[December 14, 2024] The Big Band Era was in full swing and growing up in the 1950s and 60s, my parents made us all watch The Lawrence Welk Show. And they made me polka dance to the music. I hated it more than anything. Broadcast on black and white television until about 1965 (and then in Living Color), Lawrence Welk was a master at entertaining those who had come of age in the 30s and 40s. But to a kid like me, it was torture to the mind and soul. It was almost as bad as watching game shows like Hollywood Squares, The Newlywed Game, or Press Your Luck.
All of us kids had to be dead quiet during the entire show, or else. Sunday nights were worse than sticking a toothpick in your eye. Painful. I can still hear in my mind, “A one and a two and a …”. The show was like eating a bologna sandwich on white bread, Miracle Whip, a sliced tomato, and a piece of wilted iceberg lettuce. “Now, Bobby and Cissy, will you do the polka for us?” The show was gut-wrenchingly cheesy. I remember once watching the tux-dressed-up orchestra playing “How much is that doggie in the window?” and the whole band bowing and then barking. We were sitting on the floor and got the giggles.
Originally, Lawrence Welk was considered a modern show for gospel music and dancing. In the show’s later years, I understand that then-Vice President Spiro Agnew wanted the show banned because it was obscene. But all my family elders (anyone over 20) were hardcore fans and fawned over how radiant and gorgeous Lawrence was. They never missed a show. To me, it was so square and phony. But, admittedly, I was intrigued by an instrument I’d never seen before: the accordion.
The show would often open with bubbles floating around and accompanied by a sound effect of a bottle of champagne opening, including the opening theme (originally “Bubbles in the Wine”). Welk frequently demonstrated on camera how the champagne bottle sound was created. He would place a finger in his mouth, release it to produce a popping sound, and then make a soft hissing noise to mimic bubbles escaping the bottle. You can’t make this stuff up.
What is interesting is that, as a kid, I thought all the entertainers looked old. I saw a couple of the shows from the early 1960s (doing some background work for this article), and I chuckled. Those same people were not old but young and good-looking. Even Welk looked good. True enough, tastes change, and it was a nice and uplifting family show.
This old black-and-white TV was our only form of home entertainment. We only got two channels, and one was fuzzy most of the time, depending on the placement of the rabbit-ear antenna. Although I wouldn’t say I cared for watching the Lawrence Welk Show, it was time spent with my family. Today, my parents are gone, and we kids are scattered all over the States. Even my kids are on the other side of the country. Maybe Welk’s show wasn’t so bad.
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I got a big kick out of your article, Gen. Satterfield. It reminded me of times with my grandparents.
Hi Gen. Satterfield, I sent your article over to my grandma who lives in Mississippi for her thoughts. She called me after lunch to say that the Lawrence Welk show was popular in her generation. She always watched it back in the late 50s and early 60s with her husband who recently passed. She told me that George, her husband, would get up and do a dance at the beginning of each show. I could hear her smile in her voice. Sir, thanks for bringing back good memories for my grandma. She’s a kind a gentle soul b
Good for you and your grandma. You are lucky to still have her around.
Good Dog, thanks for making my day. Please say hello to your grandma for me.
❤️ I love Lawrence ❤️
New title, “ They made me watch the Lawrence Welk show.” There, fixed it.
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This is my way of helping Gen. Satterfield out. Better title, better description. Sir, no insult intended, of course, you’re our go-to leadership guru. Keep nailing these blog posts. And Merry Christmas to your lovely wife and Yellow Lab and your entire family.
Thank you, Ronny for your ‘appropriate’ correction. 😉
Ha Ha Ha . . . . . . the old Lawrence Welk Show . . . . . . Wow . . . . . the show was great. I watch a couple of them after stumbling upon them late one night. I also thought they were cheeses but nice family fun.
Kids today have no idea what watching a show or movie in black and white was like. And that’s okay. I find that most of those old shows are much better than the fancy shows in living techno color of today. I think today’s kids are over stimulated anyway. And they are having more mental disorders and see themselves more and more unhappy but have more access to information and entertainment than anyone in the world ever.
If you can polka, you’ve made it. LOL. 😂👞👗🎼
Gen. Satterfield had quite a life as a little kid. But nothing at all like the drug-ridden lives of today where school officials and teachers are trying to get our kids to be LGBTQJ+ or convert into Trans. You now have to watch out that these evil folks will do this behind our backs because they are, you know, superior to us the parents. Hopefully, Donald Trump helps set our nation back on the right track. Thanks King Henry XVIII.
Patriot Wife, you got that right and reading about his life is interesting to me because my life is so simple too. ✌️
LOL the polka
Yeah, Gen. Satterfield, I heard of it but never watched. My uncle and several aunts used to tell me about the TV shows they watched back in the day, and The Lawrence Welk Show was one of them , and also one of their very favorites. But let’s not look at this show as “old fashioned” because it represented the type of entertainment that folks at the time really liked. They liked it, end of story. I’m sure there were shows that Gen. Satterfield liked as a kid that he still likes today.
“ Combat! The TV Show of my Youth”
https://www.theleadermaker.com/combat-the-tv-show-of-my-youth/
I watched it with my grandparents and I didn’t think it was that bad. Just me. My brother hated it too.
Just like the rest of us Gen Zers.