# The Lawrence Welk Appreciation Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651 "2004-12-19T15:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/41 "2004-12-20T20:17:33Z")
. . . And Paul Whiteman did some red-hot jazz records. Even had Bix Beiderbecke in his band for awhile. “Follow the bouncing ball” goes way back before Mitch Miller, to the early talkie musical shorts of the late 1920s. What drives me nuts (OK, one of the many, many things that drive me nuts) is that at my mother’s assisted-liivng facility, they’ll play smarmy, syrupy Lawrence Welk-esque music on the PA system in the downstairs parlor, and most of the residents wrinkle their noses and roll their eyes and mutter “I hate this crap.” Last weekend I went to the front desk and said, “Just because they’re old doesn’t mean they have no taste in music!” My mother is 83 and she loves Motown, the Beatles, Artie Shaw, Strauss (Johann, not Richard). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/42 "2004-12-20T21:05:17Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I think Lawrence Welk’s popularity among the over 65’s had a lot to do with the fact he represented the last of the style of music that was popular during the Big Band era. I think it goes deeper than that. **jackelope** said above, “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 would guess that’s why our senior citizens like it. When they were young, “unself-conscious wholesomeness” was the **norm** in American popular culture – and how many places can you find it now? Even televangelists seem to preach with a kind of defensiveness, as if they’re expecting somebody to jump up and contradict them at any moment. **Very** self-conscious. > [@NDP](#): > > It got me wondering if sometime in the near-future, the hipper-than-thou Baby Boomer’s will spend their last years listening to some bland version of rock n’ roll being played by the Lawrence Welk of their generation. Or, worse yet, the actual Stones will still be touring. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/43 "2004-12-20T22:35:46Z")
This show was a favorite in my family in the 50s. I even had a crush on Janet Lennon. When I got older I did find it too saccharine. Trivia: Bobby was one of the original Mouseketeers. Stan Freberg did a parody of Welk on his radio show. He re-did it as “Wunnerful, Wunnerful” for a 45 (both sides, labeled “Side Uh-One” and “Side Uh-Two”). There’s a transcript at [http://www.borderblue.com/lyrics/song/010364](http://www.borderblue.com/lyrics/song/010364) , but you really have to hear it. (LW=Welk, -L=a Lemmon Sister, LS=Lemmon Sisters.) > [@](#): > > LW Thank you, thank you and good evening friends. We’re coming to you once again from the beautiful Aragon Ballroom on Lick Pier at beautiful Santa Monica Beach, California. > > We’ve been getting lots of cards and letters from you folks out there in television lant and we surely do thank you for…ah… for…ah…for all the cards and letters from you folks out there in television lant. > > Starting us off tonight is our trio the Lemmon Sisters and girls what are you going to sing? > > -L We’re going to sing “Thank You For All Those Cards and Letters You Folks Out There in Television Land.” > > LW Lant! > > -L Lant > > LW And now an appropriate number. A-wun and a-too and a- > > LS (singing) Thank you for all those cards and letters > You folks in television lant > We wonder where this television lant is > Could it be a couple of miles from where Disney Lant is Welk allegedly didn’t understand why it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/44 "2004-12-20T22:35:50Z")
Long-time Welk dancer, [Bobby Burgess](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0121261/), was also an orginal member of the Mickey Mouse Club. I just started noticing this show on PBS the other day. I’m so glad I can count the rest of you as part of my family. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/45 "2004-12-20T22:55:26Z")
I always remember Anacani being quite the hottie. We watched it all the time but now find myself remembering very little (other than a few names, the polyester, and the accordion music). Don’t know whether it’s an urban legend or not, but Welk supposedly pronounced “World War I” World War Eye off the cuecard. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/46 "2004-12-21T01:00:23Z")
[Here’s](http://www.mousestars.com/steve/bobbyb/bbdance.htm) a better picture of Bobby Burgess. Plus an opportunity to buy a video. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651/47 "2004-12-21T01:58:31Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > You mean all those Geritol and Ben Gay ads didn’t pay the bills? > > Sis? Is that you? 😃 > > My parents had the same viewing schedule. Well if I’m your sister I’ve sure gone through a lot of changes. Big changes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lawrence-welk-appreciation-thread/280651.md?page=2)