If I had an accordion, I’d play it, in honor of Lawrence Welk. It is his birthday, having come into this world on March 11, 1903. I never put it together before now, but he and my sister Sue share the same birthday. It’s Rupert Murdoch’s birthday too, but we won’t hold that against either one of them.
But Lawrence Welk. I know I’ve written about him before, in passing. He was a part of our household when I was growing up, as my mom and dad loved his show.
I always figured him as a foreigner, but he was born in North Dakota. It is true. The small German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. He happened to be the sixth of the eight children, and his parents were Ludwig and Christiana (née Schwahn) Welk.
I have found differing facts about their origins. One says they came from Odesa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), in 1892. Another source says Welk’s parents were immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine who spoke only German. That same source says the Welks had nine kids, not eight.
Another life lesson, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Not even about Lawrence Welk. For that matter, I am writing here on the internet. So there’s my disclaimer.
Anyway. I know one thing. North Dakota is cold. I watch the series “Fargo,” so I see this with my very own eyes. I absolutely love watching that show, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It’s pretty dark and can be graphically violent at times. But the writing and acting are brilliant. So.
It is the furthest thing away from Lawrence Welk, I’ll tell you. And I did not like that Lawrence Welk Show growing up, or even still today. But Welk had a lovable charm about him. He’d always start off each song saying, “A one-a, and a two-a,” in that thick German accent. Then, at the end, he would hoist his little toothpick of a baton, and say “Wunnnerful. Wunnnnerful.”
Okay, back to the story of Welk. When they first moved to North Dakota, they must not have had a place to live. They spent their first winter inside an upturned wagon covered in sod. That’s a lot of people in an upside-down wagon, eight or nine kids, either way.
Lawrence only stayed in school until the fourth grade. Then, he quit and went to work full-time on the family farm. At some point, he talked his dad into buying him a mail-order accordion for $400. They say that would be the equivalent of $5,105 today. And then, he promised dear old dad that he would work on the farm until he was 21, to pay him back for the button box, the old kanootch, the belly Baldwin.
Those were his early days. Welk did not learn to speak English until he was twenty-one. Supposedly, he never felt comfortable speaking it in public. But he did. On his show. In the midst of dancers and bubbles. And I had to sit and watch every powder-blue episode of the thing.
Wunnnerful. Wunnerful.
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“Every villain is a hero in his own mind.”
― Tom Hiddleston
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“A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect.”
― Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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“Aren’t most wonderful things a little bit strange?”
― Katie Henry
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When you have an accordian, there’s no place to go but up.
