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.



Wednesday, February 12, 2020

The era of the Wssterns begins for Kay

This film was one of many, many Western films of the 1930s and 1940s, but it was the first which alerted Kay to a cultured trend. 




Kay was a jazz-lover, and she'd really enjoyed the raised cultural awareness that the Second World War brought to music. The general public was aware of jazz and swing, and also was learned to  be comfortable with people of color as musical celebrities. 

The boom in cowboy/Western-themed entertainment had been going on for a while, but Kay had been too busy to really take note. But long lines at the movie theater of people waiting to see Gregory Peck in the 1948 movie "Yellow Sky" made Kay look and listen more carefully. The radio version of "Gunsmoke" would soon evolve into a television program American tastes were changing. 


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