Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 26, 1990 TAG: 9003242450
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Beth Macy Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Eight years gone, and today it's like Lawrence Welk never left.
His show still entertains millions of viewers nationwide, an estimated 12,000 households in the Roanoke area alone. Syndicated re-runs interspersed with recent clips of Welk and the gang waxing nostalgic, the show is Blue Ridge Public Television's biggest draw.
And say, where did they get those 6-inch lapels? And those double-knit red bell bottoms - did they rob a thrift store?
Just kidding, Welkies. WBRA station workers are the first to tell you - Welk fans don't take kindly to people messing with their show.
So two weeks ago, when a change in the schedule of WBRA's fund drive bumped the program from its regular Saturday night slot to Tuesday night, viewers took to the phones.
"There's nothing more angry than an angry Lawrence Welk viewer," said Barbara Landon, WBRA's development director.
Lucky for Landon, she had an ace in the hole: Not only would the show be appearing that Tuesday, it would feature live spots of veteran Welk performers - from the station's Roanoke studio.
So it was bonus points for WBRA when country crooner Ava Barber and Irish tenor Joe Feeney showed up, filling the station's pledge breaks with pleas for money and plugging their show at the Roanoke Airport Marriott on Saturday.
"The Stars of Lawrence Welk," the show is billed. But don't count on seeing Welk himself. The 87-year-old accordion whiz is retired and living in Southern California.
Feeney and Barber, along with longtime Welk-show baritone, Dick Dale, are hitting the road - one of three groups of former Welk-show regulars that tour dinner theaters and clubs across the country, giving those Welk re-run watchers a taste of live nostalgia.
"Nothing has ever changed," said Feeney, commenting on the show's enduring popularity. "When we stopped making the show, my lifestyle never changed one bit; I've been a free-lance singer now for 30 years."
There is life after Welk. While the show aired between pledge breaks Tuesday, Feeney and Barber talked about their careers as they watched younger versions of themselves singing songs like "That's Entertainment" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses."
"The show helped me, but it's hurt in some ways, too," said Barber, who was hired by Welk in 1974 - a time when "people were standing in line for jobs on the show."
The challenge came when the show stopped production, she said. Ever since, she has been trying to branch out from the shadow of Welk and launch a recording career of her own.
A few country-music hits in the mid-'80s, "Waitin' At the End of Your Run" and "Bucket to the South," gave her some fame with the Nashville crowd, but not exactly the success she was searching for.
Things could be a lot worse, though. Using the Welk name as a draw, she and Dale will 3 1 WELK Welk soon be adding a new twist to an old theme. They're opening a dinner theater - part Welk, part country - in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., home of Dolly Parton's famed tourist attraction, Dollywood.
And she's betting on success this time around. Because if the Welk experience has taught her anything, it's this:
Lawrence Welk sells.
"People are starving for good, clean entertainment. And there just aren't any good musical variety shows on television anymore."
Added Feeney: "Anytime you put together quality, good music in a class show that you can watch as a family and it's not going to embarrass your grandmother or your daughter, people like it."
Today's average Welk-show watcher is 55 to 64 years old, according to WBRA program director Jon Boettcher. "There is a certain fascination with looking back on a program that was popular when you were younger and reliving it," Boettcher said, explaining why the show's appeal has been so enduring.
"It's that nostalgia, to look back and think, `Is that how we looked? Oh my God.' "
The touring trio, which travels on and off throughout the year, performs individually and as a group in "The Stars of Lawrence Welk" show. The last time they sang in Roanoke, two years ago, the Marriott ballroom was packed with more than 450 area Welk buffs.
Before that show, WBRA's Landon had arranged for Feeney to sing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" to Friendship Manor resident Sadie Wills, who was in the audience.
"The next day, she calls me at home and thanks me for what she called the most important day in her life," Landon said. "It was like she'd just been to the prom."
Will Sadie be back this year?
Absolutely. Feeney promised on live television the other night to do an encore of the ballad - just for her.
Tickets for Saturday's show, which runs from 1 to 4 p.m. and includes lunch, cost $20 per person. They are being sold at all branches of Crestar Bank and at the WBRA office, 1215 McNeil Drive, SW.
A limited number of tickets are still for sale; all tickets are reserved.
by CNB