by Charly Mann

The Hopper-Kyser House at 504 East Franklin Street is the oldest house in Chapel Hill. The house has grown from a 1400 square feet structure with no indoor plumbing or kitchen in 1814 to a magnificent home of over 4500 square feet with five bedrooms and bathrooms and a French kitchen. The original cost for the house is thought to be under $300. It recently sold for almost 1.5 million dollars. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This is the front entrance of the house Kay Kyser and his wife Georgia moved into in 1951. This was also home to their three lovely daughters. Kay lived here until his death in 1985. The house has recently been sold to a new owner. 

 
This is Georgia and Kay Kyser's living room. Their stereo equipment is concealed behind the screen in the top picture.

This French styled brick-floored kitchen was added to the house by the Kysers in the 1970s

This dining room is another addition built for the Kysers. They bought the sawbuck table several years before moving to Chapel Hill.  

The house has three stories and includes a basement apartment. Kay Kyser used the top floor as his office.

This is the sun room of the Kay Kyser house. The flooring came from an old house in Hillsborough. Recently fashion magazine covers from the 1930's and 40's featuring a very young Georgia Carroll (Kyser) adorned the walls of this room.

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by Charly Mann

It is impossible to find a single adjective to describe the extraordinary contribution Kay Kyser bestowed on Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina, and the state of North Carolina. He was an exceptional human being who excelled as an entertainer and a humanitarian. He was one of the biggest stars of all time, yet walked away from fame and fortune at his peak in 1951 to live in a dilapidated house in Chapel Hill. The rest of his life he dedicated to making the town and the world a better place. Among his work was the establishment of two of Chapel Hill's most important institutions, UNC Memorial Hospital and UNC Public Television.

Kay Kyser as a student at the University of North Carolina went by the name of Kike for his first three years . He graduated in 1927 as Kay Kyser.

Kay was born in 1905 and came to UNC as student in 1923 with more energy and enthusiasm than any person who has ever lived in Chapel Hill. He became involved in almost every extra-curricular activity the university had to offer including becoming the school's head cheerleader. This was also a time when Hal Kemp, an extremely talented and sophisticated musician, was a UNC student and was heading a small pop orchestra of university students that had a strong regional following. When Kemp and his band left UNC in 1926 to build a national audience he encouraged his friend Kike Kyser (as he was then known) to start and lead his own UNC jazz orchestra. Kyser was originally hesitant since not only could he not read music, but he could not even play an instrument, but Kemp said his enthusiastic nature and organizational ability would make up for this.

The Kay Kyser Orchestra the first year as a full-time band in 1928.In this photo Kay Kyser is leaning over on the far left. He was classified as the "Director" of the orchestra. The musicians are Benny Cash - piano, Muddy Berry - drums, George Strum - banjo and guitar, Bill Rhodes - saxophone, Art Walters - first saxophone, clarinet, and violin, Sol Mason - trumpet, mellophone, and saxophone, Charles Kraft - second trumpet and mellophone, and George Wetherwax - trombone and mellophone.

Kyser formed his band in the fall of 1926 with six other students and they were called Kike Kyser and his Orchestra. Musically none of the members were very good, but Kyser made them into as much a comedic novelty act as a band, and they put on a great show filled with stunts and Kyser's own brand of corny stage antics. At the end of the school year Kyser took his band on a successful tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania. At the start of his senior year (1926– 1927) he changed his name to Kay Kyser (the “K” is from the initial of his middle name Kern), because he had learned “kike” was an ethnic slur for Jews.

Kay Kyser and his Orchestra perform two shows at the Pickwick Theater on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill in May of 1928. The band sometimes made as much as $2000 per performance in those days. That is equivalent to $25,000 today.

Kyser graduated with honors from UNC with a degree in commerce (now called business), but was determined to try to make his band a national success. Their road was long and challenging and took a decade of perservenance before they achieved this goal. During those early years the most endearing aspect of the orchestra was that during each performance the band members would assemble as a Glee Club and sing a series of popular songs.

Kay and the band found the perfect formula for success in 1933 when they became Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge on a radio show in Chicago. Kyser wore a professor's graduation robe and called himself the Old Professor (he was then 27 but looked at least 40). On the program the audience was called "the students" and were asked questions about music. If they answered the question to the satisfaction of the Old Professor (usually incorrectly) they got a small monetary prize and a "diploma".

Kay Kyser as the "Old Professor" on the Kollege of Musical Knowledge NBC radio show asked a "student" a musical question

The program became a national hit in 1938 when it was brought to a national radio audience by NBC, catapulting Kyser to fame and riches almost overnight. In those days when there was no TV, radio programs often drew a larger audience than top television shows do today. The Kollege of Musical Knowledge was a top ten radio show for 10 of the 13 years it was on the radio, often attracting an audience of 20 million listeners. By comparison today America's #1 television show Dancing with the Stars attracts just under 20 million viewers and the population of the United States is now more than 2 and a half times as large as it was in the 1940s.

