Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

The ‘Root Beer Lady’ story to debut on the stage in Ely

Musical based on Bob Cary’s book about Dorothy Molter

Keith Vandervort
Posted 8/17/16

ELY – The “Root Beer Lady,” Bob Cary’s biography of the iconic Dorothy Molter, the last resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is being made into a musical.

Barb Cary Hall, …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

The ‘Root Beer Lady’ story to debut on the stage in Ely

Musical based on Bob Cary’s book about Dorothy Molter

Posted

ELY – The “Root Beer Lady,” Bob Cary’s biography of the iconic Dorothy Molter, the last resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is being made into a musical.

Barb Cary Hall, daughter of Bob Cary is nearing the end of a six-year process of writing the original music and script for the musical.

Recent fundraising efforts, including the Donuts at Dorothy’s family event earlier this month, have gone toward producing a staged reading of the “Root Beer Lady,” on Thanksgiving weekend at Vermilion Community College.

“A brand new play requires a staged reading or a rough draft of the actual performance,” Hall said. “Actors can read from the script, singers can read the lyrics and they will be accompanied by live music.” Sets and costumes will also be part of the staged reading.

“This original musical is a unique way to engage new and old audiences about the story of Dorothy Molter,” Hall said. The “Root Beer Lady” tells the story through music and song and answers the questions of how she came to be on the Isle of Pines and why she was selling root beer there.

“Along the way, you meet characters that Dorothy knew and learn about her relationship with them,” she said. “There is humor and drama and toe-tapping songs. The musical is entertaining and uplifting for all the family.”

Hall said she is working toward having the “Root Beer Lady” play once a week during July and August next summer in the newly-renovated State Theater. “There is a lot of work to do until that happens,” she said. “We’re putting the final touches on the script at this time.”

She finished the original music for the production and performed a few songs from the “Root Beer Lady” at the Dorothy Molter Museum recently with the other members of the Prairie Portage Trio, Lynn Evenson and Beth Haakensen.

“My father was a personal friend of Dorothy’s,” Hall said. “His relationship with her tells a side that many never saw. The sure strength and will of this woman to live alone all year around in this challenging environment is inspiring.”

Barb Cary Hall is a member of the Board of Directors of the Dorothy Molter Museum. “It’s all about Dorothy,” she said. “The royalties from my father’s book go to the museum. We will copyright the ‘Root Beer Lady’ musical and turn it over to the museum to allow others to perform the play so the royalties go to the museum. That’s they way my father would have wanted it.”

Donations for the production of the “Root Beer Lady” can be mailed to Dorothy Molter Museum - Musical Fund, P.O. Box 391, Ely, MN 55731.

Who was Dorothy Molter?

Dorothy was born in 1907 in Pennsylvania, one of six children. After high school she chose a career in nursing which eventually led her to a lifetime of living in what would become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, according to biographical material at the museum.

She first came to Knife Lake in 1930 when she was 23 years old. She came to stay in 1934 to care for Bill Berglund who owned the Isle of Pines Resort. She lived there for more than 56 years.

As a result of the Wilderness Act, her property was purchased by the government. Friends circulated petitions to allow her to stay. She was granted permanent tenancy in 1975 and she lived on the Isle of Pines until her death in 1986.

Her homestead was dismantled in 1987 and eventually moved to Ely where two of her cabins were reconstructed. The Dorothy Molter Memorial Foundation was formed to preserve and interpret her legacy.

Legend says Dorothy’s nieces and nephews would visit her in the summer to help with chores and in the production of her famous root beer. All they wanted to do was swim and fish and have fun, according to the Dorothy Molter Museum. She would say to them, “quit your belly-aching.” Her brother made signs with the saying and his own humorous way of spelling the phrase: “Kwitchurbeliakin.”

Dorothy brewed over 10,000 bottles of root beer each year. It was chilled by ice carved out of Knife Lake in the winter. Her root beer was enjoyed by the thousands of paddlers who visited her island home. The beverage is currently brewed in Janesville, Wis.