Pianist was key player in radio's golden age
Elizabeth Gawlas launched her musical career in radio's golden age, and the woman many knew as "Betty Dugan" entertained with her piano until late in her life.
Mrs. Gawlas, 89, of Castle Shannon, died Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005, of heart failure after a long illness.
She got her start in the late 1920s, when, after classes at Schenley High School in Oakland, she took a trolley Downtown each day to play piano "filler music" at various radio stations, said her son, the Rev. William Gawlas.
Mrs. Gawlas hosted a children's talent program, "Juvenile Roundup," on radio station WWSW. In the 1940s, she took her act to KDKA, where her show was introduced by a song she penned:
"Starlets on parade,We're here to do our part,Marching unafraidRight into your heart."
As musical director of "Starlets on Parade," Mrs. Gawlas, under the stage name "Betty Dugan," led her children's choir through a selection of popular songs and hymns every Saturday morning. Legendary local announcer Ed Shaughnessy was host for the program.
William Gawlas sang with the "Starlets on Parade" chorus until he went to college. He remembered a crowded studio, with sometimes as many as 40 children in a chorus, that was not as chaotic as it might sound.
"In those days children tended to be very cooperative and obedient," he said. "It was the parents who gave my mother problems. They were stage mothers, and they wanted their kids to have solos all the time."
Mrs. Gawlas was able to transpose music into different keys on sight, her son said. The talent served her well as an accompanist to local singers with a variety of vocal ranges.
A few of the show's young singers went on to successful careers in entertainment. One was actor James Patterson, who won a Tony award on Broadway in 1968. William Gawlas remembers him for a zany Carmen Miranda impersonation done on roller-skates for Starlets' traveling shows.
Another was Tony Butala, who went on to found "The Lettermen."
After "Starlets on Parade" ended its run in the 1950s, some of the children's choir members reunited under Mrs. Gawlas' direction as the Betty Dugan Singers.
"She was just a very wonderful musician," said Betty Kincaid, of Ingram, who was with the Betty Dugan Singers for nearly 40 years.
"A hard taskmaster, very perfectionist, but oh, we had lots of fun."
Besides performing, Mrs. Gawlas taught music lessons at her home and was her church's organist for 30 years, at Bloomfield Community United Methodist Church, previously known as Friendship Park United Methodist. William Gawlas became a Methodist minister and occasionally came to her church to sing as she accompanied him.
William Gawlas recalled a practice session a few years ago, after she had moved into his home, when Mrs. Gawlas missed a few notes on piano. She abruptly stopped playing and announced she would never play again. She kept her word.
"When she couldn't do it the way she wanted to do it, she wouldn't do it at all. I guess that's the curse of being a professional," he said.
Survivors include her son, the Rev. William Gawlas, of Castle Shannon; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Beinhauers Funeral Home, 2630 W. Liberty Ave., Dormont. A memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
