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 Champagne
Lady - On the musical program THE
LAWRENCE SHOW/ABC/SYN/1955-82, the orchestra featured "Champagne
Music" and a delicate trail of champagne-like bubbles rising
from behind the bandstand where his musician's played.
Accompanying this elegant backdrop was the "Champagne Lady," the
program's featured female vocalist. Singer Alice Lon was the
first woman to wear that crown beginning "live" on a
coast-to-coast broadcast from the ABC Hollywood Studios on July
2, 1955.
Unfortunately, Welk's ultra-conservative moral beliefs
were responsible for the removal of Alice Lon from the program
in July 1959. Welk's excuse? Alice Lon showed too much knee when
she crossed her legs during the telecast. "Cheesecake does not
fit our show," he remarked. Following his decision, thousands of
angry letters from faithful viewers flooded Welk's office
indicating that his decision was not so "wunnerful."
Welk tried to
get Alice Lon to reconsider and return to the show, but she
never did. Despite the controversy, Welk remarked, "She was one
of the nicest girls who had ever sung with our orchestra."
Reportedly, Welk
kept in contact with Lon until her death from cancer in 1981.
Norma Zimmer
After two years of guest fill-ins, (Lois Best, Joan Mowery,
Helen Ramsey, Roberta Linn) soprano Norma Zimmer finally became
the new "Champagne Lady" who stayed with the program until its
last telecast on February 24, 1982.
The program's theme songs
were "Bubbles in the Wine" (1955-70) by Lawrence Welk, Frank
Loesser and Bob Calame and "Champagne Fanfare" (1971-82) by
George Cates.
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