. . . 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).
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.
Or, worse yet, the actual Stones will still be touring.
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 , but you really have to hear it. (LW=Welk, -L=a Lemmon Sister, LS=Lemmon Sisters.)
Welk allegedly didn’t understand why it was funny.
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.
