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.



Saturday, June 11, 2022

From Kay's Era: "Up Pops the Devil" on film and on the radio too

Playwrights and screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett -- a married couple -- famously based a 1934 film script very loosely on the plot from Dsshiell Hammett's novel The Thin Man and begin a hit movie series about a wild-living, well-to-do, witty couple solving a crime. 

Three years before "The Thin Man" arrived in movie theaters, Goodrich and Hackett's play "Up Pops the Devil" became a film starring Carole Lombard and Skeets Gallagher. (This 1931 movie has a similar title to"Up Jumps the Devil," a lost 1941 comedy with an all-Black cast.)




The YouTube version of this early comedy detective film isn't the best quality, but there is a good-quality radio version done for Lux Radio Theatre in 1937. The radio version stars Fred MacMurray and Madge Evans. Enjoy!






at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)