Georgia Carroll Kyser

Georgia Carroll Kyser, whose appearance on countless fashion magazine covers in the 1930's and 40's led to her being called "the first super-model," died Friday in Chapel Hill. Wife of the late big band leader Kay Kyser, and a leader in the Chapel Hill historic preservation movement, she was 91.
Ms. Kyser came to fame early. Born in a tiny, windswept town outside Dallas, Texas, she was appearing on radio singing competitions before the age of seven. Acting and dancing lessons followed, and by the time she was 12, a classic stage mother aunt was shuttling her to concerts, recitals and operettas. The regimen included attendance at fashion shows at the fabled Dallas department store, Neiman Marcus, which soon enough engaged her as a part-time model. At 16, she was the model for the "The Spirit of the Centennial" statue at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition at the fair grounds in Dallas. (Today her bronze image welcomes visitors to the Dallas Women's Museum.) A year later, auntie took her to New York, and the offices of John Robert Powers, the premier modeling agent of the day. Powers, Ms. Kyser records in an unpublished memoir, took one look at the 17 year old blonde, togged out in her angelic white high school graduation suit, and exclaimed, "You are exactly the person we have been looking for ... You are it! I'm sure." Three days later, she was being shot for the cover of Redbook, which headlined: "The Rise of Georgia."
Covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal and myriad others ensued, along with sittings for photographer greats Edward Steichen and Horst P. Horst. In 1941, Hollywood beckoned as well, with Warner Bros. signing her to a contract. She appeared in total of 14 films; was the dinner date of Howard Hughes ("Not my type," she reported); vacationed at William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon; became close friends with Lucille Ball, Jimmy Stewart, Dinah Shore, Alan Ladd, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Edgar Bergen and Jane Wyman -- then wife of an actor named Ronald Reagan.
A personal turning point was 1943, when she became a featured vocalist for Rocky Mount N.C. native Kay Kyser, headmaster of "The Kollege of Musical Knowledge," and one-time founder of the UNC pep squad.
With a string of 11 Number 1 records, a weekly NBC network radio show, and starring appearances in seven motion pictures devoted to his fictional exploits, Kay at the time was among the most famous entertainers in the land. And he was instantly smitten by the young woman he introduced to his audiences as "gorgeous Georgia Carroll." In 1944, during a break from a record number of U.S.O. appearances entertaining G.I.s, sailors, airmen and Marines, they eloped in Las Vegas. Their honeymoon was spent with the band on C-47's flying the Pacific from base to base.
A year after the Japanese surrender, Georgia left the stage to prepare for motherhood. In 1951, Kay gave up a weekly television show and announced his retirement from show business. Shortly thereafter, the Kysers moved from Beverly Hills to Chapel Hill, where Kay became a Christian Science practitioner, and Georgia, between family duties, involved herself with safeguarding the town's architectural heritage. She also enrolled in classes at UNC, winning a bachelor's degree in studio art in 1970. A few years later, Georgia -- in concert with her friend Ida Friday, wife of then UNC president William C. Friday -- founded the Chapel Hill Preservation Society.
Kay, meanwhile, spearheaded the fund-raising effort to build the UNC hospital, even as he deepened his involvement with Christian Science. In 1982, he became president of the Church worldwide. He died in 1985.
Georgia's widowed years were active. Besides continuing her preservation efforts, she traveled widely and frequently, collected antiques, advised on numerous decorating projects.
The image of the impossibly beautiful young woman from the little town in Texas never went away. It can still be seen late at night on Turner Classic Movie channel, or peering out from stacks of department store picture frames, even on a can of Spam, which celebrated its 70th anniversary by imprinting her face tens of thousands of times. Although she delighted in the memories of the glamour years , she consistently sited her college degree as the accomplishment about which she most most proud. She was an ardent supporter of the Library and the Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill.
Known as "Mamo" by her five grandchildren and close friends, she had three daughters. Her eldest daughter, Kimberly, resides in Chapel Hill; her youngest, Amanda, in Sag Harbor New York. Carroll, her middle child, and another Chapel Hillian, passed away in 1993.
There is to be a memorial service for Georgia in Chapel Hill at a date to be determined.