Her voice soared all over Western Pa. for many years
In the 1930s and ‘40s, you could hear Ida Iola Molinaro’s voice all over Western Pennsylvania.
After she won a talent contest at the Liberty Theater at age 17, she began singing on KDKA and became a regular on WJAS and KQV. Soon she was singing at Kennywood, The Palisades and in clubs with Benny Burton’s and Lenny Martin’s orchestras.
Mrs. Molinaro rarely sings these days, having turned 100 years old last week. But she still loves the spotlight.
She debuted on Feb. 27, 1918, the youngest of six children born to Italian immigrants Francesca and Loretto Iola of East Liberty. She sang at home and in productions at Larimer Elementary and Westinghouse High School but did not graduate. After getting her start at KDKA in 1936, her name began to show up often in Pittsburgh newspapers.
“Cute little Ida Iola is a big favorite with Bill Green’s patrons,” wrote Post-Gazette columnist Dick Fortune in November 1939, noting that Mr. Burton’s band was returning for the third time to Bill Green’s Casino on Route 51.
In 1940, while performing with Lenny Martin’s band at the Anchorage Night Club on Allegheny River Boulevard, the girl singer met James Molinaro, who called her “Princess” and played clarinet, saxophone and violin. During the day, he was a masseur at the Duquesne Club, a job he held for 30 years.
Her professional singing career came to an end in the mid-’40s after surgery to remove nodules on her vocal cords. In 1948, she and Mr. Molinaro married and had a daughter, Deborah Madden of Jefferson Hills.
Mrs. Molinaro sold women’s clothing at the DeLuca Shop for 20 years and at William Penn Hat and Gown for 10 years, retiring in 1990. Her husband died in 1991 after 43 years of marriage.
In 1995, she was interviewed by Maurice Levy for his Oral History of Music in Pittsburgh Collection, which can be heard at the Carnegie Library.
Mrs. Molinaro now lives in Seneca Manor in Penn Hills, where she celebrated last month with about 25 friends and family, including two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
If you or a friend or a relative recently turned 100 or will soon do so, the Post-Gazette would like to hear from you. To be included in Century Club, send the honoree’s biographical information and your phone number to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Century Club, Attn: Kevin Kirkland, 358 North Shore Drive, Suite 300, Pittsburgh 15212. Fax: 412-491-8452. Email: kkirkland@post-gazette.com.