MovieChat Forums > The Dodge Dancing Party (1955) Discussion > Truly cringeworthy fun!

Truly cringeworthy fun!

posted 10 years ago by clocksnmirrors-932-761321
13 replies | jump to latest

Goodness gracious me oh my! Well, I hardly know what to say....

Every Saturday night, while flipping channels, I make a brief stop at the Lawrence Welk Show. And boy do I get my money's worth!

Every performance reminds me of a group of precocious children all dressed up and attending a grown up party. And someone puts on a record and the kids get to do a performance. They're hungry for applause and their eyes gleam with manic enthusiasm! Their every twirling spin, every flapping arm, every glittering exposed toothy grin screaming "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!"

It's a horrible delight! At times I physically cringe! At other times I can't help but laugh out loud! All the while feeling as though I've been kidnapped into some magically bizarre dimension of pastel polyester and Brill Cream. A dimension where dancers in their late thirties are referred to by Welk as "youngsters". It's PRECIOUS!

I hope PBS never stops running these shows.

I only wish I could travel back in time to show a Welk audience an hour of modern music videos featuring a twerking Miley Cyrus wagging her tongue like an overheated shih tzu. Or perhaps a couple of refrains of Snoop Dogg dropping it like it's hot. Oh what fun that would surely be.

Twirl on, my pretties. Never stop twirling.

[–] nycruise-1 10 years ago

Haha! Couldn't have said it better myself.

Those precious little tykes - especially the girls with their permed ponytails with ribbons.

Wonder what Lawrence would have thought of HONEY BOO BOO!

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] clocksnmirrors-932-761321 10 years ago

An evening of Honey Boo Boo would bring on no fewer than a dozen fainting spells, 6 fits of apoplexy and two cases of the vapors.

[–] hifijohn 9 years ago

my parents in the 70's loved this show and never missed it,I occasionally watch it when it comes on now,its about as corny as you can get, and unlike most shows which are contemporary and get dated ,this show was dated the moment it hit the airwaves!!!

[–] MyMovieTVRomance 9 years ago

unlike most shows which are contemporary and get dated ,this show was dated the moment it hit the airwaves!!!

What a hilarious way to describe it! And I'm sure so many would agree with you.

The only thing I really don't like about this show is the fact that it speaks to the nostalgia within us. I like the class that it represents – the classiness of it, and the fact that it is sweet. But, I like that kind of sweetness when it was new – when it was the way of the world, when that was the kind of thing all over the television, in the early days of the late 40s through the 50s. But once it became a thing of the past, it became bittersweet and a bit like a charade (knowing that none of the new cast were really of that time or that style---seeing them sing those old tunes in 60s and 70s clothing and hair is such incongruity). Hence, there is this tinge of sadness and regret that permeates me when watching it now (the post-1950s episodes), knowing that to today's world, it is absolutely silly.

But then again, today's world is absolutely grotesque to me. So, maybe in another 50 or so years, people will look back on this world of today and cringe.

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

[–] DrakeStraw 9 years ago

My local PBS affiliate only shows the 1970's syndicated programs ...

My station shows everything from 1955-1982. You can't tell at a glance what the date of the show is because Oklahoma puts the much less important date of their own production in the guide.

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[–] MyMovieTVRomance 9 years ago

My station only seems to show those from the 1970s as-well. In fact, I had no idea this show started in the 1950s at first, because I've never seen the old episodes.

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

[–] DrakeStraw 9 years ago

... this show started in the 1950s at first, because I've never seen the old episodes.

You're not missing much. A lot of the old B&W '50s shows are kinescopes and the sound is pretty bad.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] rs114-1 9 years ago

You sound like the kind of person who goes through life with nothing better to do than make fun of anything that doesn't fit your preciously hip standards.

[–] clocksnmirrors-932-761321 9 years ago

You sound like the kind of person who gets a feeling of superiority from putting people you consider "hip" in their places.

[–] activista 8 years ago

Just caught an episode of the show (caught a few before) and yeah, the show is old-fashioned as hell, but you can't deny that it had a top tier of talent and was truly a show the whole family could watch. Now Snoop Dogg performing with country singers as backup on the chorus----that would have made the show a little more interesting,lol.

[–] Gubbio 8 years ago

you can't deny that it had a top tier of talent.....

I maintain that the musicians were "top tier."

However, most of the singers were like "amateur hour" and would never have seen the light of day if Lawrence didn't give them a chance.

The show started out with the focus on the band. Little by little, Lawrence added all the cutesy boy and girl singers to appeal to a younger demographic.

He shouldn't have bothered.

[–] nycruise-1 8 years ago

The Lennon Sister zapped the pizzazz out of any song they perform.

Their harmonies were better-suited to nursery rhyme songs.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"