WHOOPING IT UP at a 1944 USO show in Tonopah, Nevada, are Kay Kyser (above) and Ish Kabibble in these photos from Roy De Franco of Toms River, New Jersey (click on images to view larger).
As high schoolers in the 1940s, my friends and I loved the Big Bands and spent hours in the record shop spinning platters before deciding to buy them. When we read in the paper that Kay Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge would be at the Palace Theatre in Cleveland, a group of us decided to go.
The show was on a Saturday night, and a heavy snow was falling as we piled into the car for the 65-mile drive. We sat on the edge of our seats trying to see the highway. It was the fashion then for girls to wear a cardigan sweater backward, with a string of pearls. I was right in fashion…except for the knee-high rubber boots I also wore because of the snow.
Ish Kabibble eyes up a lovely lady.
We made it to the theater, where we were given numbered tickets as we entered. Soon after we found our seats, Kay came on stage in his trademark cap and gown as the “Old Puh-Fessah.” He began calling out ticket numbers to get contestants for his “Kollege of Musical Knowledge.” One by one, the contestants made their way to the brightly lit stage. When my number was called, I couldn’t believe it!
I plodded to the stage and up the stairs in those clunky old boots, scared to the bone. There were so many people in the audience! I wondered why I had put my sweater on backward—I felt like a fool!
Ginny Simms, Ish Kabibble and all the gang from Kay’s “Kollege” were there along with the band. During the first part of the show, we contestants were asked questions. As I stood there in those bright lights with all those faces looking at me, I could hardly remember what my name was, let alone answer any questions.
KOLLEGE KO-ED. Although Jeanne Cavender (above) didn't graduate from Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, she has memories of her exam.
When it was my turn, Kay asked me a simple question: “Name three bandleaders whose first names have only three letters.”
Right off, I named Bob Crosby. Then, after frantically searching my memory, I came up with Cab Calloway. Then I went blank! In the meantime, Kay was dancing all around me on the stage, flapping his arms and raising his eyebrows. The audience went wild with laughter!
No matter what he did to draw my attention, I was still as blank as an empty blackboard. After he’d milked this for a good laugh, Kay kindly asked me if I knew his name. Then it dawned on me—too late, of course. I’d missed my chance.
Kay and his crew smiled kindly as I left the stage and plodded back down the steps. I was lucky I didn’t stumble as I made my way back to my seat halfway up to peanut heaven! All my friends were kind to me, too—no one made fun of my embarrassment. But I could already imagine what my mother would say when I got home!
“Why were you wearing that pretty sweater backward?” she asked. “And why didn’t you remove your boots and put on some shoes as you should have?” I knew she was right. And to top it off, why had I been speechless on stage after all my years of speech lessons and elocution?
Yes, it was mortifying at the time. But now I have only great memories of the night I “flunked out of Kollege.”
By Jeanne Cavender
Canton, Ohio
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Jeanne,
Sounds like a lot of fun to me, embarassing tho it may be. I wish I had lived in that era…I wasn’t born til 58.