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Early photo of Betty, 1938-40
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Early photo of Betty Fraunfelder, the accordian with her name seems to indicate this was 1938-40. The back has the
family address (456 W. Walnut St.) and phone number (CO-3646) in Pasadena. Special
thanks to Heather White for sharing this with us in July, 2015.
Heather, from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., said the
Fraunfelders were friends for many years with her father and mother. Her father,
Doug Ross lived in Glendale, Calif. The Ross's and the Fraunfelders vacationed
together at Mt. Baldy, where Doug had a cabin and
photography studio. |
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| Kate Dougherty played Betty Ganders (Fraunfelder) in the Sept. 30,
2022 premier at the Bingen Theater of “Cemetery Tales,” a documentary-style video of diverse local musicians by the Hood River County (Ore.) History Museum.
She is pictured with
Betty's son, Larry
Ganders. Dougherty is a local trumpet player and actress who volunteered for the role. A video stream link is posted at
https://swissfamilyfraunfelder.com/ It was produced and directed by Joe Garoutte, a Hood River cinematographer and written by E. Michael Friend, a former newspaper editor who produces industrial and feature films. |
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Betty Fraunfelder
Ganders performs:
1960s
Betty played at least
four accordians in her career. Betty's early accordian was a
Salerno, an Italian accordian company that often made models
for students. Later, perhaps still in the mid-1930s, she
played an unidentified accordian that was apparently custom
made for her, with "Betty" spelled in very large letters.
Next, audiences saw her with a rhinestone-covered accordian
built just for her. She played it from the early 1940s until
1964 (it appears in the Schlitz beer photos.) It was built
by Paul Greub (pronounced Gribe), a fellow Swiss immigrant
who did custom orders in his one-man San Francisco
manufacture and repair shop.
Greub was an accordian manufacturer
known for his style and glitz and spared little in making Betty's. For
instance, it had a keyboard lined in jeweled
edelweiss (white alpine flowers.) The name "Betty" was spelled out in rhinestones. Betty's
family still owns the Greub accordian. |
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In
1964, Betty purchased a
new accordian that had
been manufactured under
the Diamond Accordians
brand in Italy. Custom
built by for her and
bearing her name, it was
the only all-button
accordian made by
Diamond. It was hand
assembled over the
period of months and
perhaps years by the
Alberto Morbidoni
Company in
Castelfidardo, Italy
(known as the "City of
the Accordian.")
The company also manufactured
"Dega" accordians for sale in
the United States. Chromatic
accordians, which have buttons
instead of a piano keyboard on
the right hand side, are fairly
rare in the United States. They
area a bit more common in some
European countries, and dominant
in Switzerland.
Sold by Betty in
the 1990s, ownership has changed
hands several more times. But
today it is owned by Michael
Arralde, who also owns the
Diamond Accordian Co. and is
based in Kent, WA. Arralde said
he sought to purchase the
accordian because it was very
unusual and powerful sounding.
It had special buttons to
produce "Swiss," "Polka," and
"German" tones. He calls it the
"Ferrari of Accordians." He
estimates that the accordian
sold for $2,000 to $3,000 in
1964 and is worth twice as much
today.
Volunteer Work
Betty performed with the newer ebony-colored Diamond accordian in front of
many Inland Northwest audiences in the 1960s. Most performances were for charitable groups, nursing homes and schools
which she usually did without charge. That
continued the Fraunfelder tradition of supporting charities, dating back to promoting the Red
Cross during World War II and performing in schools. But her
contributions to charitable causes went beyond music.
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Betty continued as a volunteer for the
Spokane Shrine Hospital and the American Cancer
Society before and after her husband's death in 1990. She made
afghans for the hospital and worked on correspondence regarding memorial contributions. Prior to Betty's death in late 2008, the cancer
society office named its conference room in honor of the volunteer
work of Betty (Fraunfelder) Ganders (pictured right.)
During a family visit to the offices with Betty,
cancer society officials played Swiss Family
Fraunfelder music in her honor. She associated with
a number of Swiss-born Spokane friends who often
went to lunch together and spoke Swiss-German.
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