another Mahlon Clark obituary

Here's a sweet obit, from a hometown angle, on the late Mahlon Clark. Good to know he had Southern roots, even though Virginia is up "nawth" to this Louisiana girl.

Post Script: Even among the stars, Virginia put a twinkle in his eye

By JIM WASHINGTON, The Virginian-Pilot
© October 2, 2007

PORTSMOUTH

You've heard Mahlon Clark's work, even if you don't know his name.

Think of the toodling clarinet in Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk."

If you ever watched an Elvis Presley or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie, or enjoyed the Frank Sinatra albums "In the Wee Small Hours" and "Songs for Swingin' Lovers," you know what he can do.

That's not to mention his performances with Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Lawrence Welk, Dolly Parton and Madonna, and his work on movies and TV shows like "Dragnet," "Adam-12," "Dick Tracy," "Rear Window" and "When Harry Met Sally."

Clark died Sept. 20 in Van Nuys, Calif. He was 84.

A Portsmouth native, Clark launched his music career after graduating from Wilson High School in 1939, eventually rising to the top of the jazz world in Hollywood.

"My dad knew he was different growing up," said Julie Clark De Blasio, one of Clark's daughters. "Music was his passion. That was his true calling. There was no other choice."

As a teen, Clark spent more than a year touring the country with several big bands. On the road, he met a big-band singer named Imogene Lynn. They got married and moved to California when Clark enlisted in the Merchant Marine during World War II.

After the war, Clark signed a contract with Paramount Studios, where he played music for dozens of movies and television shows. He did numerous studio recordings with Dean Martin, Fitzgerald, Sinatra and Elvis.

The latter two giants didn't interact much with musicians, he told his daughter later, but he did get the occasional wink or thumbs up from The King after a session.

Later, Clark joined the Lawrence Welk orchestra. He and Lynn had divorced by then, and he met and married Kathy Lennon. She was one of the four Lennon Sisters, the family group that performed on the Welk show.

Clark continued working into the '80s, collaborating with Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Madonna.

"He didn't really know who they were," his daughter said.

Clark returned occasionally to Portsmouth to perform. According to his daughter, he remembered Virginia fondly in the waning weeks of his life.

"He really liked going back there," she said. "He loved the Atlantic seaboard, the slower pace of life and the Southern hospitality. That was his home."

Jim Washington, (757) 446-2536, jim.washington@pilotonline.com


Source

Tear Time and Take Five

Pop Country, (Feb. 1969), is not particularly one of my favorite Lennon Sisters albums, but it does contain a real gem, Tear Time. I adore their version of this song. It's so sad, lush and just meant for dancing with someone close. I always end up putting it on repeat whenever I play it. I'm pretty sure it's Dee Dee who has the divine solo in it. See if you love it as much as me - download it here.

Also, thanks to Peter MacNeil for the link to the following two Las Vegas Sun articles on the Lennon Sisters.

September 04, 2007

TAKE FIVE: THE LENNON SISTERS

By Jerry Fink
Las Vegas Sun

Lawrence Welk turned the Lennon Sisters into household names in 1955 - long before the Osmonds and the Jacksons - and on his television stage they sang for 14 seasons.

As performers, the Lennon Sisters have been around for 50 years. Peggy, now 66, and Dee Dee, 68, are now retired. But Janet, 61, and Kathy, 64, have been singing in Branson, Mo., for almost 15 years.

Janet and Kathy and some of their grandchildren will appear at the FAO Schwar z toy store in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace Saturday, performing from 3 to 5 p.m. and signing their new line of dolls, Best Pals.

The duo recently talked to the Sun by telephone from their home in Branson.



1. Career

Janet: It's been an unbelievable career. We were blessed to have started so young and to have worked with the greats in the business - Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, George Burns, Andy Williams. Jimmy Durante was a jewel. We sang for seven presidents. It's been an incredible career. Young people just starting out today don't have the chance to work with that caliber of talent.

But we traveled and were gone a lot from our family. We had a family of 11 children. We all went to Catholic grammar and high schools. We lived in a great big old house in Venice, Calif., and mom and dad saw to it that we led as normal a life as possible. We would perform Saturday nights at the ABC studios - sing a song, do a show - and then come home, change our little brothers' and sisters' diapers, do homework.

