Lennon Sisters YouTube clips and screencaps

Long time no blog. Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been going through a very rough patch the past month. Hopefully things are turning around. Anyway, let the blogging commence!

Did y'all see last night's Lawrence Welk Show? It was really good. From early 1968, it was one of the very last appearances by The Lennon Sisters on the show. They performed two choice numbers, which I've added to YouTube.

First up, the very beautiful Where Are The Words. This is an exquisite number.


Their second number was the cute and lively Quanto le Gusta.


Kathy was interviewed at the end of the show. She told a moving story of finding an old, very early amateur recording she and her dad did on a recording machine given to them by a wealthy relative. She got choked up talking about what a treasure it was to have a recording of her dad. She made copies for her brothers and sisters for Christmas. What a priceless gift.

I made some screencaps from the show if you'd like to have a look.
Enjoy.

The French Show

Did y'all catch last night's Lawrence Welk Show? I stayed in and watched because it was way too cold and windy to go stand outside for the Jupiter Mardi Gras parade last night. Brrrrr. So I baked cookies and watched the old black and white gem from Feb. 1964. It was the "French" show - lots of not so good accents but the set was fantastic, and as usual The Lennon Sisters were superb.

I made some screencaps for y'all to enjoy.

Janet was interviewed at the end. My favorite bit was finding out the pooch Peggy sang to had peed all over her at rehearsals. LOL!

Lennon Sisters on American Music Awards

Here's a rare clip. Back in 1974 The Lennon Sisters presented the award for Country Group on The American Music Awards. Yeah, I know - Lennon Sisters and country music. Whuh??? It sorta kinda made sense actually. Around this time, the early 70s, they had signed with Atlantic for a country music album. They recorded the songs but unfortunately it was never released.

Missing from this appearance is Dee Dee. Not sure why she wasn't there - she wasn't off having a baby, the usual reason when one of the sisters is out of the lineup. Younger sister Mimi fills in to round out the quartet.



I've also made some screencaps from the clip which you can enjoy here.

Old Welk Christmas Specials

There's a dvd available on Amazon of three black and white Christmas episodes of The Lawrence Welk Show, all featuring The Lennon Sisters. My copy came in the mail today. What fun old shows.

Here's a few caps (I'm too tired to cap it all) and a breakdown of the Lennon Sisters songs.





1958 Christmas Party:

O Holy Night - Lennon Sisters
All Around The Christmas Tree - Janet, Brian and Cubby
Baby's First Christmas - Janet, Aladdin
Outer Space Santa - Janet, Brian and Cubby (this was bizarre)
Silent Night - Glee Club
Jingle Bells - all the kids of the Welk performers including the LS brothers and sisters

1959 Christmas Show:

O Holy Night - Lennon Sisters
Ring Those Christmas Bells - LS, Larry Dean, Dick Dale, Jimmy Roberts, Rocky Rockwell
Thanks For Christmas - Dee Dee
Jingle Bells - LS and gang for Dodge commercial
Medley of traditional carols - Glee Club

1966 Winter Special (no Peggy in this one.):

Winter Wonderland- LS & gang
There Are No Strings On Me - Lennon Sisters
Star Of The North and Rejoice - LS & gang
Silver Bells - Kathy and Steve Smith

Lennon Sisters clips and caps

Did y'all see the new PBS special, Lawrence Welk's TV Treasures last night? I was so excited to see new interview clips of Janet and Dianne who both looked fantastic. I thought their clips were the most fun, relaxed and honest. Not that I'm biased or anything.

As you can tell below they were having some fun, yeah.



And there were no Semonski Sisters on the show. That in itself made the enjoyment level soar.

Before I list what were the highlights for me, let me post some links.

I made a video of just The Lennon Sisters parts of the show. It was too long to upload to YouTube as one clip so I divided it.
Lennon Sisters Reminisce Part 1
and
Lennon Sisters Reminisce Part 2

I also took a bunch of screencaps which you can view as a slideshow if you want.

Back to the show....my favorite was the Watusi (spelling?) number. Norma Zimmer flat knocked me out with how much fun she was having with the girls. It's a pity her humor and great laugh that Dee Dee and Janet spoke of didn't come through on most of her other numbers. And that Janet can move - wicked hip swaying, girl!

My other favorite moment was the gang's all here hootenanny number with all 11 Lennon siblings. Oh my word, that little baby of the family was such a cutiepie!




Janet talking about her dad advising her on the impression she could leave when meeting fans.

Janet and Aladdin - they were sooo sweet together.



Whaddaya know, they mentioned Kathy's first husband by name.

Dee Dee and Janet being diplomatic in describing the oddly interesting Natalie Nevins: "very unique" and "what a character". Yeah.

What else. Oh, I like how Rocky Rockwell spoke movingly of Alice Lon. I think she was pretty great myself. The early stars of the show, and obviously I'm including the Lennons here too, were so much more fun and real to me than the later members.

Good show!

singing and dancing and screencaps, oh my

Clearly I was born in the wrong era. Born in '66, I came in on the tail-end of the great old variety shows, and that just ain't right. I have vague memories of some of the programs. I'm told I was, at age 3, a big fan of the Tom Jones show, to the point of grabbing a twirling baton as my mic while imitating his entrance. I may have blocked that out. The ones I remember watching faithfully were Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, Carol Burnett, and all those specials by Mitzi Gaynor and Shirley Maclaine. That was some good stuff. I've never understood why those kinds of shows just petered out.

As I said earlier, I recently bought the dvd, Excerpts From The Lennon Sisters Hour, which is sold through the official site. Here are a couple of pictures of the packaging.





It is fantabulous. The big production numbers are a blast. Man, did those girls work their tails off doing those demanding dances. They really get into it too. In the first number, when they flip their chairs and catch them, Kathy must've not known her own strength. She sent that thing flying high! Janet is just a total standout in so many of these numbers. That girl could move!

The clothes! And the hair! Scary to think everybody thought that style looked good back then.

I like the way they broke it down into sections of big dance numbers, the "home" songs, solos, and novelty numbers. Peggy is downright hilarious in the latter. Her comedic timing is right on target. I think my favorite of the dvd is Ain't Misbehavin' - it is simply sublime.

I took a bunch of screencaps - a little over 80. Too bad the old episodes couldn't have been remastered so we could have it in pristine high quality. I can dream right? Nonetheless, I am thrilled to get to see part of the show at all. I uploaded the caps into a gallery if you'd like to have a looksee. Enjoy!