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Young was committed to California’s Atascadero State Hospital in 1965 as dangerously insane. Johnson for not intervening to allow him to wed Peggy. The Secret Service took notice in 1965 when he threatened President L.B. He had appeared at the Lennon’s front steps in Venice CA and the police were called, but his visits, calls and letters persisted. He was infatuated with Peggy Lennon and often referred to her as his “true wife”. Young, a former Air Force officer and current homicidal maniac, began writing the Lennon family. Welk was then undoubtedly pissed.Īround 1964, Chester W.H. By 1968, the girls wanted to go their own way and agreed to host a variety show under the name, Jimmy Durante Presents: The Lennon Sisters. In actuality, Welk may have been less than thrilled that his girls were marrying and having babies, but he was more likely really annoyed that their manager/father Bill Lennon fought to have each girl paid scale as separate performers instead of the previous group rate.
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They hinted at friction between the girls and their TV boss Lawrence Welk – usually the items were nonsense.
#Lawrence welk cast members movie#
TV and Movie tabloids of the time, liked to plaster the Lennon Sisters on the cover with sensational headlines hinting at backstage dramas. In 1964, Peggy Lennon married Welk show trumpet player Dick Cathcart (he was 16 years her senior). Welk tried his best to keep the Lennons looking innocent and hid baby bumps with props, costumes and scenery. During their hiatus periods and school vacations from parochial school, the girls performed at state fairs and toured with the Welk band.Įventually, the money (from personal appearances and merchandising) rolled in and the growing Lennon Family (with its eleven children: six girls and five boys – and their live-in grandmother) moved to a six-bedroom Victorian home in Venice, which sold for $2,135,000 in 2007.īy the mid 1960s, the girls were young adults and getting married and having children. The Lennon Sisters were paid the scale rate for a singing group (Welk only paid scale).
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The Saturday Welk show was broadcast live from the Hollywood Palladium, at 6pm on the West Coast and 9pm on the East Coast.Įven after the show switched from black-and-white to color, the production was done live-to-tape and the girls learned quick how to perform perfectly with no re-takes allowed. Welk loved the girls and hired them for his new TV show on ABC. caught his classmate Dianne (Dee Dee) Lennon singing at an Elks Club party, he arranged for her and her sisters to sing for his famous father – who was home with the flu. In 1955, The Lennons were a tight-knit Catholic family living in a small two-bedroom house in Venice, CA with their milkman Dad and house-wife Mom. To TV audiences, bandleader and host, Lawrence Welk, was the Lennons’ beaming father figure, but their real father, Bill Lennon, was always watching from the wings, and acting as their manager. From that debut, Dianne (age 16), Peggy (age 14), Kathy (age 12) and Janet (age 9) were TV stars. Saint or sinner calls and always finds him there. With their angelic faces and tight harmonies, the Lennon girls sold the lyrics: He still finds the time to hear a child’s first prayer. The popular quartet from Venice, CA made their Welk debut on Welk’s Christmas Eve show, Decemsinging the popular tune “He” (about the Heavenly Father). He then produced The Lawrence Welk Show on KTLA television station which premiered in 1955.Dear, as I held you close in my arms, angels were singing a hymn to your charms.įor thirteen years (1955-1968), each Saturday night, the Geritol crowd could turn on The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC-TV and watch the wholesome Lennon Sisters sing their hearts out. Later in 1951, he moved to Los Angeles after participating in a successful late-night TV show there. Between 19, his band had a golden opportunity to their National radio program. Meanwhile, Lawrence Welk collaborated with Red Foley and recorded his version of ‘Shame on you’ by Spade Cooley. His band also began performing in New York City at Roosevelt Hotel. In fact, Welk decided to move his family to Chicago where they lived for ten years. This was one of their biggest achievements in the music industry. The group later performed at Trianon ballroom in Chicago in 1940. By then they had limited funds to afford luxurious traveling means. The band moved to Omaha in 1937.They also toured around the country using their car. At last, they decided it should be ‘The Biggest Little Band in America.’ After a while, he came up with his band, ‘The Lawrence Welk Novelty Orchestra.’ This band became the radio station band of WNAX in Yankton in South Dakota.Īfter a while, Lawrence Welk and his band members changed its name to ‘ The Hotsy-Totsy Boys.’ They again changed it to ‘The Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra’ after some time. He then began playing Polka style music with local bands in his area. Lawrence Welk decided to become a full-time musician at the age of 21.
