Local figure
Kay Kyser entered UNC in 1923, was a Carolina cheerleader, acted in Carolina Playmaker productions and in 1926 took over leadership of the campus band. After a national career in radio, he retired to Chapel Hill in 1951, helped get WUNC-TV on the air in January 1955, and died in Chapel Hill on July 23, 1985.
Source: UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: The "Ol' Professor" of the "Kollege of Musical Knowledge"
13 works about Kay Kyser are indexed here.
Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →
People named in the same dated entries as Kay Kyser, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.
Works about or by Kay Kyser. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.
A biography of the bandleader Kay Kyser by Raymond D. Hair and Jürgen Wölfer, published in 2011 by BearManor Media of Albany, Georgia. Kyser was a student at the University of North Carolina, with ties to Chapel Hill and Rocky Mount. Discography on pages 427 to 431, filmography on pages 455 to 465.
Included because: Its title names this person.
Singer and actress Georgia Carroll Kyser, married to Chapel Hill bandleader Kay Kyser, attends a UNC football game at Kenan Stadium in the 1980s. Behind her the Carolina Band plays 'Tar Heels On Hand' in her husband's honor. 35 mm negative by Hugh Morton.
Included because: Their name appears in the record.
Hugh Morton, bandleader and radio personality Kay Kyser and his wife Georgia Kyser, left to right, greet one another at the 1951 Southern Short Course in Press Photography at UNC-Chapel Hill on 14 April 1951. The date comes from a matching picture printed on 18 April 1951. Photographer unknown; 4 x 5 sheet film negative.
Included because: Its title names this person.
Kay Kyser and Billy Arthur, both former UNC head cheerleaders, trade jokes at Chapel Hill's Southern Short Course in Press Photography in the 1950s while Norman Cordon and Beatrice Cobb watch. Banquet group portrait by an unknown photographer on black-and-white sheet film.
Included because: Its title names this person.
Announcement of two scholarships established in the name of the bandleader Kay Kyser, one in music and one in dramatic art, published at Chapel Hill in 1941 through the Kay Kyser Foundation at the University of North Carolina. An application form for the music award is bound in.
Included because: Their name appears in the record.
Children cheer for the bandleader Kay Kyser, a Carolina alumnus, at a pep rally at the university in Chapel Hill. Marion Post Wolcott made the Farm Security Administration photograph in September 1939. One safety film negative.
Included because: Its title names this person.
Bandleader Kay Kyser in two portraits, 1920 to 1941, one of them in his UNC cheerleader uniform. From the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: Its title names this person.
A photographic collection built around the musician Kay Kyser and Georgia Carroll Kyser, about 335 items filling seven linear feet and dating from 1906 to 1985, in the North Carolina Collection at UNC. Topics include radio programs, musicians in North Carolina, and views of Chapel Hill and Rocky Mount. Both Kysers appear in the pictures and were university alumni.
Included because: Their name appears in the record.
Vertical file on the bandleader Kay Kyser, a University of North Carolina alumnus, from the Individuals and Families series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society, box 5. Its contents are sheet music connected with him. Undated.
Included because: Their name appears in the record.
Kay Kyser and Billy Carmichael in an office, an undated candid photograph from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: Its title names this person.
Posed family photograph of the bandleader Kay Kyser and his wife Georgia with their three children, undated. Part of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection, among its portraits of Chapel Hill people.
Included because: Its title names this person.
Charlie 'Choo Choo' Justice kneeling beside the bandleader Kay Kyser, a University of North Carolina alumnus, in a print dated 1940. From the UNC Athletics binder in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: Its title names this person.
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 3 with a known location.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.
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Picture: Kay Kyser, portrait plate, 1944. Public domain. Advertisement in the Billboard 1944 Music Yearbook; via Wikimedia Commons
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