2. Downside

Janet: A fan who had been in and out of mental institutions was, in his mind, married to our sister Peggy. In his mind dad was keeping him from being with Peggy and he shot and killed our dad. We were in our 20s. We trusted our fans so much but he had scared us for years, and there were no stalking laws back then. We couldn't do much about him. He ended up following through on his promises. Mom was left at home with eight children under 18 to raise.

Kathy: It was like a terrible movie, and to think we got through all that. We were going to quit performing. It was Andy Williams who talked us out of it. We never wanted to go on stage live again. We were petrified. But Andy promised we would be safe. He took us to Vegas. He said, "You'll be treated like queens. You'll be all right." So Andy Williams brought us back onstage. The first place we performed after daddy was killed was Caesars Palace.

3. Coping

Janet: We have each other. We've always been close. We were our own therapy, really. We got along so well. We were very open with one another. We dealt with it by talking about it. We all have deep faith in God and believe things happen because they're suppose d to, and our mom had tremendous faith.

Kathy: Mom had the faith of Job. She was a rock. She would comfort us and others, saying, "We don't know the reasons. We'll never know why. We have to accept and go on. And we must know that we are put on Earth for a reason. You are blessed to have had your dad this many years." We were raised that way. It was really the deep faith in God that got us through. You go on. You don't have many options. It was very frightening, continuing to perform and to be around crowds. We had security with us for a long time. That's one of the reasons it was very interesting for us to come to Branson. We work right across the street from where we live. It's a beautiful theater right across the street and we can come home every night.

4. Branson

Kathy: The four of us moved here about 15 years ago, plus many of the children. They worked behind stage with us, some on stage. Three of our brothers, who had a wonderful big band show at the Welk Resort (in Escondido, Calif.) came here to live too. We have four siblings still in California and the rest are here.

Janet: The Lawrence Welk Orchestra was here up until three years ago. It was a big band show, with a lot of the performers from the Lawrence Welk television show. My husband was the conductor and did all the musical arrangements. Then three years ago they stopped that show and since then we've been performing the Christmas show here with the Gatlin Brothers and we love it.

5. Their favorite stars

Janet: We found that the bigger the star, the nicer they were. We ran across one who wasn't - we won't mention whom - but really when you think about it, just one out all the great people we worked with isn't so bad. We loved Perry Como and Jimmy Durante and Sammy Davis, one of our fun, fun friends.

Kathy: Andy Williams. We were very close to him, and still are. The Osmond Brothers. John Davidson. Jack Jones. We're very lucky. We're very close with Glen Campbell. We've worked with them all. It's very hard to say who is our favorite. We were always treated so beautifully.
Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.

Las Vegas Sun

September 04, 2007

Sisters' line of rag dolls recalls the good-ol' days

By Kristen Peterson
Las Vegas Sun

With all the bells and whistles of today's dolls, clever action figures and dancing bears, a simple rag doll with yarn hair, knit stockings and a prairie outfit seems almost fictional, an embodiment of any maudlin country song referencing "the good-ol' days."

Rag dolls don't sing, dance, talk or walk.

They're not as elaborately outfitted as the "American Girl" series, nor are they as expensive. They lack toy cell phones, head phones and BlackBerries and they are years (years!) away from the sexy single Barbie and her nemesis Bratz Dolls.

Essentially, the rag doll begins and ends with your imagination. And that can be quite a responsibility.

But in talking with Kathy and Janet Lennon of the famed Lennon Sisters, embracing this generational throwback to rag dolls isn't as difficult as it seems.

In fact, they believe it's quite natural.

A year ago, the two sisters, who came to prominence at ages 3 and 6 on "The Lawrence Welk Show," launched a line of rag dolls called Best Pals. The soft, pliable 16-inch dolls are replicas of their own childhood dolls made by their mother and grandmother.

Why did they return to an earlier era of dolls? "We felt there was a hole in the toy industry for a simpler time, a need to nurture a doll, to hug and love it," Kathy Lennon says.

The dolls' embroidered faces, patterned dresses and 1950s simplicity may turn quizzical eyes among today's youth who demand battery-operated interactive play, but with the help of the Lennon sisters, here is some advice:

Step 1

Just hug her: The arms are not animatronic, but she will hug you back in her own limp, rag doll way. The rag doll "just falls into your arms," Kathy Lennon says.

Step 2

Take her outdoors: Run down the street and through the park - and let her soar in the open air. Forget tenderness for the moment. "You can hold her by the braid. You can hold her hand or her dress," Janet says. "That's how we carried her."

