Today Rupert Murdoch is 79 and Justice Antonin Scalia is 74. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Ralph Abernathy was born on this date in 1926. Abernathy was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s friend and associate and assumed leadership of the the Southern Christian Leadership Conference when King was killed in 1968. Abernathy was with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis that day. This photo of the two was taken in 1961.
Lawrence Welk was born in North Dakota on this date in 1903. He died in 1992.
One of television’s most enduring musical series, The Lawrence Welk Show, was first seen on network TV as a summer replacement program in 1955. Although the critics were not impressed, Mr. Welk’s show went on to last an astonishing 27 years. His format was simple: easy-listening music, what he referred to as “champagne music,” and a “family” of wholesome musicians, singers, and dancers.
The show ran on ABC for the first 16 years and was known in the early years as The Dodge Dancing Party. ABC canceled the show in 1971, not because of lack of popularity, but because it was “too old” to please advertisers. ABC’s cancellation did little to stop Welk, who lined up more than 200 independent stations for a successful syndicated network of his own.
. . .There were many show favorites throughout the years including the Lennon Sisters, who were brought to his attention by his son Lawrence Jr. who was dating Dianne Lennon in 1955. Other favorites included the Champagne Ladies (Alice Lon and Norma Zimmer); accordionist Myron Floren, who was also the assistant conductor; singer-pianist Larry Hooper; singers Joe Feeney and Guy Hovis; violinist Aladdin; dancers Bobby Burgess and Barbara Boylan; and Welk’s daughter-in-law, Tanya Falan Welk.
Most of the regulars stayed with the show for years, but a few moved on–or who were told to move on by Mr. Welk. In 1959, for example, Welk fired Champagne Lady Alice Lon for “showing too much knee” on camera. After receiving thousands of protest letters for his actions, he attempted to have Alice return, but she refused.
“Today Rupert Murdoch is 79 and Justice Antonin Scalia is 74. Tick. Tick. Tick.”
….Tick. Tick…BOOM!
Robin Williams used to do an impression of Lawrence Welk: “An’ now da boys gonna do a new numba, Jumpin’ Jack Flash. An-a One, An-a Two…..”