The Lawrence Welk Appreciation Thread

Cafe Society
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Last night, twickster and I were IMing while watching the Lawrence Welk show on public TV. Besides the horrible Muzak-y renditions of horrible Muzak-y songs, the stereotypical clean-cut white folks, the even more stereotypical black tapdancer, costumes that were designed by people with cataracts, and Myron Florin, I couldn’t really find any redeeming value in it at all. (I’m deliberately leaving out the audience members, who seem to be enamored of polyester and large, busy floral prints, not to mention copious amounts of Aqua-Net hairspray.)

However, I was rolling around, about to wet my pants over the sheer humor that this show lends itself to.

What is it about this show that is so horrifying, yet fascinating?

Robin

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Good clean fun. Not a chance of anything even remotely naughty.

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Ah, Robin – I’ve been outted on the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures. Thank you. I didn’t have the nerve to start this thread myself.

I’ve been watching this on PBS for I think at least a year, possibly longer. It started because it’s on after This Old House, etc., which is my favorite background noise for napping, 'putering, puttering, or whatever I might be doing on a late Saturday afternoon/early Saturday evening. The first few times, I’d fall asleep during New Yankee Workshop (there’s something about the way Norm says “assemble-ee” that I find very soothing), then wake up during Lawrence Welk and be too groggy and disoriented to find the remote and deal with it.

Then I’d wake up and think, okay, just five minute’s worth.

Then I’d wake up and think, oh good, it’s Lawrence Welk.

Then I’d be awake during the whole period and not evern pretend I wasn’t going to watch it.

Then I’d think, … well, okay, you get the idea.

I’m not yet at the point where I cancel plans to stay home and watch – or, god forbid, tape it.

As I was saying to you last night, there’s something strangely fascinating about the complete lack of irony. My version of the '70s (and most of these shows are of that vintage) involved, well, sex, drugs, and rock and roll – and I look at these young people, and think, is it just a gig for them? Or are they really excited to be doing this kind of music? It’s all so profoundly corny.

And they all look so genuinely happy.

Yep. My name is twickster and I am powerless over my desire to watch Lawrence Welk.

4

Well, The Lawrence Welk Show actually helped me on the way to moral bankruptcy through their employment of walking mortal sin. His name: Tom Netherton. Even in my childhood, I had an attraction to strong, masculine men with deep voices, and watching Tom sing gospel tunes on the Welk show made me fall desperately in love with him. As the retired brothel owner said in Kill Bill 2, “I knew from that day on that boy would be a fool for blondes.”

I still love you, Tom!

5

When I was a kid, watching Welk was a standard thing in my house. The weird thing is we watched it back to back with Hee-Haw. Can you imagine another show as diametrically opposed to Welk than Hee-Haw?

Now lets say that you die and for all eternity you will be on the Welk show or Hee-Haw, which would you choose? I would actually choose Welk. Sure the babes on Hee-Haw are pretty hot and much more scantilly clad but the men on Hee-Haw are just awful. No, I prefered the clean, if squeaky clean, environment of Welk. And hey at least that tap dancer was cool.

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Hehehe Gobear. You aren’t the only one. I got a healthy dose of this show when I was a kid. My grandparents watched it faithfully, along with “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”. Was always attracted to the nice athletic looking clean cut types they had singing or dancing. Pure schmaltz, but like was said, good clean cut fun.

I work as a nurse aide here, and when I was working in nursing homes, Saturday night was always my favorite night. After dinner, the residents would race to their rooms to get ready to go to bed, and watch the show. It was a good time to sing and hum along to the tunes, when providing their night time care. A chorus of “Goodnight Ladies” would amuse me and entertain the residents. It was also a very good conversation starter too. The songs would jog memories, and sometimes the most amazing stories would unfold. :slight_smile: All from watching Lawrence Welk.

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My favorite Lawrence Welk story (probably apochryphal, since I never saw it first hand) is when he announced, “And now, we’ll do that wunnaful Duke Ellington favorite, ‘Take A Train!’”

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Those of us of a certain age still remember the first time we saw color TV – for me, the first show I saw in color was Lawrence Welk.

And I’m guessing I’m not the only one whose older babysitters always wanted to watch it.

Ah, the '50s…

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I used to watch it in the 70s at my grandparents’ house.

And Tom Netherton was the guy I was thinking of last night.

Robin

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The one who you described like this?

That one? :stuck_out_tongue:

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Don’t you know why? For you to feel smug and superior to them.

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I read his autobiography, and it’s actually pretty interesting.

His accent was 100% real; though born in South Dakota he grew up speaking German and didn’t learn English until he was 21. 100 years ago there were whole communities in that part of America where German was the only language.

I have little use for his style of music, but to give credit where credit is due, he was a consummate performer who could connect with his audience very well. In the early years, when he was still a sideman, he would get preferred over more skilled accordionists because he had a more winning stage presence.

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The day I was born, you know what the #1 song in America was? Lawrence Welk’s “Calcutta.”

God, no wonder I’ve always been so uncool!

Seriously, I never found anything enjoyable about the Lawrence Welk Show, even when I was too little to have a sense of irony. I saw the show loads of times because my grandmother loved it, but I never understood why anyone liked it.

Still, who says I HAVE to understand? Welk was IMMENSELY popular. People often forget just HOW popular! Ironic trivia fact: “The Lawrence Welk Show” was the only prime time TV show cancelled while it was #1 in the ratings!

Seriously! Welk had the most-watched show on television back in 1971, but ABC cancelled his show because the average viewer was over 65, which meant Welk couldn’t attract enough advertisers to make the show profitable. (Advertisers just aren’t interested in elderly viewers, despite the fact that they have a lot more money to spend than the much-coveted teen audience).

Not that anyone needs to feel sorry for Welk, who didn’t miss a beat. He simply went into syndication, remained hugely popular, and earned a fortune.

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No he didn’t. The most popular show of the 1970-1971 season (his last network season) was Marcus Welby, MD.

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In fact, this link shows him to not even be in the Top 30, much less #1.

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Perhaps the people in the
Ballad of Bilbo Baggins thread could answer that. :smiley: It wouldn’t surprise me if the 2 shared something in common.

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The Future Mr. MercyStreet and I routinely watch Welk on Saturday nights. The rule is one tunes in and gives a running commentary (“Look at this! LOOK AT THIS! YOU ARE MISSING IT!!!”) while the other makes a batch of whiskey sours.

We do our best to imitate the dance moves.

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I knew you were a soulmate, MercyStreet!

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Last year – I believe it was Christmas Eve – we stumbled across an Andy Williams family Christmas special. Let me tell you, it outwelked Welk.

In our early days of Welk, our boozy commentary went like this:

“Who in their right mind …?”

“Which faction of the population takes this for real?”

“What the hell was the costume designer thinking?”

Now we communicate the same sentiment by yelling, simply:

“Who?!”

“The hell?!”

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Oh my god, the Lawrence Welk Show is utterly hypnotic. I love it: The pastel backdrops; the women in chiffon; the perfectly uncomplicated enjoyment on the faces of the audience members (who are about as racially diverse as Perry Como’s fan club); and the overwhelming, heartbreaking sincerity of the entire enterprise. I watch it and I get all nostalgic for that kind of nostalgia.

In an era when corrosive cynicism is the hallmark of nearly all of popular culture, the unself-conscious wholesomeness of the Lawrence Welk show is as endearing as a trip to grandma’s house. I really