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Friday, May 15, 2009

May you always

When I was a little girl and into my young teen years, I always knew where I would be on Saturday evenings. In front of our black and white television with a bowl of popcorn watching the Lawrence Welk Show. Yes, I was quite the nerd. I loved watching Bobby and Cissy dance their little hearts out in front of the orchestra and my mom loved Joanne Castle and her ragtime honky-tonk piano. But my favorite act was the The Lennon Sisters. 
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I wanted to be a Lennon Sister. My sisters and I sang all the time, and in harmony, while my sister Jane played the piano. Mostly we sang gospel hymns, but Jane loved to play pop tunes from the fifties; such as, "Sincerely" by the McGuire Sisters and "On a Slow Boat to China" and "You, You, You" and "Deep Purple". I think I would have fit right in as the youngest Lennon Sister. Cute smile, dimples, ponytail. Unfortunately, no one in my family ever thought to contact them to see if they would take me on, darn it!

Here are the girls when they were first starting on Mr. Welk's show. They always called him Mr. Welk, you know. They were good girls with good manners and very respectful toward their elders. That's little Janet in front, Kathy on the left, Diane in back and Peggy on the right.



The girls in later years singing my favorite of their songs. Notice their dresses are disguising at least one pregnancy, Peggy's (second from left). Peggy was alway pregnant, after she married, of course.

I love that tight four-part harmony that is usually only achieved with family members. Diane and Peggy are now retired from the stage, but Kathy and Janet, along with their (other, not me!) younger sister, Mimi, perform regularly at The Welk Champagne Theatre in Branson, Missouri.

23 comments:

Char said...

I remember watching this at my grandmother's house. Back in the days we only had 4 television stations. Funny huh?

Susan said...

Funny, but sweet, Char! Back in the days when life was a lot more simple. I guess we can't really go back to those days, but it feels good to reminisce occasionally.

Judy said...

Thanks for putting a smile on my face this morning!

Ruth said...

So you're a singer, eh? I've caught this before. It would be fun to hear you with your sisters. Ever do karaoke?

My 3 sisters are older than me, 10, 11 and 13 years older. We used to compare them to the Lennon Sisters too, when they'd stand in the pulpit and sing Sunday mornings and evenings.

The oldest watched Lawrence Welk, and I saw it a few times at her house.

That pictures of you is ADORABLE. I see the dimple that is still there.

Sandy Nawrot said...

Such a sweet little girl! I was not a LW watcher, except for the last few minutes of the show, because it came on right before the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. The WWD was the highlight of my week!

Susan said...
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Susan said...
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Susan said...

Sandy, you got to hear the good night song! "Good night, sleep tight, and pleasant dreams to you. Here's a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true....and now, till we meet again; adios, au revoir, auf weidersehn, GOOD NIGHT!" That was one of my favorite parts! I'm such a nerd!

That was my first grade picture. The dress was orange and black and yellow. I looked like a harlequin, but I loved it.

I loved WWD, but I hardly ever got to watch it, because we were always at church.

Susan said...

Holy cow and gee whiz! I just made a colossal error! The above Judy is not the Judy of the Singing Jenkins Sisters! She's a different Judy altogether! I'm so sorry Judy of Split in Two! That's what I get for not checking first. Now my face is really, really red!

http://judy-split-in-two.blogspot.com/

Susan said...

Ruthie, I love singing! David says he knows when I'm happy or feeling good, because I sing. Remember this old hymn? "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me."?

Unfortunately, my sister Judy is the only sister I still have. Jane, the piano-playing sister, passed away a year ago in June. We miss her greatly.

I've only sang karaoke at Judy's house.

Aw, shucks! You make me blush!

Susan said...

Judy, (not my sister!) thanks for visiting and I'm really happy that I made you smile!

Judy said...

I found your blog through Ruth's synch-ro-ni-zing. Now you are part of my daily reading!

Tipper said...

I always enjoyed the Lawerence Welk show too! Such a sweet time that was.

Susan said...

Judy, I'm glad you came for a visit and decided to stay! See, I have you on my blogroll!

Susan said...

Tipper, it was a sweet and more innocent time. Of course, our kids and grandkids would laugh at such a simple time, but I'm glad I was a kid then and not now. Life is thrust at our young people too fast.

Susan said...

Ruth, you know I meant to say "I've only sung". I'm all bumfuzzled!

CottageGirl said...

LOVED the Lawrence Welk Show! Still watch it on PBS. What talented people they were!
Thanks for the memories!

Susan said...

CG, glad to know I'm not the only fan in Blogland! We still watch it occasionally, too! They were talented and I bet they didn't get paid much either.

Cindy said...

This reminded me of hanging out at my grandmother's house on Saturday nights.. she would make "hamburger sandwiches" for us, and popcorn with lots of butter. Grandma loved Lawrence Welk, but I always found him annoying.

What an adorable child you were! Love that dimple!

Susan said...

Cindy, I suffered through Lawrence Welk's parts, so I could get to my favorites.

Don't let that innocent dimple fool you! I was spoiled rotten by my dad. At least, that's how my sisters saw it!

VaNeSsA said...

Oh my goodness - look at that cherubic face! What a cutie-pie!

Susan said...

Thanks Vanessa! I had good genes!

Nick said...

I CAN see why you wanted to be a Lennon Sister,as from the picture your the sweetest little girl ever.