Question concerning "The Lawrence Welk Show"

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Lawrence Welk had an extremely popular variety show on US television. It ran for about 30 years.

It was what one would have called “Wholesome Family Entertainment” back in those days, which means it was old-fashioned and kind of corny, but a lot of us remember it fondly.
 
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Yes, IF they knew that’s what it was supposed to be, and not just a song about pretty flowers fading away.

The “One Toke” example shows that the audience likely did not have a clue what a “Toke” was. They probably thought it was a subway token.

I have to admit, when I was a wee child and also did not know what a “Toke” was, I thought it was “One TOE Over the Line, Sweet Jesus.”

Remember, this was also the era when people thought “Puff, the Magic Dragon” was a cute children’s song about a fantasy dragon and his friend “Little Jackie Paper”. And we had other shows on TV like “HR Pufnstuf” and “Lidsville”.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Remember, this was also the era when people thought “Puff, the Magic Dragon” was a cute children’s song about a fantasy dragon and his friend “Little Jackie Paper”. And we had other shows on TV like “HR Pufnstuf” and “Lidsville”.
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Well, then there’s this… (the first minute of the video is what I’m talking about)

 
Not sure what he means by “The obvious one”, but Sid and Marty Krofft insisted for years that their kids shows didn’t have a “different meaning” either. Yeah, pull the other one.
 
The song was also licensed to all kinds of children’s content providers. I had a Disney album featuring it when I was a child. The songwriters pretty much had to keep saying it was just an innoccent kids’ song or it would have been a huge, huge scandal in those days. I remember in the mid-70s when people would admit they had smoked marijuana, it would be career-wrecking front page news for anyone trying to maintain a family-friendly image.
 
Although the music and format/costumes of the the Lawrence Welk show seem schmaltzy and syrupy by today’s standards, I hope everyone will keep in mind that the Lawrence Welk orchestra was highly-respected, and still is.

They were known for a variety of “big band” music called “champagne.” I’m no jazz expert by any means and can’t explain what made Welk’s orchestra stand out, but it was good music, great for ballroom dancing (which was featured every week on the show, and people at home were invited to dance along, which my parents sometimes did, and so did my brother and me, although we were all pretty bad at it!–but what a difference from the couch potato television watching of today!)

The orchestra did a variety of pieces on the show from many genres of music. Just a few weeks ago, I heard them perform "Rhapsody in Blue, with Bob Ralston on the piano. It was stylized in the “champagne” style, but it was very beautiful

The musicians often performed solos and ensemble pieces on the LW Show, demonstrating great skill on their instruments. They also played in symphony orchestras and other bands, as well as recording their music.

Lawrence Welk was considered a fine conductor and innovator of that “champagne” music.

So…along with the syrup, we got some really good, substantial hotcakes!
 
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I loved JoAnne Castle as a child too! I did not know what her music was called, but it was happy music to me! When I was in college, I really loved Scott Joplin music.

My father played the piano by ear as he could not read music and taught himself. I always asked him to play Nola, and he would say “Oh, you have to pick the hardest one!”
 
My grandparents used to watch.

They didn’t speak much English.

My grandfather was also hard of hearing.

So, he thought the show was called Jerry Toll.

“Let’s watch Jerry Toll!”

The sponsor was Geritol.

🤦‍♀️
 
I loved the releaseof the champagne bubbles at the end of every program.
I remember my mom putting curlers in my hair ,in preparation for Sunday’s mass. She did this while we watched LW every Sat. night
 
That’s so funny!

Remember those ads? “My wife…I think I’ll keep her!” All because she took Geritol and did all the housework. 😂
 
Not very clearly.

Grandpa would watch, we’d play in the background.

But I found this!

Now we know her secret !
 
Peeps said:
The orchestra did a variety of pieces on the show from many genres of music. Just a few weeks ago, I heard them perform "Rhapsody in Blue, with Bob Ralston on the piano. It was stylized in the “champagne” style, but it was very beautiful

The musicians often performed solos and ensemble pieces on the LW Show, demonstrating great skill on their instruments. They also played in symphony orchestras and other bands, as well as recording their music.

Lawrence Welk was considered a fine conductor and innovator of that “champagne” music.

So…along with the syrup, we got some really good, substantial hotcakes!
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And, to follow up with that part of it, when I was a teenager in the '70s, a friend of mine who was a rock era music fan and a musician himself, was a big fan of the Lawrence Welk show.

He said that when you’re involved with music yourself, you know what goes into putting a show like that together each week.
 
You a different generation.I doubt any of my kids would have enjoyed LW
Honestly I cannot say I was a huge fan but my parents were
 
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I just remembered, the Val Doonican show ran briefly here in the U.S.

Don’t remember the specifics, but I remember my mother mentioning him; that would have been her generation of music.
 
It did remind me of vitameatavegimin!

Too bad she didn’t add, “it’s so tasty too!”
 
Jeanne_S said:
You a different generation.I doubt any of my kids would have enjoyed LW
Honestly I cannot say I was a huge fan but my parents were
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The show ran until the early 1970s on one of the major U.S. TV networks. For many years after that, he ran the show on individual stations (“the Lawrence Welk Network”).

About that time, he said in an interview that “when you’re little” you watch the show, and older adults liked it, but he wasn’t getting the adults in their 20s and 30s.
 
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