Welk described his band's sound, saying " We still play music with the champagne style, which means light and rhythmic.

Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the " Champagne Lady.

After Welk and his band went on television, she appeared as a guest on the show, where she sang Latin American songs and favorites that were popular when she was traveling with the Welk band.

Welk was not pleased with Freberg's parody ( a hit single that year ) and denied he ever used the phrase " Wunnerful!

During one show, Welk brought a cameraman out to dance with one of the women and took over the camera himself.

Though Welk was occasionally rumored to be very tight with a dollar, he paid his regular band members top scale-a very good living for a working musician.

Welk told the audience that he would not tolerate such " cheesecake " performances on his show ; he later tried unsuccessfully to rehire the singer after fan mail indicated overwhelmingly that viewers disagreed with her dismissal.

Despite its staid reputation, The Lawrence Welk Show nonetheless did keep up with the times and never limited itself strictly to big-band era music.

Welk was married for 61 years, until his death, to Fern Renner ( born August 26, 1903-died February 13, 2002 ), with whom he had three children.

* 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 )

* Say It with Music – Lawrence Welk

* January 13 – The Lawrence Welk Show airs its Salute to Mexico episode where Anacani makes her debut with the Champagne Music Makers.

In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk and others.

In 1967, Randy Wood left to co-found the Ranwood Records label with Lawrence Welk.

They soon learned that Welk and Lomi Plo had made off with the spacecraft Anakin had intended to use for their getaway, taking with them Raynar Thul, an old friend of Jaina and Jacen.

He was a close friend of the North Dakota-born band leader Lawrence Welk who frequently reminded viewers of his television program of his association with Governor Davis.

She toured with the Welk Road Show as well.

When the show was canceled by the head of programming there, Welk formed his own production company and continued airing the show, on independent stations and, often during non-prime time, also on some of the ABC affiliates on which he had previously appeared as well as some stations affiliated with other networks.

Starting with the 1959 – 60 season the two shows were merged into The Lawrence Welk Show, reverting to monaural broadcasts.

If the number was more of a dance tune, Welk would frequently dance with ladies from the audience, for which he wh became somewhat known.

After two years and a string of short-lived vocalists, Norma Zimmer was hired, starting in 1960. Zimmer stayed with Welk for the rest of the show's run.

Classic shows — largely, from 1967 to 1982 — were repackaged with new footage ( either Welk or the show's cast introducing segments ) for syndication during the 1982 – 1983 season as Memories with Lawrence Welk, after which they were withdrawn from distribution for a short time.

His biggest success came later with a dance song, " Two-Step Side-Step ", which was featured by Lawrence Welk on his radio program in 1952 and covered on record by RCA Victor Western Swing artist Johnnie Lee Wills, as well as country music singer Bonnie Lou.

James Garner, Red Skelton, and Lawrence Welk also used Autostereo players in their cars.

A Red Foley / Lawrence Welk collaboration issued by Decca ( 18698 ) was No. 4 to Cooley's No. 5 on Billboard's " Most Played Juke Box Folk Records " listing in September 1945.

This 750 seat showroom, whose opening act was comedian Red Skelton, made entertainment a priority at Harrah's and saw luminaries such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Barbra Streisand, Lena Horne, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, Donna Summer, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Dolly Parton, Sergio Franchi, Joan Rivers, Liza Minnelli, Louis Armstrong, Liberace, Carol Burnett, Danny Thomas, Dean Martin, Jimmy Durante, Harry Belafonte, Sarah Vaughan, Tennessee Ernie Ford, George Gobel, Wayne Newton, Sonny & Cher, Phyllis Hyman, Lawrence Welk, Bill Cosby, and Sammy Davis, Jr., among others.

Welk himself was indifferent to the tune, but his musical director, George Cates, said that if Welk did not wish to record the song, he ( Cates ) would.

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

Welk was not pleased by the record, built around satirical out-of-tune performances and an out-of-control " bubble machine " that sent the entire Aragon Ballroom out to sea.

Uggams made her singing debut on the Lawrence Welk Show and was a regular on Sing Along with Mitch, starring record producer-conductor Mitch Miller.

* Dickie Goodman also used Welk as a source for inspiration and a target of satire on his 1959 novelty single, " Stagger Lawrence ", which featured an episode of the show being repeatedly interrupted by Lloyd Price's version of the blues piece " Stagger Lee.

* YouTube posting of Lawrence Welk version, 1971

The song was revived by Frankie Laine in 1952, and subsequently recorded again in 1956 by Patience and Prudence, who reached # 4 on the Billboard charts with their version, and also by Lawrence Welk with The Lennon Sisters and the duo of Karen Chandler and Jimmy Wakely, Ann Shelton and The Duprees.

Other versions of " Nadia's Theme " have been recorded, including easy listening renditions by such artists as Ronnie Aldrich, Ray Conniff, Ferrante & Teicher, the orchestra of The Lawrence Welk Show, and James Galway ; a semi-rock version by The Ventures ; and David Hasselhoff's vocal rendition, which incorporated De Vorzon's and Botkin Jr .' s lyrics, for his 1997 album Lovin ' Feelings.

In earlier days, it simulcast its AM sister station of the same name, occasionally airing a stereo version of the Lawrence Welk show.

Although by 1956 Lawrence Welk was achieving increasing success at the nearby Aragon Ballroom, Cooley's ratings continued to drop.

Myron Floren, second-in-command on The Lawrence Welk Show, released a recording of the Clarinet Polka entitled " Disco Accordion ".

( The success of Hee Haw and Lawrence Welk in syndication, and the network decisions that led to their respective cancellations, were the inspiration for a novelty song called " The Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter-Revolution Polka ," performed by Clark ; the song became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in the fall of 1972.

In 1996, Welk was ranked # 43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $ 400 ( equivalent to $ as of ).

The same year, he began producing The Lawrence Welk Show on KTLA in Los Angeles, where it was broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom in Venice Beach.

During its first year on the air, the Welk hour instituted several regular features.

Welk also reserved one number for himself to solo on his accordion.

Befitting the target audience, the type of music on The Lawrence Welk Show was almost always conservative, concentrating on popular music standards, polkas, and novelty songs, delivered in a smooth, calm, good-humored easy listening style and " family-oriented " manner.

During its network run, The Lawrence Welk Show aired on ABC on Saturday nights at 9 p. m. ( Eastern Time ), moving up a half-hour to 8: 30 p. m. in the fall of 1963.

In fact, Welk headlined two weekly prime-time shows on ABC for three years.

The Lawrence Welk Show continued on as a first-run syndicated show on 250 stations across the country until the final original show was produced in 1982.

A resort community developed by Welk and promoted heavily by him on the show is named for him.

* Myron Floren-Accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show