Originally aired on January 25, 1975; Sandi Griffiths and her family hosted the wraparounds. She talked mainly about her kids and her husband Brent's carpet business, I wonder what's the name of the company? It's time for me to put a new carpet in my house.
Anyway, back to the show; there were plenty of colorful numbers such as Norma Zimmer's "My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown" and Tom Netherton's "Blue Velvet". Clay Hart did a terrfic job with his acoustic rendition of "Little Green Apples" and Tanya Falan dazzled the studio audience with "Mountain Greenery".
The orchestra instrumentals were terrfic, such as "Deep Purple" and "That Old Black Magic" which was always one of my favorite pieces. As always, one can't get enough of the group numbers...like when the girls got together for "Scarlet Ribbons" with Sandi on lead vocals, Larry Hooper leading Gail, Sandi and Mary Lou for "When the Red, Red Robin comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along" and an exciting "Blue Skies" with Bob Havens on trombone with the girls providing vocals.
Anacani sang "The Moon Was Yellow" and while she sung it well....I always thought the moon was more grayish in color. And of course, Arthur Duncan dancing to "Golden Slippers" in which he actually wore golden slippers!
It was a colorful show filled with a tapestry of clothes made possible by costume guru Rose Weiss, and the songs in the show accented the colors perfectly!
That's all for this week, next week....my PBS station will go into pledge mode while some may get "Hooray for Hollywood", hope you have a chance to polish off the rest of that Thansgiving Turkey and keep a song in your heart.
2 comments:
Arthur Duncan - the only African/American performer on the show - a tap dancin' bojangles - danced to "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers." This, in 1975 - the height of the Black Power movement. The fact that the show wasn't protested is a miracle.
Well, at least they didn't have Duncan in blackface.
Actually, Welk drummer Paul Humphrey was also African-American. Altho black musicians weren't a large part of Welk's orchestra, he showcased many African-American artists - singers and instrumentalists - on his show.
Post a Comment