About this project

Kay Kemble (1911-1989) is a character invented for this project. Kay sang on radio commercials as a child and went on to lead Big Bands and swing ensembles in the 30's and 40's. She worked at Scott Air Field as a WAAC enlistee and a civilian. She produced war bond rallies, and her all-female band promoted a popular shampoo brand. In the 80's there was renewed interest in Kay's musical career.

Kay informally adopted the orphaned niece and nephew of her partner Wilmetta "Teeny" Stockton, and in the early 70's the family moved from St. Louis to New Orleans. After Kay and Teeny's deaths, family members remained in New Orleans until displaced by Hurricane Katrina. In 2014, I arranged to archive, organize, and restore Kay's memorabilia. Most items were damaged due to age, hurried packing , and lack of funds for formal archiving.

I've "become" Kay in reproduction radio broadcasts, and created artifacts to represent damaged or destroyed items in the collection.



Friday, January 24, 2020

Three sleds?

Recently I saw this photo on an online sharing site and someone wondered if the children had shovels to make a path for their sled. 


I don't think so! The shovels are the kind used for shoveling coal into a scuttle or furnace -- not the flat flat bottoms and rims down the sides. 

 In a letter to her sister, Kay wrote about the two of them as young children, taking turns sliding down a hill on the family's coal shovel. Apparently, kids turned the shovels around backwsards and sat on the shovel blade and then tried to steer with the handle. 

 How well this went is revealed in Kay's letter: "You remember when we went "sledding" and that old sled handle came up and bopped you and your tooth came out? Good thing for you it was a baby tooth but I remember you cried because the white tooth got lost in the snow so the Tooth Fairy couldn't come. Our folks said never mind but we know they didn't want to spare the nickel, ha ha. And then Paw Paw gave you some sticky taffy and it pulled another loose tooth out and you were so happy. I think it was Paw Paw, anyway."
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