Beginnings

Lawrence was born in Strasburg, North Dakota, as one of nine children to Catholic, German-speaking, immigrants from French portion of Alsace-Lorraine, via Odessa, Ukraine.

The family lived on a homestead outside of town which today still stands as a tourist attraction. The first year they lived there, they spent the cold Dakota winter underneath an upturned wagon covered in sod. Never intent on being a farmer, Welk became interested in a career in music, convincing his father to purchase a mail-order accordion for $400. He made a promise to his father that he would continue to work on the farm until he turned twenty-one; in exchange, he would work on the farm and any money he made working elsewhere, whether doing farmwork or putting on a show, would go to his family.

Welk is said to have learned English only when he was already an adult because he always spoke German at home. When he was asked about his ancestry, he replied always with "Alsace-Lorraine, Germany"; This is explained in his autobiography titled "Wunnerful, Wunnerful!"

Early career

On his twenty-first birthday, Welk, having fufilled his promise to his father, left the family farm to pursue a career in music. During the 1920s, he first performed with the Lincoln Boulds and George T. Kelly bands before starting his own orchestra. He led big band engagements in the North Dakota and eastern South Dakota area, such as the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. His band was also the station band for popular radio station WNAX in Yankton, South Dakota.

During the 1930s, Welk led a travelling big band, specializing in dance tunes and 'sweet' music. The term Champagne Music was derived from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, when a dancer referred to his band's sound as "light and bubbly as champagne". The band performed in many places across the country, particularly in the Chicago area. In the early 1940s, the band began a regular 10-year stint at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, regularly drawing crowds of nearly 7000.

His orchestra also performed frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City during the late 1940s. In 1944-45 Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture Soundies, considered to be the early pioneers of music videos, and the band had its own syndicated radio program sponsored by Miller High Life beer.

= The Lawrence Welk Show

BUTT NUGGETS

Personal life

Welk was married for 61 years, until his death, to Fern Renner, with whom he had three children. One of his sons, Lawrence Welk, Jr., ended up marrying fellow Lawrence Welk Show performer Tanya Falan (they later divorced). He left many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He sticks penis into vic's vagina!!!!!!!!

Later years

After retiring his show and from the road in 1982, the maestro continued to air reruns of his shows which were repackaged first for syndication and starting in 1986 for public television. Welk also starred and produced a pair of Christmas specials in 1984 and 1985.

He died from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California in 1992 and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Legacy

His band continues to appear in a dedicated theater in Branson, Missouri. In addition, the television show has been repackaged for broadcast on PBS stations, with updates from show performers appearing where commercial breaks were during the original shows. The repackaged shows are broadcast at roughly the same Saturday-night time slot as the original ABC shows, and special longer Welk show rebroadcasts are often shown during individual stations' fund-raising periods.

A resort community in Escondido, California, developed by the maestro and promoted heavily by him on the show, is still named for Welk.

His organization, The Welk Group consists of his resort communities in Branson and Escondido; Welk Syndication which is responsible for broadcasting the show on public television and the Welk Music Group which operates record labels Sugar Hill, Vanguard and Ranwood.

The Live Lawrence Welk Show makes annual concert tours across the United States and Canada featuring the actual stars from the television series such as Ralna English, Mary Lou Metzger and Big Tiny Little.

Facts

Welk's California automobile license plate read A1ANA2, referencing his trademark count-off before each number, "A one, and a two..." This plate is visible on the front of a Model A Ford in one of the shows from 1980.
Known as an excellent businessman, the maestro, thanks to wise investments in real estate and music publishing, was the second wealthiest entertainer in Hollywood, the wealthiest being Bob Hope.
Welk was the Grand Marshal for the Rose Bowl's Tournament of Roses parade in 1972.
He enjoyed playing golf, which he first took up in the late 1950s, and was often a regular at many celebrity pro-ams such as the Bob Hope Desert Classic.
He was also a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award.
The Welk family homestead in Strasburg is now a popular tourist attraction in North Dakota.
In 1994, he was inducted into the International Polka Music Hall Of Fame.
From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the Welk Group was known as Teleklew in which tele stood for television and klew was Welk spelled backwards.
His grandson, Lawrence Welk III, is a reporter and helicopter traffic pilot for KCAL and KCBS television in Los Angeles.
The Lawrence Welk museum resides on a street also named after him, Lawrence Welk Drive, in Escondido, California.
The Roof Is On Fire by the Bloodhound Gang names Welk along with Kurt Cobain as residents of hell.

Books

All books written with Bernice McGeehan and published by Prentice Hall (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), except where indicated:

Wunnerful, Wunnerful: The Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, 1971, ISBN 0-13-971515-0
Ah-One, Ah-Two! Life with My Musical Family, 1974, ISBN 0-13-020990-2
My America, Your America, 1976, ISBN 0-13-608414-1
Lawrence Welk's Musical Family Album, 1977, ISBN 0-13-526624-6
Welk with McGeehan, illustrated by Carol Bryan, Lawrence Welk's Bunny Rabbit Concert, Indianapolis: Youth Publications/Saturday Evening Post Co., 1977, ISBN 0-89387-501-5 (children's book)
This I Believe, 1979, ISBN 0-13-919092-9
You're Never Too Young, 1981, ISBN 0-13-977181-6

External links

Lawrence Welk at IMDb
Lawrence Welk archives at North Dakota State University
Welk Musical Family website
WelkNotes fansite
"Old Fans Still Bubble Along to Lawrence Welk" article (The New York Times)
Welk Show.com
Welk Musical Family blog
Lawrence Welk Television Show Fan Site

Categories: