10th CALLERLAB Convention
Milestone Award
After calling a square dance for a crowd of more than 15,000 dancers in California in 1950 and calling across the Canadian Province of Albert as a special guest of the government, Kronenberger must have felt like there was nothing “unusual” left in the world of square dancing. That was before the telephone rand and voice informed him that it was National Broadcasting Company. Could he, the voice asked, call a square dance for a coming television special? Arnie, who had recorded on a number of albums for Warner Bros. Records, answered in the affirmative. After all, what could they dream up that he hadn’t run across sometime in the past? He got his answer soon enough when the network informed him that his dancers would be four helicopters. Figuring he has gone too far to drop out, he somehow managed to come with a call that even the whirlybirds could follow.
Arnie and his late wife, Jan, started square dancing in 1947 and not too long after he decided to become a caller. This was during the “boom” period of square dancing in Los Angeles and while he was getting his experience as caller/teacher, both he and Jan appeared as dance on television shows for NBC, CBS, and several local channels. His first class of beginners was a sell-out crowd of 25 squares at Beverly Hills High School.
Within a few years he was well entrenched in a home club and class program.
Traveling to call at some the large square dance festivals and serve on the staff of a number of prominent vacation institutes, all somehow, fitted into Arnie’s already full non-square-dancing vocation. Calling regularly for a group of Hollywood actors and motion picture people added to his fun and experience
A member of a pioneer group of callers in the Los Angeles area know as the “Caller Pow Wow”, Arnie played an important role in caller training. In the late 1950’s he helped share in the planning of a Dale Carnegie-type callers leadership program. In the mid-1960’s he played a major part in the promotion of two caller’s leadership courses in conjunction with UCLA. In June 1970, he became a member of the Square Dance Hall of Fame and in February 1971, Arnie was selected as a founding member of CALLERLAB. Serving as acting chairman, he was part of the Board Of Governors during its critical years.
When Arnie hung up his microphone and retired from calling a number of years ago, he left behind him many dancers who not only were fans but true friends. One of the nicest tributes a person can pay to a caller was aimed at Arnie on the occasion of his retirement when a dancer said, “He wears well over the years”.