Daily News from New York, New York • 199

personalities in THE NEWS forwg 0 tt VOCal Chords mos' ehgible bachelorettes of show business, singer Betty Madigan, doesn think there any future in being a good for her, says Betty Madigan ster. Even though no engagement announcement has pro- claimed the arrival of her Prince Charming, Betty is dreaming about the day when she will combine her career with marriage. S3jr 'ACS USATS'Sr think I can have a large family and still stay in show business," she says. "There are many performers who manage to have a full married life as well as a successful professional life. Some have performed even while pregnant, although I think that's a little drastic, "I've made enough of a name for myself so that I won't have to work every day.

But I really must have occasional singing dates. Show business has therapeutic qualities for me. I've gone on with colds and fevers and felt better right away. It's gratifying to hear an audience give you a round of applause. It's thrilling to know you have a capacity for making people happy.

"It sounds hard to believe, but money is secondary," continues Betty, smiling in a way that makes anything she says, seem impossible to doubt. "I hate to talk about money. Perform-: ing makes me happy of itself. Of course, a salary places a value on your performance. If I weren't paid for an appearance, I would think it wasn't worth anything.

Charity affairs and the like are something else again." Record fans have proven the worth of Betty's efforts by buying her disks as soon as the wax cools. Her two most popular platters were "Joey," the hit of 1954 which made her famous, and "Dance Everyone Dance," adapted from an Israeli folk song, "Havah Nagilah." She made her New York TV debut on The NEWS-owned station, Wpix, and has guest-starred on many major network shows. The plush supper clubs have rolled out for Betty a red carpet that extends from coast to coast. She's currently appearing at the Cotillion Room of the Hotel Pierre. Born in Washington, (D.C., the singer was studying speech and drama at Catholic University when a recording contract lured her from school.

Betty's collegiate brush' with the boards left a lasting impression. Last summer, she starred in a road company of the starkly dramatic play, "Look Back in Anger." "Singing comes second nature to me and acting is work," admits Betty. "A dramatic role requires deep concentration and is a strain both physically and mentally. I suppose an actor would feel the same way about a singing part in a musical." On the road, Betty is accompanied by her life-long chap-erone, her mother, Mrs. Nettie Madigan.

At home in Washington, they're joined by Betty's dad, Joseph, and younger brother, Bob, a law student at George Washington University. "Bobby is the one I should have gone to work on," laughs Mrs. Madigan. "He can play the piano, drums and trumpet. But Betty is very talented, too.

I can be her meanest critic at times but that girl does so many things so well it's really amazing. Her oil paintings are just terrific and her singing is out of this world. There's just one thing she can't do well and I wish she would forget it skiing. It's such a dangerous sport." "I love to ski at a place in the country near our home," she "One day, I met a very outgoing woman who was having a wonderful time at the slope. We were friends even before we knew each other's names.

Later, I met her husband, Robert 'E 1 1 31- ft I -I -y i I 4 i i Kennedy, who is now the Attorney General." Although singing remains her first love, Betty hopes to con- tinue with dramatics. But booking agents still think of her as a songbird and the acting contracts are slow in coming. Betty is if' working hard to prove her versatility. "I've been studying dramatics with a private' instructor," v', she explains. "I wanted to enter the Actors Studio but I have to study at the convenience of my schedule.

Since I can't be sure of how long I will be in New York, I can't enroll for a course of I news coioFOTo any definite length." l-A s. bv robmt cbanston Whatever course Betty's career takes, her mother will, con- and gus scHotNBAECHiER tinue to be her most enthusiastic cheerleader until next winter, that is. Betty Madigai) XTMSLXT WEEK Barbara Bel Geddes V. PAGE 4 SUNDAY NEWS, APRIL 30, 1961 i.