{"id":568,"date":"2016-08-08T19:05:33","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T23:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/?p=568"},"modified":"2016-08-08T19:05:33","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T23:05:33","slug":"connecting-cher-to-the-lawrence-welk-show-via-one-toke-over-the-line-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/connecting-cher-to-the-lawrence-welk-show-via-one-toke-over-the-line-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting Cher to the Lawrence Welk Show via ‘One Toke Over the Line’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cher<\/a>

Cher nearly got knocked down by members of the Screen Actors Guild during a television broadcast in 1983.<\/p><\/div>\n

This is a story about Cher almost being knocked on her keister in 1983. But to get there, I\u2019ve got to first go through the rock-folk duo of Brewer and Shipley and the squeaky cleanness of the Lawrence Welk Show.<\/p>\n

In Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues, I had interviewed Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley about the making of their 1970 album \u201cTarkio.\u201d The album would include what would become Brewer and Shipley\u2019s biggest hit single, \u201cOne Toke Over the Line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne Toke Over the Line\u201d is a song about drugs. According to Shipley, before a gig in Kansas City, someone had given him a block of hashish and recommended he do two hits. But Shipley decided to do three hits, and by the time he got to the stage, he was wasted. \u201cJesus Michael, I\u2019m one toke over the line,\u201d Shipley said to Brewer.<\/p>\n

Brewer thought that was hysterical, and right on the spot started singing, \u201cOne toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line\u201d before they went on stage that evening. The next day, they turned the line into a song, which they wrote only to give themselves and their friends a laugh.<\/p>\n

When it came time to finish the \u201cTarkio\u201d album, a suit at their record label – Kama Sutra Records – recommended that \u201cOne Toke Over the Line\u201d go on the album. The song was released as a single and became a hit.<\/p>\n

That got the attention of the people in charge of the Lawrence Welk Show. If you grew up in the 1960s like me, your folks likely watched the Lawrence Welk Show. And if your folks were like my folks, they made you watch the show along with them.<\/p>\n

There was a wholesomeness about the Welk show, which featured a cast of highly talented artists and musicians who normally tried to stay current with the times, performing covers of songs that were popular. In 1971, that included \u201cOne Toke Over the Line.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a YouTube video of the performance where singers Dick Dale and Gail Farrell performed \u201cOne Toke Over the Line,\u201d after which Welk says, \u201cThere you heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the song had the word \u201cJesus\u201d in it, Welk thought it was a spiritual song. He apparently didn\u2019t have any idea it was a song about drugs.<\/p>\n

That their song about being high was performed on such a family friendly show cracked up Brewer and Shipley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed, but at the same time I was also on the road and smoking a lot of pot, so I could believe just about anything,\u201d said Shipley.<\/p>\n

After Shipley had told me that story, I began to wonder: It\u2019s apparent that Welk didn\u2019t know what the song was about. But what about the singers? Did they know what the song was about, and if so, what was the chatter about it behind the scenes?<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>


Gail Farrell and her husband Ron Anderson were both artists who starred on the Lawrence Welk Show.
(Photo courtesy of Gail Farrell and Ron Anderson)<\/p><\/div>\n

I eventually tracked down Gail Farrell, got her on the phone and asked just that: What did you know and when did you know it? She would have been 24 years old in 1971 and presumably hip to the social consciousness of the late 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n

Gail is a wonderfully talented singer and performer and we talked for about an hour. I cajoled her every which way I could as a journalist to get her to tell me if she knew she was singing about drugs when she and Dick Dale belted out \u201cOne Toke Over the Line\u201d in front of the Welk faithful.<\/p>\n

But she wouldn\u2019t budge. And I understand why. She\u2019s writing a one-woman show for herself and the answer to the \u201cOne Toke\u201d question is an integral part of her show. She\u2019s saving that reveal for herself, as it should be.<\/p>\n

Gail and I have kept in touch via email over the past few years, and her husband Ron Anderson, also a Welk singer in the early 1980s, are both fans of The Vinyl Dialogues series, which I appreciate quite a lot. It was Gail who hooked me up with Welk singers Guy Hovis and Ralna English, who I interviewed for a chapter in The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II: Dropping the Needle.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s Ron Anderson who is the bridge to Cher. Many artists are great storytellers and Ron is no exception. I\u2019ve asked him questions about performing with the great composer and arranger Henry Mancini, and he has cheerfully shared his stories with me via email.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk me sometime about Robert Redford, or Lucille Ball, or Jesse White, or Cher,\u201d Ron wrote at the end of Mancini story email.<\/p>\n

