Tom Moran and Tom Sewell Fantasy by the Sea Peace Press: Culver City, CA, 1980 (1979) (Originally published by Beyond Baroque Foundation with a grant from the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts), 1951
Champagne Music
"The once-steller Aragon Ballroom on the Lick Pier had fallen on sad times by early 1951. The dance hall suffered peeling paint and broken windows. The most recent orchestra to occupy the bandstand had drawn only eight couples onto the dance floor. KTLA, a local television station, had canceled its weekly telecast of Aragon concerts because of low viewer interest.
"In a effort to salvage the sagging ballroom trade, Gordon "Pops" Sadrup, the Aragon manager, turned to a bandleader who had been a success on the pier five years earlier. In 1946, Lawrence Welk's brand of light popular danceable music had drawn crowds at the Aragon despite the competition of Tommy Dorsey at the nearby Casino Gardens.
"Welk agreed to play at the Aragon and KTLA was persuaded to reconsider the telecast of the program. The first televised show was May 2, 1951, and viewer interest was high, despite the late 11:50 p.m. time slot . . . It was not long before the "champagne music" of Lawrence Welk, live from the Aragon Ballroom, became a popular national television attraction.
"Welk left the Aragon Ballroom for the larger Hollywood Paladium. Joining him later were the four daughters of a talented Venice family. The girls, known as the Lennon Sisters, became one of the most popular attractions on the Welk show."