Step 3

Take her wherever you go. Roll her up and fold her into a backpack, Kathy Lennon says. "We would take our dolls in our little doll trunks."

Step 4

Be thoughtful. "We also took little nighties with them," Janet says. "They'd sleep in our hotel beds with us."

Step 5

Nurture them: "We used to sit in our little rockers and sing to them," Janet says, adding, "It's such a self explanatory doll. The child transforms."

For further instructions, ask the sisters directly. In town for the ABC Kids Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Kathy and Janet Lennon will be at FAO Scwhar z in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday to launch a new line of multicultural dolls and sing a few songs from their "Best Pals" CD.

They'll also have their original dolls. No bells, no whistles.
Kristen Peterson can be reached at 259-2317 or at kristen@lasvegassun.com.

Las Vegas Sun

Kathy and Janet promoting new dolls

There's a new interview with Kathy and Janet in promotion of their Best Pals doll line. Check it out.

Presenting: Lennon sisters’ rag dolls
By GRETCHEN METZ

Entrepreneurism is a new role for sisters Kathy and Janet Lennon.



They are familiar with celebrity, having been in the spotlight 50-plus years. But as founders of KatJan, a company that makes rag dolls like the ones crafted for them by their mother and grandmother when they were tots, there is a lot to learn.

“I had no idea how much work was involved,” said Janet Lennon in an interview Wednesday at a local hotel. “Our background is entertainment. We leave the business-business part to people who know what they’re doing but we’re learning all the time.”

Kathy and Janet Lennon, the two youngest of the Lennon Sisters quartet, are in the West Chester area this week to pitch their new line of Best Pal dolls to QVC in West Goshen and appear on the Comcast CN8 “Your Morning” show at 8:30 a.m. today.

The Lennon sisters, Diane, Peggy, Kathy and Janet, grew up as the apple of America’s eye, little girls in matching dresses, singing in harmony on “The Lawrence Welk Show.”

Janet, the youngest, was 9 when the sisters made their first Champagne Music apparence for Welk on Christmas Eve 1955. They left the show in 1968 and started their own musical variety show on ABC, “Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters,” the following year.

In the 1970s, the sisters performed regularly on “The Andy Williams Show,” and toured with Williams across the country.

In 1994 they began performing at the Welk Resort Theatre in Branson, Mo., and producing CDs. Sisters Diane and Peggy have retired. Younger sister Mimi has joined Kathy and Janet to make a trio.

There were 12 Lennon siblings in all.

“We thought we’d be there for a year or two but it’s been 13 years,” Janet Lennon, 61, said.

The two sisters, who were inseparable growing up and still remain “best pals,” decided three years ago to make their entrepreneurial dream come true.

“We always wanted to do something together,” said Kathy Lennon, 63. “And we loved the rag dolls so much we wanted to give them to other children.”

Added Janet Lennon, “those dolls were with us on the road, slept in our bed in hotels when we were little girls.”

The still glamourous, yet approachable, sisters said they thought the time was right to fill a need for wholesome toys in an industry saturated with techno-toys and dolls with attitudes and provocotive cloths.

“They are playable and we felt it was time to bring children back to a simpler time,” Kathy Lennon said of Best Pals.

Like the dolls made by the Lennons’ mother and grandmother, Nana, the dolls have embroidered faces, yarn hair in pigtails, cotton-print dresses, white pantaloons, white stockings and white Mary Jane shoes.

The Best Pals line started with a blonde Janet and a brunette Kathy doll, both 16 inches tall. When the Best Pals Christmas CD came out and the sisters saw the covers with the Kathy doll in a green velvet dress and the Janet doll in a red velvet dress, Kathy Lennon said they decided that they were “so adorable” they would add Christmas Best Pals to their line.

The sisters launched the line in August 2006 at the Mall of the Americas in Bloomington, Minn. Since then, they’ve been on the road talking to retailers and making appearances at trade shows around the country.

As new entrepreneurs, performing at Branson, where they live, is actually the most restful part of the year, according to Janet Lennon.

“We get to sleep in our own beds,” Janet Lennon said.

KatJan is adding a line of multicultural dolls: Lily, Sofia and Isabelle so that black, Asian and Latino children will be able to identify with their own doll.

There will also be mini dolls, a cookbook, gift book and children’s CD.

KatJan is managed by Roxi Elfering who ran her own toy manufacturing company before signing on with the Lennons. As KatLJan president and executive director, Elfering is guiding rollout of the new products in the Best Pals line.