Kay Kyser's movie Playmates playing at the Carolina Theater in Chapel Hill in 1943

Kyser and many of the members of his band became celebrities and even though they did not sell as many records as Glenn Miller and his Orchestra they were better paid and attracted bigger audiences in the 1940s. Hollywood also came calling and Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge starred in seven motion pictures.

Three of the biggest stars of the 1940s, left to right: Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Kay Kyser

During the 1940's Kyser and his Orchestra achieved another great milestone, they had 11 songs reach number 1 in the country including On a Slow Boat to China, Old Buttermilk Sky, and the Woody Woodpecker Song which also won an Oscar for best song. This compares to artists with much longer careers like Michael Jackson who had 13 #1 songs and Madonna with 12. The Bee Gees and Elton John had only 9 #1 songs, and Stevie Wonder and Janet Jackson had 10.

The Woody Woodpecker song was a huge #1 hit for Kay Kyser and his Orchestra in 1948

During World War II no entertainer, including Bob Hope, performed for more troops and at more military bases than Kay Kyser and his traveling USO show always included a bevy of beautiful Hollywood starlets. One of those in 1944 was Georgia Carroll, a Dallas native, who had found instant success as a top fashion and cover model in New York at the age of 17 which led her to a career in the movies. The two were married in 1944 and remained so for the rest of Kay's life.

Georgia Carroll was a celebrity model by the time she was 20 with covers on magazines like Vogue and Redbook. She began appearing in movies in the early 1940s and surely would have had a great success as an actress had she not married Kay and started a family. While she was single she was often seen with the likes of men like Howard Hughes and Jimmy Stewart. After the Kysers moved to Chapel Hill they would usually spend their summers in Beverly Hills so that Georgia could see her many friends there. Georgia Kyser entered UNC in 1951 as a part-time student and graduated about 15 years later with a degree in art.

Kyser was never comfortable with the trappings of fame and show business, andeven though his public persona was one of a corny individual, he was highly intelligent, a deep thinker, and a very religious person. Soon after he married he made a commitment to himself and his family to get out of show business and dedicate the rest of his life to humanitarian purposes. His first major cause began shortly thereafter when he learned North Carolina had the worst health care system in the nation. For the next six years he used his celebrity status and much of his time to lobby the North Carolina legislature to provide funding to build a first rate teaching hospital to train doctors and nurses. One of his most effective lobbying tactics was to get Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore to team up with him to record a song called It's All Up To You, but usually referred to in the state as "The Good Health Song", which encouraged the people of North Carolina to rise up and call on their legislatures to support this plan. His efforts were successful and North Carolina Memorial Hospital opened at UNC Chapel Hill in September of 1952.

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In 1945 North Carolina ranked 42 out of 48 among states in health care. Kay Kyser wanted to make North Carolina #1 by establishing a first rate medical school as well as more medical facilities around the state. He got two of the top songwriters of the period, Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne to write a song to mobilize North Carolina in this effort. He also got the biggest star of the day, Frank Sinatra, to sing the song along with top female singer Dinah Shore.  

In 1951, while Kay was in New York doing his second year of the Kollege of Musical Knowledge for NBC television, he learned that several states had started public educational television stations. He began to focus his efforts on securing funding to establish UNC public television to be headquartered in Chapel Hill. Not only was he successful in this endeavor, he even got his network, NBC, to donate most of the equipment needed for the station.

Kay Kyser's stage persona was one of a wild silly professor, yet in reality he was a soft-spoken, highly intelligent, and reflective man.

At the end of the second season of his highly rated television show Kay said goodbye to the limelight for good and moved to his favorite place on earth, Chapel Hill. It was 1951 and he moved with his wife and daughters to the oldest house in town located at 504 E. Franklin St. He had inherited the house from one of his relatives, but it was in such poor condition that most people thought it should be torn down. The house was originally owned by a UNC ancient language processor named William Hooper.

This is the Kay Kyser house at 504 East Franklin Street. The next article that will appear in Chapel Hill Memories by me will be a feature on this house.

By the mid 1930s Kay was living life in the fast lane but not enjoying it. A member of the Church of Christian Science helped straighten him out, and Kay became interested in this faith. A decade later Kay began to feel run down and started suffering from arthritis, and a Christian Science practitioner helped cure these ailments. (Christian Science disdains traditional medicine in favor of healing through prayer.) After this he became more active in the religion, and took an intensive course to become a Christian Science practitioner so he could help heal others through the teachings his religion.

