The Air Force and the Army were not the only service branches during World War II

  Here's bandlader Sam Donohue, who'd make a big splash in the mid-50s, with a Navy band in 1945. 

Music of Kay's era: The Walter Winchell Rumba

 A few years after the Andrews Sisters had a hit with this tune, Xavier Cugat and his orchestra also did a version for a movie musical. 

Gene Autry on the radio -- perhaps the start of Kay's dislike of Western music and movies?

 

Trumpeter Wilmot "Holly" Holinger in Gene Autry movie song about buying bonds

 The band backing Gene Autry in his bond-drive song includes (at far right) trumpeter Wilmot "Holly" Hollinger, who plays the distinctive muted trumpet intro to Al Dexter's bit hit "Pistol Packin' Mama."

Kay's career in the 1940s revolved around concerts and events centered on the sale of bonds. 

Female Texas pilot in World War II

 https://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p214coll2/id/4741/

The female crew of the Flying Forstress "Pistol Packin' Mama"

 Great photo, huh?

WWII Air Force musicians and the attic 78s

NPR story about grandson finding records

Novelty hit "Pico and Seoulveda (The Street Song)"

 Famous as Dr. Demento's theme song and a number in 1980s wacky musical "Forbidden Zone," in Kay's era, this was simply a novelty number by Felix Figueroa and His Orchestra, something along the lines of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."

Outside Kay's Sphere: The Riobamba, the night club where Sheila Barrett did comedy & Frankie sang

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riobamba_(nightclub)

Comedy Teams of Kay's Era #2: Lonzo & Oscar

                            "I'm My Own Grandpa" by Lonzo & Oscar, 1947

Comedy Teams of Kay's Era #1: Lum & Abner

 

 Lum & Abner in 1943's "This Is Washington"

The former child singer knew the words. . .

 Kay, when very young, sang on the radio with her sister and cousins, and one of the 15-minute programs the girls appeared on took requests. "Hindustan" came up more than once, and Kay still remembered the words many decades later. By the 1940s, the song was almost always an instrumental to for dance bands to play, but when "Hinstustan" was popular in the FIRST World War, when it was played more slowly, had more exotic elements, and audiences participated in singalongs. 

 

"Sorry, the jukebox is out of order. . ." #1

 Certain novelty hits in Kay's era were played so often that bartenders would pretend that the jukebox wasn't working so they could get a break. The early 1950s had a number of rinky-dinky piano "special numbers" including Del Wood's hit from 1951. Lord knows how many performances of it Del gave in concert and on television and radio.

Hit Songs Kay Really Disliked #46 -- "Rosemary Clooney's Not Italian!"

 Both Kay and her life partner Wilmetta "Teeny" Stockton thought Rosemary Clooney's "Botch-A Me" sounded like a nursery rhyme and whenever it came on the radio or it got played on a jukebox, they'd take turns singing words from nursery rhymes like "Pop Goes the Weasel" or "London Bridge" to the "Botch-A Me" melody, cracking each other up. 

Hit Song Kay Really Dsiliked #342 -- Doris Day & Johnnie Ray duet

From the era when country music was still "country and western." There a cowboy/Western boom in music and entertainment in the early 50s and Kay felt that this stuff was replacing jazz, blues, and the kind of authentic country music The Carter Family sang. 

 

The 1953 record "Let's Walk That-A-Way" sounded a bit like something from "Oklahoma," which had opened on Broadway ten years earlier.