Betty Keiser, longtime director of audience development and patron services, has died at 100

Betty Keiser, 100, formerly of Bala Cynwyd, longtime director of audience development and patron services for the American Music Theater Festival, the Valley Forge Music Fair, the Playhouse in the Park, the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, and others, died Monday, March 9, of age-associated decline at the Azalea assisted living center in Cinnaminson, N.J.

An expert in connecting music and theater producers with large groups of loyal patrons, Mrs. Keiser spent more than 40 years compiling extensive research on audience preferences and a long list of customer contacts. She was adept at aligning productions of all kinds with potential attendees from schools, colleges, churches, synagogues, social clubs, and civic groups, wielding the telephone like a fifth appendage and employing analytical concepts long before computers made selling tickets easier.

She filled seats for Jesus Christ Superstar, Annie, Sugar Babies, Death of a Salesman, Driving Miss Daisy, and other popular shows at venues such as the Academy of Music and the Shubert, Walnut Street, New Locust, Prince, Forum, and Keswick Theaters. She worked with famed producer Moe Septee and extensively for the Valley Forge Music Fair in the 1960s, the Playhouse in the Park in the 1970s, the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts in the 1980s, and the American Music Theater Festival in the 1990s and beyond.

She could arrange theater parties for groups of 15 or more, newspaper advertisements proclaimed, and her audiences saw stars such as Liza Minnelli and Lou Rawls sing, Andy Rooney dance, Leonard Nimoy act, and the DePasquale String Quartet play long into the night. She finally retired in the late-2000s after appearing in hundreds of newspaper ads that stated: “For great group rates and discounts, call Betty Keiser at …”

In a tribute, her family said: “She brought audiences from all demographics to experience live theater that otherwise they may have never had the opportunity to enjoy.” She was especially keen on attracting young people to the entertainment arts and even helped music students find jobs through her network.

In 1998, she told the Daily News that the American Music Theater Festival targeted students for tickets because they “are the audiences of the future, particularly since a lot of our things are a little bit on the edge, a little more vanguard. The newer, younger audiences tend to like new materials, things that are interesting to them.”

Her daughter, Lisa, said: “She had a knack for knowing who would fit with which show. She developed seamless long-term relationships with many audiences.” Her son, Bruce, said: “She connected the right people to the right show.”

Elizabeth Hyde Copelin was born in 1925 in Philadelphia. The youngest of three daughters, she graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls and went on to study technical blueprints at Mastbaum Area Vocational/Technical School.

She worked for a few years at the old Frankford Arsenal in Northeast Philadelphia, met Willard Keiser there, and they married in 1946. They had a daughter, Lisa, and a son, Bruce, and lived in Logan before moving to Bala Cynwyd.

It was in Logan that Mrs. Keiser was introduced to the performing arts by neighbors, her children said, and she discovered “an uncanny ability to cultivate an audience for any cultural performance.” She went on to work at first for the Valley Forge Music Fair, the Young Men and Young Women’s Hebrew Association Arts Council, and other groups.

At home, Mrs. Keiser became a gourmet cook and baker, and her breakfast cake recipes were featured in The Inquirer in 1995. Like her clients and their patrons, she enjoyed taking her husband and children to concerts, the opera, and the theater in Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere.

She studied art at the Barnes Foundation, bicycled around town, grew herbs in her garden, and traveled to Europe and the Middle East. She read newspapers regularly and kept up on current events.

She doted on her family and spent years caring for her husband before he died in 2009. Her children said she was intelligent, adventurous, funny, attractive, stylish, and “the perpetual mother, giving helpful guidance whenever she was asked.”

Her son said: “She was sincere and extremely loyal. She took care of our father every day and was always there for me.”

Her daughter said: “She was creative and so smart and funny. She had the biggest heart and always gave of herself. She was one of a kind.”

In addition to her children, Mrs. Keiser is survived by other relatives. Her sisters died earlier.

A memorial service was held earlier.