For the remaining thirty five years of his life Kay was involved in making life better for the people of Chapel Hill and North Carolina, donating his time, organizational skills, and money to establish the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Safe Driving Program, scholarships at UNC in music and drama, as well as well as being an ardent fundraiser for the Playmaker's Theater. He also was very active in the ministry of the Christian Science church and for a while moved to Boston to head their television and radio division. In 1983 he was named president of the Christian Science Church.

Kay Kyser died in 1985 and is buried in the Chapel Hill cemetery.

Kay Kyser headstone in Old Chapel Hill Cemetery

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 by Charly Mann

This is left to right Tom West, Flora Stuart, James Taylor, and Donnie Sumner in 1965 singing during lunch break on the steps of Chapel Hill High School. Less than two years later James would compose and sing the sentimental anthem of Chapel Hill, Carolina In My Mind. The song is one of homesickness and remembering Chapel Hill as it was in the late 1950s and early 60s.

Today, October 26th, 2010, Apple Records has re-released James Taylor's first album with four bonus tracks including this demo of Carolina in My Mind from 1967. Also included is an incredible version of Sunny Skies which was not released until James's second album Sweet Baby James. There is also a demo version of Sunshine, Sunshine which was the first James Taylor song recorded by another artist. It can be heard on Tom Rush's classic album The Circle Game.

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by Charly Mann

In 1964 the male students of the University of North Carolina were the best dressed in the nation. Their great sense of fashion inspired college students throughout the country. I was 14 that year, but was well aware of the fashion consciousness on the campus. I think in this article the pictures will tell this story far better than my words. For better or worse imagine a Chapel Hill today where the students were so elegantly attired.

UNC fraternity brothers in plaid sports coats surround Duke beauty Jean Price at the Old Well in 1964

1964 UNC students set a formal tone outside a Cameron Avenue fraternity house in herringbone suits.

UNC students at Forest Theater in the winter of 1964 sporting a wide array of turtle-neck and “hoot” sweaters. Bottom row left is Mac Skelly in a Scandinavian designed sweater and on his right is Robert Spearman, the 1965 UNC student body President and future Rhodes Scholar (His father was the great journalism professor at UNC Walter Spearman).

UNC students at Kenan Stadium wear what was called stadium or “tow” coats.

UNC Junior Gene Raymond in dinner jacket with matching bow tie and pleated-front white shirt enjoys a formal party at UNC in the early spring of 1964

UNC students late in the evenings set a red tone in their wardrobe made up of pajamas, sleeveless sweaters, wool pullovers, and flannel shirts.

UNC fraternity brothers relaxing in button-down waist-length hoot-shirt jackets.

Bright colored blazers and conservative slacks was standard student attire around Chapel Hill in 1964.

On cold and wet days 1964 UNC students wear hats with raincoat or more formal topcoats.

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by Charly Mann

When I walk down memory lane in Chapel Hill I can always hear music. The diversity of live music venues in Chapel Hill has been wonderful for music lovers of all kinds since the early 1970s. Today I will step into my time capsule to enjoy the music scene on a random weekend in 1989. On Friday I start my evening seeing Carter Minor and Amy Church performing their fabulous Motown tribute at Spanky's Upstairs at 101 East Franklin Street. After the show I head down to the Cat's Cradle in the old Belk's department store building on West Franklin to enjoy the excitement of Dread Zeppelin merging Bob Marley, Elvis, and Led Zeppelin into their unique blend of rock. To cap off the evening I visit The Cave at 452 West Franklin to hear the Swamp Cats.

The alley entrance to The Cave on West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill  

 
The great singer Carter Minor from his senior year at Chapel Hill High School in 1969

On Saturday night I have dinner at the Pyewacket and sit outside in the Courtyard where the Ballshop Boys are playing. After my meal I cross the street and slip through an alley to get to the Skylight Exchange at 405 ½ West Rosemary to see the hilarity and genius of the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz. After the show ends at 11PM I head up to the Columbia Street Bakery and Coffeehouse at 107 North Columbia Street to get some java and hear great jazz performed by the Seventh Stream Ensemble.

Inside the Skylight Exchange on West Rosemary Street

On Sunday I start my quest at La Tezzaza at 508 West Franklin Street where I enjoy a couple of hours of big band blues performed by the Keystone Rhythm Band before heading over to the bar at the Sienna Hotel where Robert Griffin serenades me on piano.

 
A recent photo of Charly Mann at the Hotel Sienna

Live music at clubs in Chapel Hill has long provided excellent entertainment where you can enjoy the company of friends or mingle with strangers. Most of these venues offer drink specials, which means you do not have to break the bank to have a fun night out. With all of the musical choices available in Chapel it is impossible not find something great to hear.

