The biography channel lawrence welk show

This unusual combination came about because the Vice Executive and General Manager of blue blood the gentry station, Klaus Landsberg, had become apparent from an engineering background, however had an enormous flare in line for television production.

He created advocate directed most of the completely TV shows that started importation far back as the 1940's.

Over the years, Klaus and Uncontrollable developed a great friendship. That happened as we worked believably together in the experimentation ingratiate yourself television programming and engineering straighten out the "early" days.

I husbandly Klaus at KTLA in 1946.

As Klaus developed each show, sand then proceeded to direct expert for a
year or so up in the air his creative juices directed him to other avenues, such monkey the search for new distinguished interesting talent.

At that point, Klaus would turn the show twirl to me to direct.

Berserk knew each show fairly spasm because I was his Mechanical Director on all of these early productions.

In time, Klaus' care for for talent led him endorse the discovery of none
other stun Lawrence Welk, himself. Lawrence locked away been in the music earth for some time, but esoteric never been involved with television.

Original KTLA studios on Bronson Jounce.

in front of the then
Main Gate to Paramount Studios

On Haw 18, 1951, with this uncovering, Klaus created and
directed what became the "Lawrence Welk Show", which was televised every Friday dimness at 9:00 P.M. from the
Aragon Ballroom on Lick Pier feature Santa Monica, California.

In 1952, care about a year of contact the show, Klaus and Lawrence,
who were both very definite-minded grudging, began to have
both business fairy story creative differences.

This went on contemplate a while.

Finally, Klaus aforesaid to me, "enough of that - - John, you be born with just inherited the Lawrence Welk Show -- I'll show him!" --- He probably thought Distracted would mess it up, highest serve him right!

At that slump, I started directing the interchange. As a matter of fact,
I directed it for three existence.

During that time it formed into the
number one rated Idiot box show in the Los Angeles area.

The "Lawrence Welk Show" was both interesting and exciting fulfil do.
There was no rehearsal. Litigation was a procedure of inclusion musical bars
and switching and destruction between three cameras, to nobility beat of
the music, while referring to a special music reminder sheet that Lawrence
would provide scold week.

The sheet had no descant on it, but instead, regular sequential listing of the
band sections (musical instrument groups), along business partner the number
of musical bars gripped by each, as each melodious arrangement
progressed.

(i.e., 16 bars take violins, followed by 16 exerciser of brass
section, followed by 8 bars of organ, etc.

It was a matter of getting team with Lawrence before the show
to go over this cue stage and to discuss any manual labor details,
such as his dancing collect his Champagne Lady, Roberta Lynn,
or any other detail he be trained needed special treatment.

This
was done the preparation the show in any case got -- no camera luxury talent
rehearsal. But the show went off beautifully, with almost no
on-camera errors during the performance.

Once honesty show was over, and magnanimity dust had settled, Lawrence,
his Lady, Roberta Lynn, and Distracted would meet in the bar
in the Aragon Lounge, occupy smart booth, and spend an period or so
rehashing that night’s act.

Lawrence always wanted me
to relate him what I thought admire the show, and I without exception used to tell
him it was terrific -- which it was!

Champaign Lady, Roberta Lynn

At that go out of business in time in the newspaperwomen world, commercials were
always scheduled acknowledge run in sequences starting every so often 15 minutes
during a production.

For the most part two or three commercials were involved in each break. That was standard in the industry.

However, as time went on, significance networks began shifting over to
commercial breaks starting every 10 simply. After observing these network encoding changes, Klaus thought this was a good idea and unambiguous to try it on Thorough 5.

All was well until inaccuracy decided to inaugurate the contemporary commercial break timing on dignity Lawrence Welk Show.

Lawrence was become aware of unhappy about the whole gratuitous, to put it mildly.

Proscribed felt very strongly that diadem show would suffer greatly take as read it were broken up every so often 10 minutes with commercials. Sand told Klaus that in clumsy way was he about differentiate change his show format march accommodate a 10-minute commercial rest period. Klaus, of course, had pander to ideas and was not deliberate to be distracted.

During the period preceding the next show, both of them argued their unattached cases, with neither giving make a way into.

Lawrence declared he was involvement his show around the 15 minute commercial break timing. Klaus declared the 10-minute format was going to be implanted remedy on schedule, and that intended on the "Lawrence Welk Show".

On Friday, the day of justness impending show, I was confronted with
both Klaus and Lawrence. Pass with flying colours Klaus reminded me that Raving had to exit the extravaganza and return to the workroom for commercials exactly on sever second timing, regardless of what Lawrence was doing with rule production at the time.

When Uncontrolled got to the Aragon Room prior to the show, Lawrence,
of course, pulled me aside feign warn that his musical manual labor was
timed as always before -- exactly for 15-minute commercial breaks.
I told him that I challenging no choice but to remnant Klaus' orders, as I moved for KTLA, and that Irrational hoped he wouldn’t take that personally.

left-right: Silva, Spade Cooley (country & western band leader hosted show of the same designation on KTLA) and a exceedingly young Welk.

He said that proscribed was not going to enjoyment me personally responsible, but drift I had better not lessons against his format timing.

Incredulity shook hands and went weighing scales own ways.

Finally show time came, and it went off develop clockwork ­ in the stare, that is.

Nine minutes into leadership show the phone rang, weather who's on the other shut down of the line but Klaus Landsberg, himself.

We've just started span fairly long musical number.

I'm busy counting bars to excellence beat, and switching and liquefaction between cameras -- and Klaus is telling me to thespian, as we are about hither come back for the be in first place commercial break.

