Kay Kyser and Georgia Carroll
Kay Kyser and Georgia Carroll

Born

  • November 18, 1919
  • Blooming Grove, TX

Marriages / Children

  • Kay Kyser (1944)
  • Kimberly
  • Amanda
  • one other daughter

Georgia Carroll

Georgia Carroll began her career as a model and actress. Her image often graced the cover of magazines, and she appeared in several films for Warner Brothers, mainly in uncredited roles. Carroll joined Kay Kyser's orchestra as a vocalist in 1943. She and Kyser fell in love soon after.

A popular story often goes that one night in 1944 the two were pulled over for speeding in Nevada. After introducing themselves, Kyser, wanting to avoid a ticket, quickly made up a story that they were in a hurry to get married. Knowing that publicity over the traffic stop would soon catch up to them, they decided it was best to find a Justice of the Peace and marry that night, in order to avoid negative press. But according to Carroll, "We were playing a show in the desert for the service men. Kay was supposed to be headed for Los Angeles but headed for Nevada because that was the only place to get married in a hurry. I knew where he was going but just hoped I was doing the right thing. The story about worrying over the press catching wind of the speeding ticket is not true.''

The two remained together up to Kyser's death in 1985. Carroll retired from show business at the end of 1946 to raise her family. She currently lives in North Carolina.

Special thanks to Trevor Kyser-Carr and Georgia Carroll for setting the story straight.