The start-up company is “exceeding goals” Elfering said, thanks in some degree to the sisters’ celebrity.

“It absolutely opens doors,” Elfering said.

The Lennon sisters have an office at their warehouse but prefer to work from home.

“You can have lunch with the grandchildren and go back to work,” Janet Lennon said. “It’s so much easier than getting dressed and going to the office.”

To contact staff writer Gretchen Metz, send an e-mail to gmetz@dailylocal.com.
dailylocal.com

Best Pals - San Bernardino County Sun article

Kathy and Janet are getting more and more press about their Best Pals line, with this Feb. 20, 2007 interview with San Bernardino County Sun. Click the link or continue on for the article.

Familiar faces
Lennon Sisters create rag dolls modeled after theirs from childhood
By Diana Sholley, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/20/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

Every time Kathy and Janet Lennon go on tour, there are stowaways in their bags - lifelong friends they would never think of leaving behind.

It's their rag dolls, made with love by their mom and grandmother more than 50 years ago, when Kathy was 6 and Janet was 3.

The dolls represented a little piece of home when the girls - part of the famous singing sensation, The Lennon Sisters - were on tour.

Though now adults, with children and grandchildren of their own, when they hold those well-worn dolls with the painted-on faces and yarn hair, they are transported to another era. It's a time of innocence, where imagination was queen and children her subjects.

Janet and Kathy, who grew up being each other's best pals, wanted to bring the magic of their childhood to the children of today.

In August, the sisters introduced Best Pals, a line of rag dolls and music CDs, named after the relationship the girls had as children. The dolls are exact replicas of the dolls they still cherish.

"We remember all the love Mom and Nana put into making those dolls," said Kathy. "We'd spend hours playing with them. They were comfort on the airplane...the dolls are a tribute (to them). They meant more
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than any store-bought dolls."

The sisters - Dee Dee (Diane), Peggy, Kathy and Janet - debuted in 1955 on the Christmas Special of The Lawrence Welk Show, where they would perform for 13 years and be dubbed America's Sweethearts of Song.

The Lennon Sisters now live in Branson, Mo., and perform often at The Welk Resort Theater there. When Peggy retired in 1999, younger sister Mimi, an accomplished singer and comedian, took her place. Dee Dee retired in 2000 and since then, The Lennon Sisters has been a trio with Kathy, Janet and Mimi. They will be appearing at Citrus Community College in Glendora on April 1.

In creating the dolls, it was important to the sisters that they be authentic. They paid close attention to each detail. The dolls are 16 inches tall and the materials used for their dresses are exact duplicates of the originals. Like the originals, these new versions of the rag dolls have embroidered faces and yarn hair that can be styled - brown to represent Kathy, blond for Janet.

New features include an elastic beaded bracelet on each doll that reads "Best Pals." Also, first edition "Best Pals" are individually numbered for collectability. Both sisters have doll collections.

"We've had so many people say to us with a big ol' smile, `Oh, my grandmother made me one when I was a girl,"' Janet said. "It's a reaction of nostalgia. The dolls bring back a simple time in history, and tradition. It's so important for us to try to duplicate that feeling and for others."

Also bringing back those old feelings are two CDs of childhood favorites the sisters have recorded to go along with the "Best Pals" line.

"Best Pals" has 14 songs and includes a booklet insert with pictures and lyrics. "Best Pals Celebrate Christmas" is a 13-song collection of the sisters' holiday favorites.

"They are some of our favorite songs that we sang to our dolls," Janet said.

Kathy and Janet hope their children's products give today's kids a chance to be children a little while longer.

"Little girls have a basic instinct to nurture," Kathy said. "They like to use their imagination. We look at some of the trendy dolls and ask `Would I want my daughter playing with that?' Our dolls give kids another option."

"Best Pals" will soon be introducing ethnic rag dolls in several nationalities, including African American, East Indian and Hispanic.

"Our dolls duplicated in another nationality," said Janet. "Our dream is to bring the joy and magic that these dolls gave us to children everywhere."

Diana Sholley can be reached at features@sbsun.com with 0"Diana Sholley" in the subject field or (909) 483-9381.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

What: Best Pals rag dolls and children's CDs

Who: Created by two of the original Lennon Sisters, Kathy and Janet

Cost: $16.98 to $29.95

Information: www.bestpals.net