the time this PBS special ended, it was already pretty close to the 4th quarter when I returned to the football game. But I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I hated Lawrence Welk as a kid. I was 12 when Elvis hit the big time, and I never looked back. No more Patti Page (God rest her recently departed soul), no more Andy Williams (he, too, has recently left us), no more any of that old fart bullshit. I went with the Buddy Holly “Maybe, Baby” ducktail crowd.
But as I watched these PBS clips of Welk from long ago, I thought, well, that show was schmaltzy as hell, just like I remembered it. It’s still not my cup of tea, but I was fascinated by how pure and innocent it all was. The wildest scene was a buxom female dancer in a low-cut feathery dress that covered her cleavage until the feathers would briefly fly to the side on a spin move and reveal just how well built she was. That’s it!!!!
I don’t know why, but I cannot begin to explain the enormous well of sadness that has washed over me. And a-one, and a-two.
Administrator says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwhhNgjxkp8
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6th January 2013 at 9:47 am
Administrator says:
SSS was so lonely last night, he was undressing this chick in his mind.
We’re you watching the Cleveland Browns or the Arizona Cardinals?
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6th January 2013 at 9:50 am
Administrator says:
SSS
You weren’t the only old geezer in Arizona watching Lawrence Welk last night.
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6th January 2013 at 9:54 am
Stan says:
I always hated Larwence Welk.
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6th January 2013 at 10:19 am
SSS says:
Admin
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6th January 2013 at 10:28 am
flash says:
actual picture of SSS back during his bootlegger busting daze…
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6th January 2013 at 10:32 am
Administrator says:
Billie Joe was watching LW at the detention center too.
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6th January 2013 at 10:37 am
flash says:
Back in the day when 3 generations could peacefully co-exist one house , my grandmother wielded tyrannical control over the tube and subsequently all viewing thereof .
And ,when Lawrence Welk came on , whatever channel we kids were watching was quickly changed to bubbles and bimbos…I still hate that waltzing sissy bastard to this day.
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6th January 2013 at 10:38 am
dilligaf says:
i know where your coming from…. i turn it on from time to time and think of my Grandfather.
different times no doubt, would i trade, im not sure….
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6th January 2013 at 11:08 am
IndenturedServant says:
One time I was channel surfing and came across LW doing an homage to Rock & Roll and I had to laugh. After doing his little intro he said “Now, let’s get-a-down and get-a-funky! And a-one and a-two.”
Hearing him say it with that accent made me think of it as a Mad Magazine spoof because the last thing I could picture is LW doing Rock & Roll.
He did have some very hot and elegant ladies on that show! If you loved to sing and dance, I’ll bet that was a fantastic job!
I_S
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6th January 2013 at 11:22 am
KaD says:
When you compare that with the crappy gangsta ‘banging ho’s’ music of today it is sad. GIGO-Garbage in (to the brain), garbage out (of the person).
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6th January 2013 at 11:22 am
Brazil66 says:
How can anyone hate Lawrence Welk?
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6th January 2013 at 11:48 am
AWD says:
Lawrence Welk was always thought to be gay, but he did sire one son (by accident), who later had a son. Grampa Welk’s genes for music were passed to his grandson:
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6th January 2013 at 11:55 am
Eddie says:
I grew up in rural Texas in a place that only had one channel on the TV set.
As I recall, LW was in the 6 p.m. slot on Saturday nights. Although it made me roll my eyes, I watched the show on hundreds of Saturday nights, and I have no trouble closing my eyes now and picturing the regular performers like the Lennon sisters and Myron Floren. Funny what sticks with you.
I realize now that they were all consummate performers, and that the schmaltz was their bread and butter. I’m guessing that the smiles were highly obligatory, and that Mr. Welk was probably a serious bastard to work for, since he insisted on perfect performances and seamless choreography, things that don’t happen without expert musicianship and constant rehearsal.
My GI parents thought it was all great, and couldn’t ever quite understand why I found it repulsive.
