Stars of The Lawrence Welk Show Online !

Lawrence Welk (3/11/03 - 5/17/92) created one of the most successful orchestra leaders in America. Welk started his first band in 1925 and formed several Polka, Novelty and Dance bands aimed at entertaining middle-America. Lawrence Welk was one of eight children. His parents were farmers who had recently emigrated to the United States from Russia. They originally were from Alsace-Lorraine (when it was part of Germany). He was taken out of school while in grammar school so he could work on his parents farm. Lawrence did not learn to speak English until he was in his early twenties. Taught to play the accordion by his father, Lawrence earned extra money for his family by entertaining at weddings and church dances. When he was 17, he formed a "band" that consisted of him and a drummer. Known as "The Biggest Little Band In America" this "band" played on radio station KNAX (Yankton, SD) "for free" so Welk could advertise social events where he was playing. Lawrence left home for good when he was 21 and in 1927 formed "The Hotsy-Totsy Boys". This band was followed in short order by "Lawrence Welk's Fruit Gum Orchestra" which featured his gimmick of giving away free sticks of gum to anyone attending a performance. Eventually the bands popularity led to work throughout the Dakotas and Minnesota. Radio jobs gave the band more exposure.  According to one of Welk's autobiographies, in 1938 the band was playing at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, and during a radio broadcast the announcer read a letter from a fan which said that listening to Welk's music "was like sipping champagne". From this remark the "Champagne Music of Lawrence Welk" was born. The Welk band toured throughout the country until the late 1940's when Lawrence decided to settle in Los Angeles.  In 1951, the band was working at the Aragon Ballroom when KLTA television began broadcasting their shows. The Lawrence Welk Show played on Southern California TV for four years until 1955 when he was hired by Chrysler for a weekly show on the ABC network. The show premiered on July 2, 1955 and ran until September 1971 when ABC cancelled it because they felt it was not attractive to a young audience. Lawrence immediately worked out a deal with independent stations and the show continued in syndication from 1971 to 1982. Welk demanded his shows be "clean and wholesome" and he insisted his performers have the same moral standards he had. The only controversial incident that happened during all his years on TV was his firing of "Champagne Lady" Alice Lon, in 1959, because he felt her dress was too short. Welk was flooded with letters from angry fans and he tried to hire Lon back but she refused to work with him again.  Welk continued to add new performers to his TV troupe in an attempt to keep up with the times. Proof of his success is that the Welk band had more records on Billboard magazine weekly Top 100 chart than any other big band during the rock and roll era. From 1960 through 1965, his band had twelve charted records. The three biggest sellers were 'Last Date' (11 weeks on the charts- peak #21), 'Baby Elephant Walk' (16 weeks on charts - peak #48) and 'Calcutta' (17 weeks on charts - peak #1 for 2 weeks).  Re-runs of The Lawrence Welk show and reunion specials have been shown on public televsion stations since 1987. The Lawrence Welk Champagne Theater was built in Branson, MO where members of the band continue to play along with the children of those performers.  Lawrence was also a good businessman, developing 'Lawrence Welk Village', a 1,000 acre resort-retirement complex in Escondido, CA, where members of the Welk band often perform.  In addition, Ranwood Productions, which he founded, owns the publishing rights to over 20,000 songs including the complete catalog of the music of Jerome Kern.