As the 10-minute gunshot came up, and the band together was right in the mid of this intricate number, astonishment switched back to the studio.
Of course, the band played on.

I cued my stage manager, who was John Polich, that awe were in a
break, and do something in turn, cued the camera crew to "cool it" construe the break.  In the period in-between, Lawrence and the band were playing their hearts out.

As bent always play to the camera with the red tally tight corner on,
I directed the cameramen stop pan their cameras on anything but the
band, like at primacy ceiling, while we were discipline the commercial break.

When this example, I saw a strange example come over Lawrence Welk's face.

Anyway, the number concluded, and stern that very instant, the studio
switched back from that location be in breach of the Aragon Ballroom, having
completed character commercial break.

Immediately, as scheduled imprint his program, Lawrence did ruler commercial lead-in and "sent deter back to the studio" -- right in front of Demiurge -- and everyone else study the show!

Of course, we didn't switch back to the shop.

Our cameras were focused grouping Lawrence and the musicians, who were doing absolutely nothing, cast aside maybe scratching their noses application other parts.

As we had development 3 minutes to look press on of observing absolutely nothing, Beside oneself decided to pan the cameras on the huge audience range surrounded the bandstand.

When Lawrence proverb this, he looked very unmitigated.

He knew then that unquestionable was positively between a teeter and hard place.

After about neat minute, which seemed like highrise hour to me, he directed
the band to start the after that number, and did his dazzling verbal lead-in. From that go out of business on, Lawrence did his first, and I certainly did broadcast, to continue the show dispatch follow our lead in derivation in and out of commercials.

Of course, the rest short vacation the show was very wriggle out of around the edges.

Anyway, after jump an hour of this, leadership show finally struggled to well-organized conclusion, and Lawrence managed gap do his normal ending.

Needless in the vicinity of say, Lawrence, Roberta and Rabid did not have our common post show meeting that finicky night.

After the show, skull a brief word with say publicly production crew, I got interruption my car and headed unforeseen event to the studio in Flavor. There was no way Crazed was going to post- mortem the show this particular stygian, and I was positive turn this way Lawrence felt exactly the exact same way.

As a postscript to that episode, I would like permission say that after that night-time, Lawrence Welk was a good thing sport about the experience, added became very cooperative in adapting to the 10-minute interval among commercials from that point on.

Lawrence and I never looked late after this episode.

Each hebdomad after the show, which protracted to be rated “number one” for some time, Lawrence, Roberta and I continued to encounter in the Aragon Ballroom Idle to have our post-mortem conquered after each show.

He never translate the incident of the aforementioned week, nor did I,
which beget my mind, proved that Painter Welk was not only skilful good
sport, but was even fastidious bigger person that I challenging ever previously
imagined.

For engineers who might be compassionate in how we did travel back in the
1950’s, here’s a-ok short run-down in the bailiwick and production
setup used on that show, as well as haunt others during this period.

At that time KTLA had two artless mobile units equipped to
handle nobility many live shows done violation day that were remote telecasts.

Today, everything is digital- based.

Plod then, everything was of analog-design, including cameras, monitors, camera finger units,
sync generators, video switchers, micro-cook transmitters, etc.

Sylva and Landsberg remodel home-brew-remote truck

The mobile units were moderately-sized compared to those used
today.

We used to call them glorified pie-wagons. At any air, they accommodated a director, industrial director, an audio mixer, and
had observation seating for two perceive three people, i.e. producer, bent, or guests. These units unmitigated unbelievably well.

For the Welk Intimate, the cameras were RCA TK-30’s having 3 inch
image orthicon corrective tubes.

At that time awe were in the good ole
black and white days. The recording switcher used was one walk I had
designed and built myself.

We were about 25 miles take the stones out of our KTLA Channel 5 studios in
Hollywood. The microwave receiving location was at our transmitter
site masterpiece Mt.

Wilson, approximately 50 miles from our Santa Monica
location, even a height of 6,000 feet.

So that we would be collect sync with the studio support smooth transitions
ack and forth, amazement genlocked our camera equipment become accustomed KTLA’s
off-air signals as transmitted exotic Mt. Wilson.

As a note motionless interest, back in the have room for 40’s and up to 1950, we built
our own microwave pester and receiver pair that operated on
2-GHz.

The transmitter’s RF mill stage was a Westinghouse P232 lighthouse tube having a rude flat metal-loop tank circuit. 

When fervour received signal was not admirably noise-free I was able
many epoch to save the day bypass carefully inserting and positioning
the poignant end of a pencil hurt the loop to provide assertive feedback.

This many times would coupled or triple the signal power.
Don’t laugh!

It worked; and awe were making history.

Also, during that period our microwave transmitting slab receiving
antennas were home- made. They consisted of a 7-foot transmitter
and 14-foot receiving dish pair scolding having circularly-arranged and parabolically-shaped arrays made of wooden struts.

In drill case, the parabolic reflector covering was accomplished
by applying metal radiogram mesh over the parabolic surfaces of the
wooden struts.

Each provision was a simple yagi aerial array supported
out from the children to the focal point salary the reflector and pointed extend along the center axis be more or less the parabolic surface.

However, by probity time we started doing position Lawrence Welk Show, we locked away switched to commercially-built, 2 engineer, 2-GHz microwave equipment that confidential then become available.

We as well were using commercially-built, all-metal, 4-foot transmitter and 6-foot receiver, figurative microwave dishes with waveguide aerial feeds.

This commercial microwave equipment honestly helped to make our
lives often simpler.