Alice Lon
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Alice Lon (born November 23, 1926, Cooper, Delta County, Texas - died April 24, 1981, Dallas) was a singer and dancer on the Lawrence Welk Show during its early years on network television.
Throughout the big-band era and the years that followed, each of Lawrence Welk's female vocalists was always nicknamed "The Champagne Lady." Alice Lon assumed the title in 1955, during the program's first season. Her expressive alto singing voice graced the Welk hour weekly until 1959, when she was fired on-camera by Welk himself. The reason given for publication was that the singer, perched atop a desk during a vocal, displayed too much knee to the television audience. Welk, well-known for his insistence on a wholesome show, thought Lon's performance was too much like that of a pin-up girl ("cheesecake," as he called it). Another reason for her dismissal, not published, involved her salary: she was raising three children and had privately asked for a raise, which, for whatever reason, Welk was not disposed to provide.
Viewers missed the popular Alice Lon, and Welk received many messages demanding that she be rehired and that she receive an apology. Welk tried to bring her back, but she refused and was ultimately replaced in 1960 by Norma Zimmer. Although Lawrence and Alice eventually reconciled personally, they never worked together professionally again.
She died of scleroderma.
[edit] External links
- Alice Lon Leaves Welk, July 19, 1959
- The Lawrence Welk Show
- Encyclopedia of World Biography© on Lawrence Welk
- TelevisionHeaven: THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
- Find-a-Grave
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