AWAM proudly announces the impending arrival of Dick Contino’s estate as a major landmark event for our museum. This 1940s idol and national heartthrob prompted unparalleled accordion enthusiasm that inspired thousands of aspirants and greatly promoted the industry in general.
 
Contino won the hearts of American audiences after winning Horace Heidt’s talent contest with his version of “Lady of Spain.” Thereafter featured on major television shows, his public performances drew extraordinary audience numbers and unprecedented income. His name became, and remains, one of the most prominent in American accordion history.
 
His brilliant virtuosity and charismatic stage presence regularly thrilled Las Vegas audiences even into his advanced years. Contino died in 2017 at age 87.
 
Mrs. Judy Contino, in current phone calls, declared her intention to donate a significant portion of her husband’s estate in order to draw ongoing public attention to the legacy of his contributions to American culture. In addition, for our 2020 World Accordion Day festival she committed to presenting a 45-min. talk to include unpublished excerpts of Dick’s life, some with humorous anecdotes that portray the real person who was more than a world celebrity.
 
The announced donations include recordings, photos, music in published and manuscript form, and sundry items of varied import. One of these will be a life-size mannequin accompanied by some performance clothes worn in his Las Vegas shows. This figure will be displayed in our Special Exhibits Area as a new focal attraction of the Concert Hall.
 
It is particularly interesting to note that during our 2019 festival, Bill Palmer, III, incidentally related the story of how Contino urged his father to construct what became the Palmer-Hughes Accordion Method.  He will retell the anecdote as a tie connecting World Accordion Day (May 2) and our Eighth Annual Dr. Willard Palmer Festival (May 3). Additional connections between the two upcoming events will involve musical titles that Contino made household favorites, played by the ACM Band and soloists including Dr. Michael Middleton.  
 
Much has been written about Dick as an American idol: “He was promoted as the ‘Rudolph Valentino’ of the accordion…With muscled arms built up with barbells and Charles Atlas’s dynamic tension exercises, Mr. Contino played the accordion like a rock star. His fingers flew over the keys. Elvis-like, he wiggled, shook and swaggered. He played polkas, jazz, romantic songs, show tunes and folk music. And, of course, Lady of Spain.”