Echoes of an Era : The ‘Don & Ellie Allen Show’ Spins Out Big Band Tunes on a Small Band Budget

Years after Lawrence Welk and his bubble machine faded from television, Don and Ellie Allen have set out to fill the big band void.

Each week from their garage on the Hermosa Beach Strand, the couple produces the “Don & Ellie Allen Show” for public-access cable broadcasts from the South Bay to the San Fernando Valley.

“Someone’s got to come in and replace him (Lawrence Welk), and we’re going to do it. We’re the only show addressing itself to his idiom right now,” Don Allen said. “They have nothing better on cable than our show.”

Launched 18 months ago, the videotaped show is a half-hour romp through big band, swing and hit-parade tunes--played by Ellie and Don and a couple of backup musicians--peppered by canned applause and Don and Ellie’s inimitable wit. After performing an animated version of “Goodie, Goodie,” this week, for instance, Don, 64, said: “This is what keeps me young, feeling good and alive.”

Quipped Ellie, 58: “That, and the mouse in your pocket.”

While Ellie may sneak in a few one-liners during her partner’s boisterous on-air performance, Don is clearly the show’s main attraction.

“I’m supportive,” said Ellie, who plays the keyboards and is still adjusting to performing on camera. “He’s the star. There’s no two ways about that.”

But Don, who hooked up with Ellie in 1989 through a personal ad in a local newspaper, swears that he couldn’t do the show without her. For tax and financial reasons the musical duo have not officially married but they joke that they will if they decide to have children together. (Don is the father of 11 and grandfather to 18. Ellie, whose real last name is Van Natta, is the mother of six and grandmother of nine.)

“She’s got that down-home, school librarian, wonderful, homespun charm. She’s the warmth of the show. I’m show biz,” he said.

An accomplished songwriter, clarinetist and saxophone player who traveled the nation playing with band leaders Jimmy Dorsey and Harry James, Don put aside his musical career in the late 1950s to become a general contractor. After retiring less than two years ago, he created the show, investing about $100,000 in the cable venture.

“I get a high when I’m playing that is better than any dopester in the world. I really get a high. It’s the ultimate living feeling when I’m playing and performing,” said Don.

The Allens’ makeshift studio and on-camera badinage have prompted some locals to liken the show to a geriatric “Wayne’s World.” After a slight musical gaffe at the end of a number last week, Don told the show’s director not to worry about re-shooting since the mistake could be covered up by dubbing in “massive applause” during editing.

Despite the glitches, Don is confident that he has reached most of Los Angeles’ 3 million cable subscribers. Though viewership figures are hard to come by, he says he receives more than a dozen phone calls and letters from fans each week.

“I’ve not met anyone with cable that has not seen our show. Whether they like us or not--that’s another matter,” he said.

Liking the “Don and Ellie Allen Show,” Don acknowledges, depends largely on whether you can remember when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the White House. Don says he caters mainly to senior citizens because he feels they are overlooked in the youth-dominated world of television.

Negotiations are under way with national cable networks to bring the show to public access stations across the country, Don said. But he says he is concerned that the program might become too big.

“Your ego wants to expand all the time, but your energy level at 64 leaves a little to be desired,” said Don, adding that he wants to reserve some energy to establish a Big Band Hall of Fame in Southern California.

Whatever happens, Don and Ellie are determined to keep improving their product. As with most public-access TV programs, that means contending with limited budgets and abundant technical difficulties.

“Well, people have tried to do music shows before and it’s tough,” said Patty King, public access coordinator for MultiVision Cable Television, which televises the show in Hermosa Beach. “Even they will admit the first few were pretty rough, but it’s getting better and better.”

With more than 1,000 tunes in their repertoire, Don has occasionally forgotten a song’s lyrics while on camera. But this may soon be resolved by prompting Don through an earplug wired to the director’s studio, located in a converted recreational vehicle just outside the garage.

Don’s son, Gary Blazer, directs and edits the show. Blazer, who has his own cable TV show called “The Unzipped World of Gary Blazer,” patterned after “Saturday Night Live,” says he is putting a great deal of effort into his father’s program.

“I want to bring more class to the show,” Blazer said. “We just put in the gold curtains.”

Television’s glamour apparently hasn’t spoiled Don and Ellie--their exposure hasn’t sent them into Hollywood-style seclusion. The pair roller-skate regularly on The Strand and they perform at local anniversaries, weddings, senior functions and other occasions.

“This is the music that will never die,” Don said.