#WHEN WAS LAWRENCE WELK ON TV MOVIE#
that had a movie theater as is was constantly on the screen and in the movie advertisements daily for several years.
![when was lawrence welk on tv when was lawrence welk on tv](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8pWirwHK6m4/hqdefault.jpg)
Thanks to the movie videos, his name was known in every town in the U.S. Last month when we left Lawrence, he had been on the road for over 25 years. (Lawrence kept his slowly aging fan base). Miller was so focused that he didn’t think that Elvis, Buddy Holly, and The Beatles would ever make any money for Columbia and passed on signing them (they were mostly crooners, not Lawrence’s dance music that he kept playing).Īs most people age, very few age musically what they loved and danced to in the prime of their lives was still the best music that was ever made. His label managed Percy Faith, Ray Coniff, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Dinah Shore, and Jo Stafford, all excellent singers, but somewhat lacking in the excitement that youth record buyers demanded. In addition to his own recordings and television show ( Sing Along With Mitch and follow the bouncing ball), Miller was the head guy on the Columbia Records label. Pop music had split along age lines, younger folks followed guitar driven rock and the older folks followed a more mellow sound that was driven by Mitch Miller. Apparently, this gentleman had not listened to Elvis’ version of Wooden Heart which featured Jimmy Haskell playing accordion all over it (thank you, Justin). Since we have mentioned Elvis and accordion on the same page this writer once received a phone call ranting about how Elvis had killed the future of accordion music. Lawrence was still moving on yet staying musically at one speed. After Elvis hit the scene, quickly followed by Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash, the music scene both rhythmically and categorically was all shook up. Then some guy named Elvis Presley showed up who sang a Bill Monroe Bluegrass tune with a different rhythm and danced provocatively. (Lawrence was still playing what brought him to the scene along with a few contemporary songs). Everyone was still crying in their beer but dancing in different ways.
![when was lawrence welk on tv when was lawrence welk on tv](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1xj8Joui1L.jpg)
The steel guitar took the music one way and the “new” electric guitar took some listeners another way and rockabilly was born. These last two genres were driven by the guitar starting to come to the front of the stage. Western Swing was becoming more mainstream (pop) and “tears in your beer” music (it was still called Hillbilly) was slowly becoming popular. In the 1940s, jazz was heading in a different direction and big band was adding multiple female singers and becoming more melodic (just like Lawrence did). Starting in 1900, dances were very structured musically and were replaced in the 1920s, by the opposite: fast, freeform, frenzied jazz, and big band style (when Lawrence got on board). As discussed in previous issues, the style of music favored by the general public changes about every 25 years or every generation. Yes, the dramatic drop in sales of the main tool of polka, the accordion, was completely related to the change in direction of popular (pop) music. While all of these un-compliments are accurate from a “how much money can we make off this guy and his champagne music” point of view by the music industry executives there are always two sides to a story. In the 1960s, his style of music was declared un-hip, un-cool, un-fashionable, un-popular, and square by the media. Lawrence Welk has long been blamed for the disappearance of polka music in the United States.
![when was lawrence welk on tv when was lawrence welk on tv](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/07/17/64/1899792/7/1200x0.jpg)
We shall now dispel the image of Welk as someone who caused the decline of the popularity of polka music.
![when was lawrence welk on tv when was lawrence welk on tv](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4FaD1HFJrKs/hqdefault.jpg)
Last month we discussed about the importance of Texas to Lawrence Welk in his early years. Hunkered down in the suburbs of Fayetteville.