''Polka Go-Round'' was a

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

music and dancing show that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

from 1958 to 1959. ''Polka Go-Round'' with Lou Prohut and the Polka Go Rounders began in the spring of 1958 on WBKB in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It was the successor to ABC's first prime-time polka show, ''It's Polka Time'' with Stan Wolowic and the Polka Chips.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, , p. 667. The singers and dancers on ''Polka Go-Round'' wore colorful costumes and performed in an outdoor café setting.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Sixth Edition)'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 830. ''Polka Go-Round''′s featured vocalist and

yodeler Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from t ...

,Ross Reports – Television Index, June 23–29, 1958.
Retrieved November 17, 2023. Carolyn DeZurik, had also been featured at times on ''It’s Polka Time''. Bob Lewandowski was the master of ceremonies and a vocalist. Also appearing were the Caine (or Chaine) Dancers, Tom "Stubby" Fouts, the Singing Waiters, and Georgia Drake. Band members were DeZurik′s husband Rusty Gill,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

; Jack Cordaro,

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, and

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

; Jimmy James,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

; Len Druss, clarinet, saxophone, and flute; Clay Campbell,

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s; and Jimmie Hutchinson,

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and banjo. ''Polka Go-Round'' was produced at WBKB's 190 North State Street studios and broadcast locally by WBKB Channel 7. It aired nationally on the

television network from June 23, 1958, to September 28, 1959. As an hour-long program, it was broadcast as a summer replacement for '' Lawrence Welk's Top Tunes and New Talent'' on ABC on Mondays, at 9:30 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

from June to mid-August 1958, and at 7:30 p.m. Eastern from October to December 1958. Shortened to a half-hour, it aired at 8:00 p.m. Eastern from December 1958 to May 1959. It then returned to a one-hour format and a 7:30 p.m. Eastern broadcast time from June 1959 to the end of its run in September 1959.

References

1950s American music television series 1958 American television series debuts 1959 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming Black-and-white American television shows Original programming by local channels in Chicago {{US-music-tv-prog-stub