Going Back to "Kollege"
"There
was a lot of radio air time from the Blackhawk, and what we
didnt know was that the college kids
were
listening and thought we were great," Kyser recalled. "When
they came home for the holidays, the Blackhawk turned out to
be the hardest tickets in town, and we were on our way." The
"Kollege" became a roaring success in Chicago and continued
to be broadcast locally. In 1938 the American Tobacco
Company bought the show for Lucky Strike. Airing weekly on
NBC, the "Kollege" went nationwide. Kyser who had
been dubbed the "Genius of Jazz" by the New York Times
became famous.
"The
Kollege was always clean and wholesome,
something the whole family would share," Chapel Hill
Newspaper Editor Orville Campbell,
a Kyser family friend, wrote in 1983. Each
week, 20 million listeners tuned in to hear Kysers
signature greeting: "Evenin folks, how yall?"
They laughed at Ish Kabibble, the sincere but not-so-smart
"stoodent" of the Kollege. Audience members tried to win $35
and a diploma by answering questions: "Mrs. Filbert, the
opera Aida is located on the River Nile. Mrs. Edgar
Greenbower of Ames, Iowa, wants to know what country the
Nile flows through
Albania?
Thats right,
youre wrong!" By
1939, Kysers records were best-sellers; by 1940, he
began appearing on the big screen. The band starred in seven
full-length Hollywood films and appeared in several movie
shorts, and was often described as the most lucrative in the
history of show business. Time magazine called Kyser the
biggest moneymaker in his field in 1941. He grossed more
than $1 million that year.
| |||||
| |||||
©1998 All Rights Reserved Feedback | Credits |