The family was tipped off by the CIA because the nutball would write letters to LBJ complaining that he could not be with his true wife Peggy. Lennon’s Dad was shot to death on a golf course by a stalker obsessed with pretty lil’ Peggy Lennon. The Lennons were paid scale as a “group” for years…until their Dad – Bill Lennon – fought to get them paid scale as 4 individual performers.
LAWRENCE WELK CAST RETIREMENT TV
Welk was a notorious tightwad who would only pay SCALE to his TV cast. Interesting information sent in by Mark Langois: Didja know (of course you did) that Bobby used to be a Mouseketeer? If anyone encouraged us yungin’s to hold our banners high (high, high, high), it was good ol’ Bobby. Who could forget the humpy Bobby and Cissy, those oh so cute dancers on The Lawrence Welk Show. When he died, he was the second richest man in show business. Instead of tipping, he would hand out penknives, inscribed with his name. Trivia: His first band was called, “The Hotsy Totsy Boys.” He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, in Culver City, Ca. Somebody said of the moment, “He was not in any pain he just went to sleep.” He was 89 years old. He died from it on Sunday the 17th at 7:35 pm, in his home. In May of 1992, he had contracted pneumonia. His apartment/suite/floor (?) Was on the 8th floor. His address was 1299 – in a building called the Wilshire Palisades, nicknamed the Champagne Towers. He lived on Ocean Avenue, in Santa Monica.
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They had a hit with, “The Lady in Blue Taught Me How To Pray.” Nuff said. They were his big act for most of the initial run. Welk was ultra conservative, and made sure his shows reflected only the highest of moral standards. He and his wife of 61 years, Fern, had one son and two daughters. After that, he did a few performances here and there, until he retired completely in 1989. It was shot at the Hollywood Palladium.Īfter that, he signed up more than 250 independent television stations in the U.S and Canada, and kept his show on for 11 more years.Īll in all, there were 1542 episodes, until it’s demise in 1982. In 1951 he appeared on a Los Angeles TV show, and became a hit. The Lawrence Welk Show ran on ABC from 1955 until 1972, when they dropped him. He worked without much success, for 25 years. When he turned 21, he left the family home to try to make it as a musician. That’s where Lawrence was born.įor an interesting story about Lawrence’s birthplace, and his lack of interest in it, go to this link – on a very cool website called Roadside America. In 1892, they moved to the United States, and settled in Strasburg, North Dakota. His family then immigrated to Russia in 1878, to escape religious persecution. His parents were from Alsace-Lorraine, a region of present day France that once was part of Germany. This guy made “wunnerful, wunnerful,” and “ah-one and ah-two” household expressions. I don’t regret it so much in retrospect, but at the time… No matter what was on television at the time – we had to watch him. I think it was because my grandmother was living with us, and she loved it. Ken Delo sells hypnosis tapes and a self-published novel the Lennons sell dolls Ava Barber opened a sandwich shop, etc., etc.If they can’t hum it after we play it, it’s not for us. And they are all trying to find ways to make more money. They were famous for the brief time they appeared on the show and now have to base their entire careers on their status as a "former Welk star" as they appear on cruise ships, small nightclubs, etc.
If you watch the PBS rebroadcasts and reunion shows, it's a little sad to see these performers today. He later went to prison for molesting one of his young male piano students, but he's out of prison now and apparently nobody on the show holds it against him, as he frequently appears on Welk reunion specials.
I don't know if there were any other gays on the show, but piano player Bob Ralston was married to the harshest looking Dutch lady you ever saw. Kathie Lee outed him in her autobiography when she wrote about her first husband, who was gay and "lived with a gay performer on the Lawrence Welk Show." He was also the only performer on the show that I ever saw go up on his lyrics (ironically, it was "Young at Heart" which begins, "Fairy tales can come true." and then he froze and went, "buh-buh-buh-buh." He forgot more lyrics later in the song. Tom Netherton used to sweat so much on the show that I'm surprised he didn't get electrocuted by the microphone.