The Lawrence Welk Show: Mr. Ghost Comes To Town

[JoePeterzak]

Did anyone notice those crazy shoes he is wearing? Weird.

[HaywardMusic]

This made me smile... thankyou very much for sharing this happy music. Brilliant!

[MajorWatt]

Theme music for the "Ghost And Mr. Chicken" Bit too Major happy for scary music though...

[paulj0557]

I wonder why this Thomas Celebrity has a frequency clipped sound like a wah wah pedal, especially at the end of the song. I'm aware that Bob Ralston recorded the organ instrumentals before the filming of the show and just mimed the tune. It is highly probable that the audio engineer ( and or maybe Bob too) fiddled with the playback equalization. I'm certain that Lawrence Welk had the finest engineers and equipment that could be had. Thomas introduced the Wah Wah pedal at about this time. Hmm.

[paulj0557]

I'm getting a Palace III Thomas 901 ( three manuals of 61 keys each) in a few days. I still play my Thomas Californian 263. I also have a Wurlitzer 625t. I hate to dog Wurlitzer on the 625t, but I have to TRY to play it to make it sound good. The Thomas is pure tonal heaven on every note because it's all transistor. When organ manufactures started using LSI circuitry they ruined it at the very beginning of the musical chain. It's insanity that the engineers thought they could filter it 'good'.

[Zylstra555]

Please add "Thomas" and "electric" to your tags, there are not many Thomas Electric Organ recordings on Youtube.

[paulj0557]

@Zylstra555 I agree completely. I have three Thomas organs. Started playing after a 20 year guitar 'phase'. That was 13 years ago. 1st was an early transistor Lowrey.Good enough to inspire me to want a better organ. So I did the typical research and ended up w/ a Hammond A102 w/ a 122 Leslie. That A' just never had to power to push that Leslie like I wanted- I even adj. out the pre-amp. Sold it in a move. I have Thomas 263 Californian & Love it! Got a Cal 287 Wednesday, it's got problems. Ugh

[JoePeterzak]

@Zylstra555 I think that's because those old Thomas organs sounded so bad.

[Zylstra555]

@JoePeterzak Yeah, but certainly not the worst!

Listen to the first Baldwin transistor organs -- those are awful!

The Thomas in later Lawrence Welk was much better though, especially the chrysolgotch (ruined spelling) on it. 

[paulj0557]

@JoePeterzak Those old Thomas organs sounded better than the LSI ones in the mid 70's believe me. I have a 1966 Palace III and a 73' Californian 263 that sounds incredible! I also have a Gulbransen Rialto II, a Hammond Elegante, a Wurlitzer 4500,a Wurlitzer 625t, a Hammond S6, and a Yamaha BK4. The Thomas organs don't lack in the least. They sound great if you know how to play them. Sometimes Bob played goofy registrations for effect. On this particular video he tweaked in the mids on the mix.

[noXplota]

is it just organ or are there other instruments playing?

[bricebu]

@noXplota There are definitely other instruments playing - drums and guitar can be heard here and there.

[Lunariouse]

Did Bob Ralston play on a Hammond organ like Jerry Burke? Or did he only stick to Thomas organs?

[patsaxon]

Greatest organist! Awesome Thomas organ! Nothing beats a Thomas organ!

[hebneh]

"The Lawrence Welk Show" was so bizarre that it is sort of beyond parody. The musicians were actually extremely skilled, yet the entire enterprise was made peculiar and somewhat mind-boggling by the personality and delivery of Lawrence Welk himself.

[sootysdiscoparty]

hahahahaaa amazing

[tarako79]

mica paris' $28,000 ladder

[bluewingtip]

I am scared now! I am going to have to sleep with the lights on tonight.

[romeman01]

As I am writing there is only one rating, which is one star, which I didn't give it, but ... LOL.