Nothing offensive, no profanity, merely often boring to kid me. I’d take it in a heartbeat over the putrid nihilism disguised as contemporary entertainment.
His Show Always Seemed to Be On at My Grandparents’ Home
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Yup. Sure would be nice to have decency back in mass media.
To all you Boomers and Gen Xers who thought Welk was an old fuddy duddy: he was younger then than Mick Jagger, PaulMcCartney, and a bunch of other classic rock stars are now.
My own mother and father were not part of the Welk constituency, so in our house you only saw bits of it as you were looking for something else.
Welk was a working bandleader for 50-odd years, so you’re bound to locate incidents where he treated people badly (e.g. his bust up with Alice Lon in 1959); if what I’ve read is true, his employees were generally loyal and appreciative (among other things, they received top scale).
About 20 years ago, Anthony Esolen produced an admiring article on an intricate piece of folk art he’d seen. The artists were a pair of brothers, WWii veterans both, who were primarily employed as coal miners, and they’d worked on it over a period of years. IIRC, he had an aside about an art critic who had derided the piece or those like it. Esolen’s assessment of the piece was not anthropological – he found it appealing as art. He offered an opinion that might pertain to Welk’s constituency: that people who have known actual hardship have scant taste for the discordant and ugly in the entertainment they prefer.
If Welk’s fare – ‘sweet’ jazz and polka – doesn’t appeal to most of us, it’s perhaps because we’ve had easier lives. Our sensibilities are also lacerated in ways my grandparents were not.
I’ve been out of the loop about popular music for > 30 years now. I hardly recognize anyone who came on the scene after 1990. Last night we were treated to the Olympic closing ceremonies. Some Belgian-French band with drums, electric guitar, keyboard and a lead singer that bloody sounded like every other such band you’ve seen over 50-plus years. Then they switch to a Los Angeles setting, and viewers are treated to “Red Hot Chili Peppers”. I’d heard the name before, but never heard their music. Same manure, but what hits you is how bloody old those guys look. Grace Slick said something 30-odd years ago about rockers over 50 being faintly ridiculous, but these guys didn’t get the memo. Well, I look them up, and it appears the band has been around for 40 years and all but one are over 60, them in their muscle shirts, short pants, and tats. Then they switch to a character who calls herself ‘Billie Eilish’. She has a back up band led by her brother. She’s supposedly 21 years old and has nine Grammys under he belt. She wasn’t unpleasant to listen to, but it looked like she was lip-synching.
We live in clown world.
There aren’t enough bubbles and accordions in entertainment these days.
And am I way off base, or were there constant ads for Geritol and Milk of Magnesia?
It was innocent fare, at least the product shown the audience. Anymore, though, I’m deeply skeptical of anything that came out of or anywhere near Hollywood. But it’s true that some back in those days managed to avoid the fouler elements of Tinseltown (NY or California edition).
Welk was married to the same woman for 61 years. A Catholic, he was a daily communicant.
I remember it well. The material wasn’t bad, but the presentation was as bland as you could make it.
I had to laugh, CAG, at the bubbles and accordian remark.
My parents watched every Sat night when I was in grade school. We had a very petite neighbor who gave me her formals as I loved to play dress up. I know this is hokey now but when I would enter the living room in one of those evening dresses, my father would say, “Who is this lovely creature?’ and ask me to dance to Welks orchestra.. My mother would dance with my brother, then the parents would dance with each other. Remember the 4 Lennon Sisters? I had their paper dolls.
Still in grade school my brother and I were signed up for Naval Gun Factory Cotillian. Mrs.? taught us manners and dance steps. The high light for my brother were the intermissions. He really liked the punch and array of cookies. I just liked to dance and socialize. My mom was frugal; she turned my white organdy First Communion dress into an outfit by adding a colored velveteen ribbon belt and same color head band. It still looked like a Communion dress to me.
Years later I signed my oldest son up for freshman cotillion; bouht him a sports coat. No interest.
the presentation was as bland as you could make it.
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He distinctive style and selection. You liked the stuff or you didn’t. It was only ‘bland’ in the sense that it was not designed to be obnoxious.
I more or less grew up with Welk. chuckles What little I know of a polka–or a waltz–probably comes from having tried to imitate them. Welk being bland or a fuddy-duddy? Maybe. I readily grant that his show was not as… exciting… to watch. Not when we had seen the various acts on MTV, also TNN later.
At the same time, …he DID provide a show of music with dignity.
I attended a dance early in Jr High, then rarely attended dances afterward. Maybe a winter “formal” maybe Jr/Sr Prom. That’s about it. There wasn’t much point. Most people didn’t know how TO dance, most music didn’t invite it. Most music they played worked well for a video or concert; it didn’t work well for a dance.
grins I recall when The Flying Dutchman actually had most of us on the dance floor in my Sr year, improvising as best we could. Most of us had only a rough idea what to do, yet we still enjoyed it. …And THAT was the point.
I recall seeing once or twice when Welk and one of his ladies actually danced with a lady and gent from the audience. I would not have willingly admitted it then, yet that was pretty darn cool to see.
I could wish we had more of that.
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The music that you listen to is the music that interests you. My musical tastes are all over the map, ranging from classical to hard-core acid rock. My rock listening is very selective to avoid music with questionable lyrics. I don’t listen to much of the current output because of all the profanity.
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One observation that I can add is that I’m not much of an opera fan. I used to think that it was not knowing the language that they were sang in. But when I saw the translations, they were just as questionable as other forms of music. IIRC I heard an opera diva say that you can do anything you want in opera so long as you sing it. I try to keep my standards consistent between musical genres.
I’ve heard of the statements made by Grace Slick about rock being for the young. My reaction to her comments is that I wasn’t aware that music came with dates of decomposition. I am getting up there in years. I try to be honest with myself as I age. I dress and have my hair cut to look presentable, not to be trendy. The hard living life that rockers live can contribute to them looking old. One of the things that I have heard is that aging rockers can have physical problems with having the same vocal range as when they were younger. Singers can abuse their voices and wreck their vocal cords. On the annual EWTN World Over Christmas Special Raymond Arroyo has an interview with Keely Smith talking about how she kept her singing voice. She said that she didn’t abuse her voice. It is available on YouTube “The World Over December 28, 2023 | THE WORLD OVER CHRISTMAS 2023!, CHRISTMAS MERRY & BRIGHT!” The interview starts at 17:00 minutes.