Kay Kyser and Georgia Carroll Kyser Papers, 1906-2004
Title:
Kay Kyser and Georgia Carroll Kyser Papers, 1906-2004
James Kern Kyser (Kay Kyser) was born in 1905 in Rocky Mount, N.C. He attended the University of North Carolina, 1923-1927, where he was the leader of the cheerleading squad. He is best known as a big band leader and as the on the radio show . In 1944, Kyser married model, actress, and singer Georgia Carroll of Blooming Grove, Tex., who had joined the show the year before. In 1951, he and his family retired to Chapel Hill, N.C. Through the Kyser Foundation, he gave scholarships to students of music and dramatic art at the University of North Carolina. He was also instrumental in improving health care in North Carolina, starting the state's public television station, and establishing a highway safety program. He was active in the Christian Science Church, directing the church's radio and television broadcasting division at the Boston headquarters in the 1970s, lecturing, and serving as national honorary president in 1983. Ol' Professor College of Musical Knowledge The collection contains scripts, correspondence, printed materials, photographs, memorabilia, realia, audiovisual materials, and other items relating to Kay Kyser, Georgia Carroll Kyser, and the and its cast and orchestra members. Scripts are from the and other shows. Correspondence primarily pertains to planning for a 1948 program commemorating the 's tenth season on NBC and to Kay Kyser's death in 1985. Printed materials, including clippings, magazines, biographical materials, sheet music, movie posters, and scrapbooks, document Kay Kyser's college days, his musical career, and his death. Photographs include pictures of Kay Kyser, Georgia Carroll Kyser, band and orchestra members, and friends and relatives. Many of the photographs were taken during radio broadcasts. Some photographs are from shows performed for troops during World War II, and there is also a photograph album with materials taken from orchestra member Ish Kabibble (Merwyn Bogue)'s diary written while entertaining troops with Kyser in the South Pacific in 1945. Among those appearing in photographs are Harry Babbitt, Mike Douglas, Clark Gable, Ish Kabibble, Diane Pendleton, and Jane Russell. Audio materials include audiodiscs with songs performed by Kyser and his orchestra, 1930s-1940s; two compilation albums released in the 1970s; and an audiotape of a 1944 episode of . Subject files contain clippings and other materials about people and topics associated with the Kysers. Also included are diplomas, certificates, memorabilia, realia, and other items. College of Musical Knowledge College of Musical Knowledge College of Musical Knowledge College of Musical Knowledge
ArchivalResource:
23.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 7000 items)
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