Editing Lawrence Welk (section)

==''The Lawrence Welk Show''==
{{Main|The Lawrence Welk Show}}
{{more citations needed section|date=June 2017}}
In 1951, Welk settled in Los Angeles. The same year, he began producing ''[[The Lawrence Welk Show]]'' on [[KTLA]] in Los Angeles, where it was broadcast from the [[Aragon Ballroom (Venice Beach)|Aragon Ballroom]] in [[Venice Beach, California|Venice Beach]]. The show became a local hit and was picked up by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in June 1955. By 1956, Welk also signed with [[Ben Selvin]] at [[RCA Thesaurus]] for broadcasts of his "New Lawrence Welk Show" on leading national radio networks.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SkUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=RCA+Thesaurus+Lawrence+Welk&pg=PA26 The Billboard - "Speed and Quality on RCA Thesaurus"] [[Ben Selvin]] October 6, 1956, p. 26 & p. 32 RCA Thesaurus Lawrence Welk on Google Books</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SkUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=RCA+Thesaurus+Lawrence+Welk&pg=PA19 The Billboard - "The Lawrence Welk Story - Welk to Radio via Thesaurus" 6 October 1956 p. 19 RCA Thesaurus Lawrence Welk on Google Books]</ref>

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 bubbles across the bandstand. While the bubble machine was originally engineered to produce soap bubbles, complaints from the band members about soapy build-ups on their instruments led to the machine being reworked to produce glycerine bubbles instead. During the show's first year, the bubble machine operated continuously, with the bubbles wafting across the musicians' faces and instruments for the entire hour. Within a year, the bubble machine was retired except for the opening and closing "Champagne Music" selections. Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the "Champagne Lady". This was a long-standing tradition in the Welk band; the first Champagne Lady was Lois Best (1939 to 1941), followed during the war years by Jayne Walton.
[[File:Lawrence welk norma zimmer 1961.JPG|thumb|Welk with [[Norma Zimmer]] in 1961.]]
Beginning with the Welk show's freshman year, Welk was careful to program current songs in addition to the traditional big-band standards. The [[Boyd Bennett]] rock-and-roll hit "My Boy Flat Top" was featured on two different programs (November 26, 1955, and December 10, 1955, the latter featuring [[Buddy Merrill]] on electric guitar). The policy was relaxed over the next year, with new songs still being included but now being treated as novelty arrangements. In the December 8, 1956, broadcast, "Nuttin' for Christmas" became a vehicle for Rocky Rockwell dressed in a child's outfit, and [[Elvis Presley]]'s "[[Don't Be Cruel]]" was sung by the violinist [[Bob Lido]], wearing fake Presley-style [[sideburns]].{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} In another episode, [[the Lennon Sisters]] and [[Norma Zimmer]] performed the [[The Orlons|Orlons]]' No. 2 pop hit "[[The Wah-Watusi]]" with the [[Bass (voice type)|bass]] singer [[Larry Hooper]] wearing a [[beatnik]] outfit.

These stood in comparison to the contemporary ''[[American Bandstand]]'', which catered to a teenager audience and featured the latest acts. In a 1971 episode, Welk infamously billed the [[Brewer & Shipley]] single "[[One Toke Over the Line]]" (performed as a duet by [[Gail Farrell]] and [[Dick Dale (singer)|Dick Dale]]), which referenced the use of marijuana, as a "modern spiritual";<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/Ye3ecDYxOkg| archive-date=November 17, 2021 | url-status=live|title="Toking" with Lawrence Welk|publisher=YouTube|date=August 21, 2007|access-date=December 9, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> social conservatives of the era saw the song as subversive and it became the first casualty of an attempt by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] to get radio stations to ban all pro-drug songs.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.brewerandshipley.com/misc/RScensorship.htm | title=Radio: One Toke Behind the Line | first=Ben | last=Fong-Torres | author-link=Ben Fong-Torres | date=April 15, 1971 | magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] | via=BrewerAndShipley.com | access-date=December 25, 2022}}</ref> Later in the 1970s, however, Welk's programs often included current adult contemporary songs performed by his singers, including "[[Feelings (Morris Albert song)|Feelings]]" and "[[Love Will Keep Us Together]]" (made famous by [[Morris Albert]] and [[Captain & Tennille]], respectively), and current songs were included up through 1982, the final year of production of the show.

Whenever a [[Dixieland jazz|Dixieland]] tune was scheduled, Welk harked back to his days with the Hotsy Totsy Boys and enthusiastically led the band. Befitting the target audience, the type of music on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' was conservative, concentrating on [[popular music]] standards, [[show tune]]s, [[polka]]s, and [[novelty song]]s, delivered in a smooth, calm, good-humored [[easy listening|easy-listening]] style and "family-oriented" manner. Although described by one critic, Canadian journalist and entertainment editor Frank Rasky, as "the squarest music this side of [[Euclid, Ohio|Euclid]]",<ref>{{cite book|last=Minahan|first=John|title=The Torment of Buddy Rich: A Biography|year=1973|publisher=iUniverse|page=74}}</ref> this strategy proved commercially successful, and the show remained on the air for 31 years.

Welk's musicians included accordionist [[Myron Floren]], the concert violinist [[Dick Kesner]], the guitarist Buddy Merrill, and the [[New Orleans]] [[Dixieland]] clarinetist [[Pete Fountain]]. Though Welk was occasionally rumored to be tight with a dollar, he paid his regular band members top scale. Long tenure was 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.