Cher? Yes, please. I\u2019ll let Ron tell the story in his own words from here. He writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 1983 and I was lucky enough to land a job as a \u2018singer-who-can-move\u2019 on the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) 50th Anniversary TV broadcast to be shot at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
\n\u201cIt was a huge project with original music and lyrics composed for historical sketches presented throughout the program illustrating various milestone accomplishments achieved by the union in labor advances and disputes over the decades. \u00a0The cast was made up of tons of veteran and then-current film and TV stars, great character actors whose faces were instantly recognizable, and rank and file performers who, while not famous, were faithful dues-paying union members who maintained day-jobs in order to pursue their calling as actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest segments of the show was a full-blown production number expressing our pride in the union where nearly the entire cast was on stage, in several rows of about 20 people each, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our SAG membership cards raised high while singing a specialty number titled, \u2018Here\u2019s My Card!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next segment of the show (as I recall, it was a special award presentation to one of the founders of the union) was supposed to be a smooth segue from the \u2018Here\u2019s My Card!\u2019 number right into the celebrity presenter\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge was this: How on earth could we get nearly 80 people off the stage in literally just a few seconds so the program could continue without stopping tape or taking a commercial break?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution was this: We were all told to split our rows dead center and, on cue from the stage-left and stage-right stage managers, charge – yes, \u2018charge\u2019 – off stage while the cameras took shots of the audience giving their fully anticipated standing ovation to the \u2018Here\u2019s My Card!\u2019 number.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day of the broadcast, we rehearsed the song and, especially our exit, several times on stage and the director was thrilled that it was working so well. For that number I was assigned to a position in the center of the very front row and was standing right next to Janet Leigh, who at age 56 was still a knockout!
\nI had several very nice conversations with her and found her to be engaging, charming and very funny.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s the night of the broadcast \u2013 packed house, tuxes and formals in full plumage, sketches, presentations, production going great, our performance energy level off the chart \u2013 and we come to the big finish of \u2018Here\u2019s My Card!\u2019 The audience members are on their feet not just applauding, but cheering, too! The stage managers yell at the top of their voices, \u201cMove!\u2019 and we stampede right and left off the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust off-stage-left, where I and my entire half of the group were headed, stood a lady waiting to make her entrance for the next segment. She sees this mass of humanity charging at her and does her best to get out of the way and protect herself from being trampled, but has no place to run.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I\u2019m one of the very last to exit the stage but I don\u2019t see the lady because there are nearly 40 people in front of me also trying to exit the stage. As I take my last couple of steps, I smash into this woman who is cowering in fear for her life and I grab her shoulders to keep her from falling down. As I steadied her and made sure she was safe I say, \u201cOh, I\u2019m so sorry \u2013 I didn\u2019t see you there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo which this exotically beautiful woman with a husky alto voice smiles and says to me, \u2018That\u2019s okay \u2013 no problem\u2019 and I suddenly realize that I have my hands on the shoulders of \u2026Cher. She hears her cue and starts walking on-stage and as I\u2019m walking farther off stage I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Anderson, do you realize what just happened?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Think about this: If I don\u2019t interview Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley for The Vinyl Dialogues about an album of theirs that includes the song \u201cOne Toke Over the Line\u201d; and if Gail Farrell isn\u2019t one of the performers who sings that song on the Welk show; I never get to hear the story about another Welk artist, Ron Anderson, almost knocking Cher on her ass in 1983.<\/p>\n

Man, I love a good story. And the road it takes to get there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a story about Cher almost being knocked on her keister in 1983. But to get there, I\u2019ve got to first go through the rock-folk duo of Brewer and Shipley and the squeaky cleanness of the Lawrence Welk Show. In Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues, I had interviewed Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[55,100,190,224,271],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tvdbook","tag-cher","tag-gail-farrell","tag-one-toke-over-the-line","tag-ron-anderson","tag-the-lawrence-welk-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}