LAWRENCE WELK SHOW PERFORMER SPENT FORMATIVE YEARS IN SPUR
As Spur exes stream in from near and far for this week’s annual Homecoming, they may notice a distinctive sign uncovered during the downtown demolition that paved the way for construction of the new fire station.
On the main drag of Spur’s Burlington Avenue, if visitors look skyward just east of the firehouse they can spy a sign from yesteryear: “Raul English, Clover Farms.”
If that name sounds familiar, it should.
Raul English, who operated a business in Spur in the forties and early fifties after moving from Haskell, Texas, was the father of Ralna English, one of the stars of “The Lawrence Welk Show,” the enormously popular musical variety program that aired on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1971 and continued with episodes through 1982.
The Texas Spur caught up via phone with Ralna, who now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona—and texted her a photo of the sign which commemorates her father’s business in downtown Spur.
Delighting in the longobscured photo, she took time to reminisce about her days in Spur and shared with the newspaper a trove of memories from a life in show business.
“I have been back to Spur,” she said. “The last time was a couple of years ago, when I sang at a funeral, and I remember coming for Homecoming and being in the parade sometime in the seventies.”
Perhaps one of Spur’s most celebrated former residents, Ralna lived in our small town in the 1940s and early 1950s. “I loved living in Spur,” she said. “All the kids ran around the neighborhood, and we had full run of the block.”
When she was 11, her family moved to Lubbock, where she graduated from Lubbock High in 1960. Lubbock was a jumping place for teenage music groups in the fifties. Ralna even recalled the time she one-upped one of the city’s most celebrated rising stars: her band Ralna and the Ad Libs, she said, “actually beat Buddy Holly and the Crickets in a battle of the bands” while they were still in high school.
After graduating from high school Ralna attended Texas Tech University, where she was selected for the campus revue from among 600 hopefuls. Other stops in Texas included an audition for Six Flags Over Texas and a chance encounter at a recording studio, where someone heard her voice from an office down the hall and begged her to come to Dallas and do jingles for the legendary Commercial Recording Company.
Making her way to Big D, Ralna sang commercial jingles on cue for four hours in the afternoon, and then sang for four hours at night in a local jazz club. But she knew that she ultimately wanted to be on the West Coast and soon she hit the road for LA.
In Los Angeles, she performed at The Horn, a renowned night spot on Santa Monica Boulevard that featured 11 performers every night (during her time there Ralna recalled such names as Steve Martin, Vicki Carr and Jack Jones).
A glittering array of stars would drop by The Horn, including Liberace, Jim Nabors, Liza Minelli and Carol Burnett. Ralna would branch out to other entertainment venues besides The Horn, such as the time she got a call from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and, later, a tour of military venues in Asia (on which her mother accompanied her for a memorable vacation).
But The Horn was available to her after completing those gigs, and when she returned to L.A., she began inquiring about the hottest variety show going.
“I asked everybody around The Horn, does anybody know anyone from ‘The Lawrence Welk Show,’” she said.
Finally Ralna got her chance to audition for the bandleader himself, who said in his smooth, accented voice, “We don’t have a place for you, my girl, but if we have an opening I’ll call you.” She didn’t think her chances were high.
But a few months later someone did leave the show, and after Ralna’s first appearance, Welk invited her to be a regular. That was in 1969, also the year Ralna had married fellow aspiring performer Guy Hovis, a native of Mississippi whom she’d met at The Horn. They were married on January 25, 1969; Guy and Ralna in due time became a regular act on “The Lawrence Welk Show.”
After 13 years, Ralna’s time with the Lawrence Welk Show ended in 1982, when it went off the air.
“It was meant to be because it’s been my life, and I loved all the people I met, his musical family; I don’t think he realized what a family we would be all these years later,” she said. The show carried on with more than a dozen specials even after it went off the air.
After the show, Ralna worked in the entertainment destination of Branson, Missouri, for a time and really enjoyed appearing with The Lennon Sisters, also of Lawrence Welk Show fame.
She and Hovis had adopted a daughter, Julie, but the duo would ultimately divorce, remaining friendly and appeared in concerts together.
In the early eighties Ralna went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to be the opening act in Caesar’s on the Boardwalk. After that, she appeared as Don Rickels’ opening act in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada.
In March 2007, PBS featured her in a solo TV special, “Ralna English: From My Heart,” which premiered nationally on the public network. In the special, a fundraiser for PBS, she performed with a 75-piece orchestra and a 100-voice choir.
In 2007, she also published a “Ralna English Family Cookbook,” which was offered to viewers who purchased DVDs of her TV special. Recipes are from her two sisters, Sharon and Jane, as well as her aunts, grandmother, mother and other relatives.
According to Ralna, her family’s famous recipe is a cinnamon chocolate cake that is still baked for every birthday.
From her home in Scottsdale, Ralna described her current life. “I am just resting on my laurels these days,” she said. “I’m just having fun in my old age, at 82, although I still sing.” She just came back from a concert at a jazz club in Phoenix, in fact.
Her daughter, Julie, is a high school teacher, having taught for more than 20 years. They spend
the drop of a hat,” she said, the delight apparent in her voice. “It’s just an hour’s flight away.”