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6th January 2013 at 12:15 pm
John A says:
SSS,
My father loved The Lawrence Welk Show. Dad very rarely missed it on Saturday night. He also watched the “Gillette Fights” on Friday/Saturday nights. Thanks for the nostalgia.
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6th January 2013 at 1:33 pm
SSS says:
“I still hate that waltzing sissy bastard to this day.”
—-flash
Stop sugar-coating it, flash. Tell us what you really think. I picked out this You Tube clip just for you. No waltzes, I promise. Trust me on this one, flash, you’ll love it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwtYdGioC2Y
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6th January 2013 at 3:10 pm
Stucky says:
Our family used to watch this guy. We ACTUALLY sang along with the little bouncing dot.
Little known fact: Mitch Miller many years later appeared in the movie V For Vendetta.
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6th January 2013 at 3:23 pm
flash says:
Thanks, SSS , that confirms my suspicion .Lawrence Welk was a Nazi bastard sent here from fascist Europe e to deprive US kids the pleasure of viewing f real American shows like Hew Haw..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpNJuS3b0So
BTW even though in our house ,LW always took precedence over any other show that happened to be on in it’s time slot, I never suffered through a single episode. There was always plenty more interesting way to skin an evening that watching mindless bullshit.
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6th January 2013 at 3:42 pm
Micro-Be says:
SSS –
That’s one hell of an accordionist!
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6th January 2013 at 3:58 pm
Ron says:
My folks liked watching LW.While im not crazy about LW,its about as appealing as some of the music video clips here on TBP.Greenday?really? whats next the frikin Ramones?
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6th January 2013 at 4:12 pm
stalker says:
three networks was enough: lawrence welk, ed sullivan, red skelton, carol burnett, green acres, petticoat junction, andy griffith show, my mother the car, lost in space, mr ed, bewitched, i dream of genie, twilight zone, outer limits, thriller…
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6th January 2013 at 5:00 pm
flash says:
Thanks for reminding me stalker..I missed Red Skelton because of the Lawrence frikkin bubbley Welk ….gawd…damn…the nazi polka pewing baaaastad…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMdmRjL4HdY
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6th January 2013 at 5:31 pm
Novista says:
I remember Big Tiny Little.
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6th January 2013 at 7:23 pm
BUCKHED says:
I HATED Lawrence Welk with a passion…my Granddad loved him but he finally realized later in life that the Beach Boys were better. When I inherited his ipod shuffle it was loaded with the Beach Boys and other current music…not one Lawrence Welk type tune on it !
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6th January 2013 at 10:16 pm
stalker says:
honeymooners, gunsmoke, big valley, rawhide, cheyenne, maverick, rifleman. i didn’t think i love lucy was that funny, it was on a par with pat boone and hope/crosby. loved watching afternoon reruns of superman, 3 stooges and when tv finally began broacasting after midnight in early 70′s, reruns of ma and pa kettle, marx brothers…
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6th January 2013 at 11:28 pm
eugend66 says:
Lawrence Welk …….. Hmmm!!
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6th January 2013 at 2:34 am
Kill Bill says:
In case people missed it…..
SSS was captivated by BOOBS and not, IMHO, Lawrence.
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6th January 2013 at 7:28 am
Pete says:
I still have no love for LW, but it reminds me of my grandparents, who I miss like a SOB.
My grandfather dropped out of school in 5th grade to support his family and by the time I came along he was a general contractor and later got out of building houses, and he leased a gravel pit and became an excavation contractor. He worked from April until it got too cold in November.
Starting at age 10 I’d spend most of my summer vacations with him, working alongside him and his framing crews.
I wish i was in as good a shape as I was when I was 12 and worked with grandpa and I did the work of a man.
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6th January 2013 at 11:00 am
Bill Barr says:
My grandparents, who were so kind to me, loved L. W. Maybe because they were of German descent. I neither liked nor disliked LW but could imitate his voice to amuse the kids at school. He always reminded me of an SS officer but his autobiography is an interesting read. His parents were Germans who lived in that part of Russia now called Ukraine.
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6th January 2013 at 9:40 pm