Welk had a number of instrumental hits, including a cover of the song "[[Choucoune (song)|Yellow Bird]]". His highest-charting record was "[[Calcutta (song)|Calcutta]]", written by [[Heino Gaze]], which achieved hit status in 1961.<ref name=Billboard.com>{{cite magazine|title=Lawrence Welk Biography & Awards|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=lawrence welk|bio=true}}|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref> 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."{{Quote without source|date=June 2007}} Although the rock-and-roll explosion in the mid-1950s had driven most older artists off the charts, "Calcutta" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop charts between February 13 and 26, 1961; it was recorded in only one take.<ref name=Calcutta>{{cite magazine|title=Billboard Book of No. 1 Hits|url=http://www.sycamore1961.org/Calcutta.htm|author=Fred Bronson|magazine=Billboard|year=2003|access-date=April 20, 2013}}</ref> The tune knocked [[The Shirelles|The Shirelles']] "[[Will You Love Me Tomorrow]]" out of the number 1 position, and it kept the Miracles' "[[Shop Around]]" from becoming the group's first number-1 hit, holding their recording at number 2. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Murrells|year=1978|title=The Book of Golden Discs|edition=2nd|publisher=Barrie and Jenkins|location=London, UK|page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/141 141]|isbn=0-214-20512-6|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/141}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Billboard.com"/>

Welk was adamant on providing wholesome entertainment. For example, he fired [[Alice Lon]], at the time the show's "Champagne Lady," because he believed she was showing too much leg.<ref name="maestro">"Maestro of Bubbly Is Gone: Lawrence Welk Dies at Age 89". Seattle ''Post-Intelligencer'', May 19, 1992. p. A1.</ref> Welk told the audience that he would not tolerate such "[[pin-up girl|cheesecake]]" performances on his show. A torrent of [[fan mail]] indicated that viewers opposed Lon's firing. Welk relented and offered Lon her job back, but Lon refused. He then had a series of short-term "Champagne Ladies" before [[Norma Zimmer]] became Lon's permanent replacement. He was highly involved with his stars' personal lives, often to the point of arbitrating their marital disputes.<ref>Obituary, ''Post-Intelligencer''.</ref>  His musical conservatism caused occasional controversies as well. Despite the authentic New Orleans Dixieland clarinet that made him a popular cast member, [[Pete Fountain]] left the orchestra in a dispute with Welk over adding a jazz solo to a Christmas song.

Reflecting the controversies about the quality of Welk's music among the cognoscenti, in 1956, musical satirist [[Stan Freberg]], known for his love of jazz, wrote and recorded a biting Welk satire, "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" Freberg impersonated Welk. Recorded with some of Hollywood's best jazz musicians, arranged by [[Billy May]] to sound like authentic Welk, the single mocked Welk's accordion work, his sometimes-stumbling patter between songs and the music of such Welk favorites Rocky Rockwell ("Stony Stonedwell"), Champagne Lady [[Alice Lon]] ("Alice Lean") and [[Larry Hooper]] ("Larry Looper"). Welk was not amused, and when he met Freberg years later, claimed he never used the "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" term. Ironically, it became the title of Welk's 1971 autobiography.

Despite its staid reputation, ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' nonetheless kept up with the times and never limited itself strictly to music of the big-band era. During the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, the show incorporated material by such contemporary sources as the [[The Beatles|Beatles]], [[Burt Bacharach]] and [[Hal David]], [[Neil Sedaka]], the [[Everly Brothers]] and [[Paul Williams (songwriter)|Paul Williams]] (as well as, in the most notorious example, [[Brewer & Shipley]]), all [[musical arrangement|arranged]] in a format that was easily digestible to older viewers. Originally produced in [[Black and white television|black and white]], in 1957 the show began being recorded on [[videotape]], and it switched to [[television|color]] for the fall 1965 season.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Fair-Welk Toast to One of the Longest Running Shows on KCPT |url=https://www.kansascitypbs.org/highlights/fair-welk-toast-longest-running-shows-kcpt/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Kansas City PBS |language=en}}</ref>

During its [[Network television|network]] run, ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' aired on ABC on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. ([[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]]), moving up a half-hour to 8:30&nbsp;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 ''Top Tunes and New Talent'', which aired on Monday nights. The series moved to Wednesdays in the fall of 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''. During this period, the networks were in the process of eliminating programming that was seen as having either too old an audience, did not appeal to urban residents, or both (the so-called [[Rural Purge]]). As ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' fit into this category, ABC ended its run in 1971. Welk thanked ABC and the sponsors at the end of the last network show. ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' continued on as a first-run [[broadcast syndication|syndicated]] program shown on 250 stations across the country until the final original show was produced in 1982, when Welk decided to retire. While many longtime TV shows suffered a serious ratings drop during the [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture movement of the late 1960s]], ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' survived largely intact and even had increased viewership during this time, albeit consisting of mostly older viewers.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/306705/lawrence-welk/biography|title=Lawrence Welk – Biography |magazine=Billboard|language=en|access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref>

For the entire run, musical numbers were divided fairly evenly between prerecorded lip- and finger-sync performances and those recorded live on film or tape. Generally, the big production numbers featuring dancing and singing performances were recorded earlier in the day or the day before, often at famous recording studios in and around nearby Hollywood, while the more intimate numbers were recorded live on tape or film.

After retiring from his show and 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 Christmas specials in 1984 and 1985.[[File:Welk1960.jpg|thumb|Welk at the groundbreaking of the new [[Union Bank N.A.|Union Bank]] in [[Santa Monica, California]], 1960]]