Women callers, p. 2
Beulah Samec lived on Staten Island in New York and was a founding member of the New Jersey Caller and Teacher Association. She was one of the few women callers to travel out of their home area and this clip is from a live recording made at a dance she called at the Newton Pavilion in Newton, NH in 1960. In the patter tip she is teaching the call Star Thru which had just been created that year by Ed Michl. Introducing recently created calls was a common programming technique at that time. This was the third tip in the evening and Beulah asks the dancers whether they are familiar with the call.
Beulah Samec's singing call is Linda Sue.
In New England Marie Hawes was a very popular caller in the 1960’s. She had a strong, low voice and was one of the two women booked for dances regularly throughout the area. This clip is from a tape of a dance in 1960. Although we do not have full identification of the dance location, the tape was in a collection donated to the Square Dance Foundation of N.E. by Tom Potts. He was a caller and the “house” round dance cuer at the Newton Pavilion. The dance was probably held there. We have both a patter selection...
...and a singing call.
Another women caller who is currently (2013) on the CALLERLAB Board of Governors and is a CALLERLAB Accredited Caller Coach is Deborah Carroll-Jones. She started calling in California in the 1970's. In 2001 she married Jon Jones who was the third Chairman of CALLERLAB. We have a video of her calling that includes a brief interview before the calling.
One of the currently most active women callers is Dee Dee Dougherty-Lottie. She followed a path taken by her brother, Randy, to become a full-time caller traveling widely. During the winter months she calls a full program of square dances at mobile home parks in the Phoenix, AZ area. She has been calling for more than 20 years and is skilled at yodeling. This audio clip from a dance she called, probably at least a decade ago, demonstrates that skill. Her website tells more about her current calling schedule.
Another woman currently on the CALLERLAB Board of Governors and an Accredited Caller Coach is Betsy Gotta. Betsy is the daughter of an early New Jersey caller, Art Seele, and has been calling herself since 1962. She is one of a very small group of callers that have experience in both traditional and modern square dancing and who call regularly for nearly all of the CALLERLAB program levels from Basic through Challenge. We have samples of her calling from a decade ago. Here is a patter call.
Betsy Gotta and her husband Roy have made a set of teaching videos to let people learn to square dance in their own homes. More information is available on their website. Here is an audio clip of Betsy doing a singing call, The More I See You.
