As a new publicity photo demonstrates, Miss Castle is now looking slim
and glamorous. That new look catches many people by surprise.
""The first few minutes, I see a lot of jaws drop,'' Miss
Castle said of her concerts. ""They expect to see an older
looking, matronly woman.''
That disbelief lasts until Miss Castle gets to the piano. Once she sits
down and starts pounding the keyboard, listeners are reassured.
""They go,
"That's Miss Castle, who lost 135 pounds a few years back, said she feels like
a new person. And some people think she is.
""I've been taken for JoAnn Castle's daughter,'' she said in
a telephone interview from her home in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Omaha audiences will be able to see the new Jo Ann Castle Saturday when
she appears at the Orpheum with five other acts from the Welk show.
Grand Island native Joe Feeney, vocalists Guy and Ralna, dancer Arthur
Duncan, singer Ava Barber and clarinetist and conductor Henry Cuesta will
join Miss Castle in the ""Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show'' at 7
p.m.
Teen-age Debut
Her show, which allows her to expand a bit on her TV persona, includes
a healthy amount of boogie-woogie, a medley of Welk tunes, some comedy,
polka and even some serious music.
A native of Bakersfield, Calif., she has been performing since age 3.
The young musician specialized in accordion as well as piano and made her
radio and television debuts while still in her mid-teens.
She was 18 when she made her first appearance on Welk's TV show, and
landed a permanent spot two years later.
During her decade on the show, Miss Castle became known for such tunes
as ""Piano Roll Blues,'' ""12th Street Rag,''
""Maple Leaf Rag,'' ""T.D.'s Boogie Woogie'' and
""Alley Cat.''
The piano player, 30 when she left the Welk show in 1970, is now 48.
""I'm only three months older than the oldest Lennon sister,''
she noted with pride.
Miss Castle said she has had her ""ups and downs'' since
leaving the show. Many of her problems, she said, were due to bad
management. She is now managing her own career, and things are back on
track.
""I've got my life together now.''
Back on TV
The show, which will run a minimum of 52 weeks, will be telecast
Saturdays at 7 p.m. on the Iowa Public Television network, including KBIN-Channel
32 in Council Bluffs. It will not be carried by the Nebraska Educational
Television Network.
Miss Castle said Welk, now 84, is as delighted as she is about the
show's return. ""He's just thrilled he's back on the air.''
The success of a PBS special last March, titled ""Lawrence
Welk: Television's Music Man,'' led to the decision to broadcast repeats
of the series.
Welk was so delighted to see that program on the air, Miss Castle said,
that during its broadcast he took his wife by the hand and danced her
around the living room.
The show was repeated Wednesday night on Nebraska ETV and will be aired
again Sunday at 5:10 p.m.
No Regrets
One Welk alumnus to whom she is particularly close is Feeney.
""I work with him a lot,'' she said. ""He's one of my
dearest friends. He only lives a mile from me.''
Unlike some performers who feel burdened by their past, Miss Castle
doesn't regret her time on the Welk show.
Landing a featured spot was ""a good break.'' Without it, she
said, she might not have had a career.
""I don't know if I would have made it without Lawrence and
his image.''
And the large numbers of Welk fans who greet her after shows give her a
feeling she didn't have when she was younger.
""I never appreciated it until now,'' she said.
JoAnn
Castle, the energetic honky-tonk piano player from ""The
Lawrence Welk Show,'' is no longer the performing powerhouse that
audiences remember.
Even
though her appearance has changed somewhat, Miss Castle's act has remained
basically the same. She is still a ball of energy.
Miss
Castle said she is most excited about the return of the Welk TV show.
Reruns will begin Oct. 3 on about 180 Public Broadcasting Service
stations.
Miss
Castle performs in one or two ""Stars of Lawrence Welk'' shows a
month. She expects her workload to increase next year because of the
rebirth in popularity the PBS shows are expected to create.