Which big-time
bandleader and North Carolina native broke all
sorts of attendance records, appeared in nearly a
dozen movies, and became the top moneymaker in his
field all without learning to play a musical
instrument? If you dont say Kay Kyser, the
"Old Perfesser" thats right,
youre wrong!
Leader of a
student orchestra at the University of North
Carolina, Kyser took his charisma and his
band nationwide. His swing band hit it big
once Ksyer began the "Kollege of Musical Knowledge"
radio broadcast, which won huge ratings and
sold-out audiences. From that springboard, Kyser
appeared in movies and television, and did his part
for World War II by entertaining U.S. troops at
home and abroad.
A few years after
the war, Kyser left show business at his peak of
popularity, retiring with his cover-girl wife to
Chapel Hill to raise a family and devote the
remainder of his life to public service and
spirituality. Among Kysers causes were
supporting his alma mater, improving health care in
the state, establishing public television and a
highway safety program, and spreading the doctrine
of Christian Science.
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