Deceased stars of the Lawrence Welk show

[electra225]

Several has passed that I was not aware of. Some lived to be almost 100 years old. It might be easier to list the stars of the show that are still alive.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Dn56_6eCo

[William]

That is a sad video and so much talent gone. I wonder if Branson still has a LW theater?

Bill

[19&41]

Several has passed that I was not aware of. Some lived to be almost 100 years old. It might be easier to list the stars of the show that are still alive.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Dn56_6eCo

It's not too surprising, given the show went out of production 42 years ago. It had a good run though.

[electra225]

Arthur Duncan lived to be 98. I didn't know Lynn Anderson was gone. Mary Lou Metzger is still alive, since she is on the show on Saturdays. Clay Hart is gone, and he was one of the younger members of the cast. Lawrence Welk has been on TV thirty years after his death. It was an amazing group. I'm honored to have been entertained by them during my lifetime.

[William]

Tom Netherton was another member of the Welk show who died young at the age of 70.

Bill

[back-2-mono]

Norma Zimmer lived not far from me in an up-scale mobile home park in Brea, CA up until she passed in 2011.

[maxidyne]

There is no Champagne Theater in Branson anymore. Most of the Branson places closed.

LW was known to have been in control of the lives of the people on the show. Only a handful ever recorded where he didn't have his hands in the project somehow. You say Norma Zimmer lived in a trailer park. I know all his artists were under a strict contract. I wonder if he paid them just enough to get by.

Norma spent the last 20 years on the show lip synching. The last few years Larry Hooper was on the show, he lip synched as well. He had throat cancer and had a partial laryngectomy. I read somewhere that Norma Zimmer had a medical issue, perhaps a stroke, that kept her from singing. She was so popular and Welk held here in high enough esteem that he kept her on the show. If you notice, when she, or she and singing partner were on, the mixing sounded totally different, more reverb. Larry Hooper was a chain smoker. I'm surprised that straight-laced LW didn't put him to the curb for such a habit. He fired Alice Lon because she showed too much leg at rehearsal one time.

Don't misunderstand. I have a lot of respect for Lawrence Welk. He was human and had his foibles.