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.



Thursday, May 13, 2021

Why Broadway mattered to Kay, even if she never spent much time in New York


 Kay was much more likely to spend time in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and occasionally out West than she was to go to the East Coast. Most of her performing career was connected with bond rallies / concerts, and her contacts with people she knew made it possible to do the shows very cheaply so that all the proceeds could go to fight the Second World War and then to recover from the war afterward. 

So when I first began researching the popular culture of Kay's time, I was slow to pay attention to Broadway. Then I realized that musicals and revues were the source of songs which appeared on the network readio programs heard across the nation. 

For example, the review "The Show Is On," which ran for about a year from the fall of 1936 to the fall of 1937 produced the Hoagy Carmichael hit "Little Old Lady," here covered by Ray Noble and his orchestra. 










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