. . . a 50 year television event!
Well family, 
Johnny
Zell
here . . . and I hope you have enjoyed the 50th
Anniversary
Lawrence
Welk
Show
for
PBS
called..."Milestones
and
Memories"!
It was on PBS Television March 3rd and 4th. We had such a great time rehearsing,
practicing, and greeting eachother for the 8 days it took to record the
show. (Did you see;It was three hours long . . .can you believe it?)
Such stars as: 
MyronFloren,CissyKing,BarbaraBoylan,
JoannCastle,
PeteFountain,
TheLennonSisters,
GuyandRalna,
TomNetherton,
Dick Dale,
Anacani, Jack Imel,
plus
5
former
Champagne
ladies
(including Norma Zimmer 
and Roberta Linn), all participated in the
taping. I'm sure you enjoyed all their performances!
A little side note: After all the rehearsing,
it was time to open the curtain in front of 3000 people in the audience
and start the show. The audience suddenly rose up and started clapping
with all their might. It went on for two full minutes! Finally
Janet Lennon 
motioned to everybody that it was time to start the show. She went
into the opening dialogue and couldn't hold back the tears (that was so wonderfully sweet, Janet!). She tried so
hard and held them just long enough to welcome everyone.
One of my favorite segments of the show was when we all gathered together around the piano (all 40 of us) and reminisced with songs that we had done many times during Lawrence's television years. I got to play the famous "Call to the Post" bugle call along with "Baby Face" with Jack Imel, Bob Havens and Ken Delo. Then we broke out with "Jazz Me Blues" featuring Bob Havens, "Big Tiny Little" jr., and Pete Fountain. Guy and Ralna sang "I Can't Stop Loving You" ! Again, the audience stood on their feet and gave us a standing O !!! What a time we all had.
In between tapings, (we did FOUR!) we all sat around and talked about our times on the show. There were stories that even I had never heard. While musing, we did individual radio interviews, played special songs, and had inpromptu discussions with the audience while the sets were changed and the crew moved props. Talk about "live television"!
By the way, take
a look at my CD's and Cassettes;
featuring some of the same songs we played for the TV Special. You
can order all you want right on the page. Also, you can see our
UPCOMING CONCERT DATES if you click here.
Musically yours forever....
Johnny Zell