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

The song itself is original, done in the band's usual style, and has no relation to that of Lawrence Welk.

Welk often demonstrated multiple times on-camera how the champagne bottle sound was created, by placing a finger in his mouth, releasing it to make the popping sound, and making a soft hissing sound to simulate the bubbles escaping the bottle.

The first several shows of the 1958 – 59 season of The Plymouth Show ( AKA The Lawrence Welk Show ) on the ABC ( America ) network were broadcast with stereophonic sound in 75 media markets, with one audio channel broadcast via television and the other over the ABC radio network.

More recent versions include covers by Lawrence Welk, Martin Denny, Bent Thalmay, Dick Jordan, Helen Shapiro, Johnny Mathis, We Five, The Sandpipers, Sacha Distel, George Benson, Bobby Caldwell, Carol Welsman, Eric Comstock, Gene Nery, Robbie Williams, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Miguel Bosé and others.

UnuThul reveals that the ship that Plo and Welk took him in had crashed onto the surface of Yoggoy while the Yuuzhan Vong War was still commencing, and the insect beings who now call themselves the Colony took Raynar in to repair his badly burned form to the best of their abilities.

Welk frequently had performers sing and play standards from the big band era and the first half of the 20th century ( Welk had a particular admiration for contemporaries Hoagy Carmichael, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer and similar composers ), although the show's repertoire was in reality much broader and would often include pop songs from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s as well as country music, patriotic music, and religious music, especially if it was thought to appeal to older listeners ( and, as Welk stated in 1956, " as long as it's done in the champagne style ").

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

On his 21st birthday, having fulfilled his promise to his father, Welk left the family farm to pursue a career in music, which he loved.

During the 1930s, Welk led a traveling big band that specialized in dance tunes and " sweet " music.

In 1944 and 1945, Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture " Soundies ," considered to be the early pioneers of music videos.

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.

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.

Known as an excellent businessman, Welk had investments in real estate and music publishing.

You have to be Lawrence Welk, or, on another level, Irving Berlin, and write the same kind of music over and over again.

( Sides uh-one & uh-two )", Freberg's 1957 spoof of TV " champagne music " master Lawrence Welk, debuted.

At least three episodes of the Lawrence Welk Show were devoted entirely to Warren's music: Season 18, Episode 5, October 7, 1972 ; Season 25, Episode 10, November 24, 1979 ; and Season 27, Episode 11, January 2, 1982

Soul Train was part of a national trend toward syndicated music-oriented programs targeted at niche audiences ; two other syndicated series ( Hee Haw for country music, and The Lawrence Welk Show for traditional music ) also entered syndication in 1971 and would go on to have long runs.

Tap dancer Arthur Duncan became the first African-American to appear regularly on a sponsored television variety program when he was hired as a permanent music maker by Welk in 1964.

* The music video for the song " Hell " by Squirrel Nut Zippers takes place in a surreal, demonic world inspired by that of The Lawrence Welk Show, including liberal use of bubbles.

Welk collaborated with Western artist Red Foley to record a version of Spade Cooley's " Shame on You " in 1945.

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.

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.

Other niche programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show ( which targeted older audiences ) and Soul Train ( a black-oriented program ) also rose to prominence in syndication during the era.

During the show's peak in popularity, Hee Haw often competed in syndication against The Lawrence Welk Show, a long-running ABC program which had also been canceled in 1971, also in an attempt to purge the networks of older demographic-leaning programs.

Welk 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.

A devout, lifelong Roman Catholic, Welk was a daily communicant, which is corroborated in numerous biographies, by his autobiography and by his family and his many staff, friends and associates throughout the years

After retiring from his show and from the road in 1982, Welk continued to air reruns of his shows, which were repackaged first for syndication and, starting in 1986, for public television.

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.

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.

In 1955, the network picked up the national broadcast rights to KTLA's Dodge Dancing Party, which eventually evolved into The Lawrence Welk Show, becoming an ABC fixture throughout the late 1950s and 1960s.

Stevens returned to Branson, Missouri once again in mid September to kick off a nearly month-long engagement at The Welk Resort which ran through October 23.

Carver is also the author of Dancing Queen: a Lusty Look at the American Dream, in which she expounds upon various relics of pop culture past, including Lawrence Welk, roller rinks, and Olivia Newton-John.

A notable exception is The Lawrence Welk Show, which has been telecast continually in reruns on the Public Broadcasting System ( PBS ) since 1986.

By 1968, Lawrence Welk had acquired his Dot catalog which was reissued on his Ranwood Records label.

As a child, Fromme was a performer for a popular local dance group called the Westchester Lariats, which in the late 1950s began touring the U. S. and Europe, appearing on The Lawrence Welk Show and at the White House.

* Lawrence Welk acquired his Dot recordings ( prior to ABC acquiring the label ) which were reissued on his Ranwood Records label.

Each week, Welk would introduce the theme of the show, which usually inspired joyous singing and / or patriotic fervor.

He was most known for delivering these monologues in a distinctive German accent, which was parodied in popular culture ( even by Welk himself: the two books he authored, Wunnerful, Wunnerful!