Aladdin Pallante

Aladdin Abdullah Achmed Anthony Pallante (September 12, 1912 – June 9, 1970) was an actor and musician better known to fans as Aladdin who appeared on "The Lawrence Welk Show" from 1955 to 1967.

Born and raised in New York, Aladdin first began his professional career as a dancer at age three, but a serious fall, which left him temporarily paralyzed, forced him to turn his talents in an instrumental and vocal direction, which led him to learning to play the violin.

Prior to joining Welk's Champagne Music Makers, he appeared with Ray Noble on the Edgar Bergen Show and has appeared in several Hollywood movies both as an actor and musician. Among his film roles were, "Girl on the Red Velvet Swing", "Easy To Love", "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". He was also a featured violinist for Rudy Vallee, Xavier Cugat and Carmen Cavarello.

As a member of the Welk orchestra, whom he joined in 1953, Aladdin in addition to his role as violinist also appeared in the show's comedy numbers, most of them with Bob Lido. He was also well received by audiences for his dramatic readings, most of them submitted by Helen Steiner Rice of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Aladdin was known to speak several different languages, which included Spanish, French, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew. He recorded the song "Darktown Stutters Ball" for Welk in Italian on the Coral record label with Bob Lido singing in English.

After suffering a heart attack in the fall of 1967, he left the show in concern for his health, but died a few years afterward in 1970.