This is Richard Fox, who was co-owner of the Cat's Cradle in the 1980s, with a friend at my house

Richard Fox was a loveable guy with big dreams and ideas. Everyone who knew the guy has wonderful stories about him. Many of us lent him money which he rarely repaid, yet it was not easy to dislike this character. 

Although I have never heard of the town of Chapel Hill calculating the impact of the local music business on the city's economy, I know it has been significant.

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by Charly Mann 

Chapel Hill Memories is establishing the Chapel Hill Hall of Fame to memorialize citizens who have made a significant impact to our community. The first inductee is Billy Arthur who did more than any other person in our town's history to make us laugh, help us play, and appreciate our heritage.

Billy Arthur, first inductee into the Chapel Hill Hall of Fame

Billy Arthur was one of many polymaths who have lived in Chapel Hill, but none excelled in as much as Billy, and no one in town came close to his curiosity, storytelling ability, entrepreneurship, enthusiasm, and pure talent. Over his lifetime he had a huge impact on Chapel Hill and the state. He was a born ham with a great singing voice who was a touring Vaudeville performer before giving up the stage to enter UNC. The highlight of his act was his performance of the song Carolina Moon. As a UNC freshman in 1929 his enthusiasm sparked the freshman class to yell louder than the seniors at football games. By 1932 he was Carolina's head cheerleader and many say the most fervent the Tarheels have ever had. (His daughter Annis shared many of her dad's best characteristics and went on to become UNC head cheerleader in 1973). After graduating from UNC with a degree in journalism he started writing a newspaper column that was made up of primarily humorous stories about the people of North Carolina. He continued writing that column for the next 66 years. In 1940 he became owner, publisher, photographer, and primary writer for a newspaper in Jacksonville North Carolina.Throughout his life he always had two or more careers simultaneously, and while he ran the newspaper he was twice elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Billy Arthur, UNC head cheerleader 1932-33. In the 1950s and 60s another former UNC head cheerleader, Vic Huggins, owned Huggin's Hardware on East Franklin, and downtown insurance agent George Coxhead was also a cheerleader at Carolina.

Annis Arthur, Billy's daughter, on left was co-head cheerleader at UNC in 1971 

In 1953 Billy moved with his wife Edith and family to Chapel Hill where he became the marketing director for the recently opened Morehead Planetarium. He loved Chapel Hill and its people, and was a common sight around town. In the 1950s and 60s I remember him using a white golf cart as his means for transportation. He also had one bad habit which was chain smoking Pall Mall cigarettes, which I think he must have been immune to. He was also quick witted and wise. During the height of the UNC Speaker Ban in which the North Carolina  Legislature enacted a law that prevented students from hearing ideas they thought dangerous or immoral he said "I wonder what the Legislature will do when they find out Tarzan didn’t marry Jane, and Snow White lived with Seven Dwarfs?"

This is Billy Arthur's home at 753 Old Mill Road in Chapel Hill. I remember in the mid 1950s when I used to visit Annis that in her room was a large jar filled with what must have been $50 in coins - more money than I had ever had. Unlike me, she learned frugality while I spent my money in those days as fast I got it.  

Billy was first and foremost a storyteller. As a young boy I was a friend of his daughter Annis and often visited the Arthurs' home. I remember Billy several times recounting something that to most of us would pass as an ordinary occurrence in a dramatic narrative that always had a punch line. Billy had a regular column in the Chapel Hill Weekly simply titled Billy Arthur which usually included six to ten short humorous pieces about things he had seen or overheard the previous week.

Billy Arthur on right working as a stagehand at the Playmaker's Theater

I think Billy Arthur’s greatest contribution to Chapel Hill was the Billy Arthur Hobby Store which opened in the new Eastgate shopping center in 1962. (It moved to University Mall in 1972). It was the first real toy, arts, or craft store in Chapel Hill, and by far the best in all those categories in the state for decades. I spent many hours there buying model planes, railroad cars for my train sets, and most of all miniature toy soldiers. Both Mr. and Mrs. Arthur worked at the store, and their sales staff was the most friendly and knowledgeable in Chapel Hill. Mr. Powell, who was my family's mailman, moonlighted there. I always felt their employees were simply part of Arthur's extended family.

Billy Arthur Hobby Shop ad soon after the store first opened in 1962. Billy sold the store in 1980, but it continued under his name long after that.

Billy Arthur was the most lighthearted person I have ever known and was loved by everyone in Chapel Hill. He almost always had an amusing joke or story to tell. A good example of Billy's nature is an obituary he once wrote for himself; "Billy Arthur, Sr. died suddenly. Mrs. Arthur is being held for questioning." A statement he made in 1964 was humorously prophetic: "Some people want to die rich. Not me. I want to die old." Billy Arthur died in Chapel Hill in 2006 at the age of 95.

A young Billy Arthur with the ever present dog running free on Franklin Street in 1933

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