In 1974, Lawrence Welk toured arenas, doing exceptionally well across the country.
Lionel Dubay, two years into managing the brand-new, 7,200-seat Augusta (Maine) Civic Center, saw an opportunity.
His first call to promoter Lon Varnell, a legend in the industry, didn’t go so well, though the mere fact Varnell took a call from a pretty green venue manager thrilled Dubay.
“Lon, I see Lawrence Welk is on tour. Would you consider playing Augusta?”
“Well, Lionel, Lawrence only plays buildings of 10,000 seats or more.”
“I’m quite sure we’ll sell out. We’re located in the center of the state. The entire state is our market.”
“Not at this time, Lionel.”
Dubay immediately followed up with snail mail and proved persistent, calling again and again.
By the time a year had gone by and they had developed a relationship, Varnell shared with Dubay on one of the calls that Welk had never played the state of Maine, one of a handful of states he had never visited.
Dubay called again and Varnell offered more hope.
“We’ll be in Montreal and no promises but, Lionel, we might make this work.”
Sure enough, Varnell called back and asked for a date, which was available. Dubay said yes, then asked:
“What’s the guarantee?”
“$40,000.”
“$40,000? Now Lon, this is Augusta, Maine. You’re used to playing 10,000 seats for a guarantee of $40,000. We only have 7,200 seats. Can we do a little better than that?”
“We’ll do it for $37,500.”
Ecstatic he got the date and even got the price down, Dubay headed out to share the news with his boss, City Manager Paul Poulin. This was $37,500 of the city’s money.
The city manager’s take on it was immediate.
“Great, why don’t you go to Depositor’s Trust and see if they will buy the show?”
Poulin saw an opportunity to mitigate the risk and give the bank a PR boost. Depositor’s had 52 outlets in the state, with headquarters in Augusta. Just a year before, the Augusta Civic Center had worked with Depositor’s to set up a ticketing system, Reserve-a-Tick, which allowed ticket buyers to pay at the bank, filling out a voucher, which was then fulfilled like a mail order by the civic center box office. This was prior to on-line ticketing or even Ticketron or Ticketmaster. Dubay picked up the vouchers at the main branch.
Dubay went to the bank’s marketing VP, Paul McClay, to get the ball rolling. It worked like a charm. McClay asked the chairman of the board and he said yes, not only would they underwrite Lawrence Welk, they would donate any profit to the Maine Heart Association.
The show goes on sale with no public advertising, just notices in Depositor’s branches. It sells out.
Dubay calls Varnell.
“We sold the show out. Would you be interested in doing a second show?”
“Yes, Lionel, we would.”
“What would you charge for the second show?”
“$37,500.”
“But Lon, you’re going to already be here. Can you do better than that?”
“We can do it for $35,000.”
Lionel can’t contain himself. A second show would be an opportunity for the building to make some money. Feeling like a kid in a candy store, he went back to the city manager.
“We sold the first show out. We got a second one for $35,000. We didn’t do any public advertising the first time. I’m sure we can sell the second one out, too.”
“Well, Lionel, this is my take on it. We went to Depositor’s to buy the first show. I think, ethically, you should go back and tell them you have an opportunity to do a second show and you’d like them to do it. If they say no, I think we don’t do a second show.”
Somewhat deflated but hopeful, Dubay approached the bank again. The next day, he gets the call. The chairman of the board, Wally Haselton, had already made plans for the Lawrence Welk show. The governor and the state senator were coming to a pre-show party and dinner, followed by the big event. Haselton did not want to take anything away from that. The bank was not interested in a second show.
“Do you understand this is an opportunity to raise more money?”
“Yes, but this is the decision.”
Folks at that level seldom ever change their minds, Dubay realized, so he had to move forward with just one show.
Getting close to the date and going over Welk’s rider requirements, Dubay sees it calls for Welk to be picked up in a limo. He calls Varnell again.
“Lon, I see in the rider we need to provide a limo. The city manager owns a brand-new Lincoln Town Car. Can we pick Mr. Welk up in that? I’m sure the city manager would enjoy meeting Mr. Welk and driving him to the hotel.”
“That would be fine.”
Dubay and Poulin met Varnell and Welk that day at the airport. Augusta has a small airport. It ended up Varnell couldn’t fly the whole troop into Augusta in their one plane because the runway wasn’t long enough. They had to charter two planes — a promoter expense.
“Mr. Welk was a perfect gentleman. I can just imagine what he was thinking,” Dubay remembers. Driving to the hotel, Welk and Poulin are in the front seat; Dubay and Varnell in the back.
Casually and purposefully, Varnell leans over the front seat and says to the city manager:
“I must tell you, Lionel here comes across as being much older in his years than what he actually is.”
Dubay has never forgotten that. “Lon was an established, very successful, well-respected promoter. I took that as a very nice compliment.” Dubay was in his mid-20s, first job out of college and ready to impress.
Lessons Learned:
1. Be persistent. He didn’t hear that Welk just plays 10,000-seaters, Dubay had 7,200, so forget about it. He pitched it a different way.
2. Be ethical. If he’d done the second show in-house and didn’t respect the fact Depositor’s bought the first one and deserved the opportunity to say yes or no, it would not have been right. “It took me awhile. But the city manager taught me a business relationship is good for both parties. It is not a one-way street.” — Based on a true story as told to Linda Deckard.
PHOTO: Lawrence Welk hosted television’s popular The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951-1982.