Georgia Carroll

Infobox musical artist
Name = Georgia Carroll

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Img_capt = Georgia Carroll performs with Kay Kyser's band in "Thousands Cheer" in 1943.
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Origin = Blooming Grove, Texas
Instrument = Singing
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Occupation = Big-band singer
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Georgia Carroll (born November 18, 1919 in Blooming Grove, Texas) is an American singer, fashion model, and actress, best known for her work with Kay Kyser's big band orchestra in the mid-1940s.

Carroll's first brush with celebrity was when she was the model for "The Spirit of the Centennial" statue at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The statue still stands in front of what is now The Women's Museum. She is a 1937 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas and has been inducted into the school's Hall of Fame, which is chock-full of distinguished graduates.

Carroll's acting career began in 1941 when she appeared in several uncredited small roles in films such as "Maisie Was a Lady" with Lew Ayres and Ann Sothern, "Ziegfeld Girl" with Judy Garland, as well as "You're in the Army Now" and "Navy Blues", in both of which she appeared with the Navy Blues Sextette group.

Possibly her most visible acting role was as Betsy Ross in the James Cagney musical "Yankee Doodle Dandy" in 1942. She also did modelling during this time, appearing in advertisements for Jewelite hairbrushes, among other products.

In 1943, Carroll joined Kay Kyser's band, known as the "Kollege of Musical Knowledge", as a featured vocalist. Capitalizing on her good looks, she was given the nickname "Gorgeous Georgia Carroll", probably as a joking reference to the professional wrestler George Wagner, who used the name "Gorgeous George". As a member of Kyser's band, Carroll appeared in three films: "Around the World", "Carolina Blues", and most notably the Second World War-era "morale booster" "Thousands Cheer" which gave fans a chance to see Kyser and his band in Technicolor. Kyser's band has a featured performance near the end of the film, with Carroll delivering a key solo interlude of the Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown standard, "Should I?"

In 1944, Carroll married Kyser and made no further film appearances, retiring from performing in 1946; Kyser himself retired from performing in 1951. The couple, which had three children, remained married until his death in 1985. Carroll has lived in Chapel Hill since retirement. Carroll's picture can be seen on the 70th anniversary retro-style cans of Spam canned meat released in 2007.Fact|date=January 2008 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is custodian of a large archive of documents and material about Kay Kyser which was donated by Carroll. [ [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/05289.html http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/05289.html] "Lib.unc.edu" Retrieved on 05-15-07 ]

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0140821|name=Georgia Carroll
* [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/k/Kyser,Kay_and_Georgia_Carroll.html Inventory of the Kay Kyser and Georgia Carroll Kyser Papers, 1906-2004] , in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill

Persondata
NAME= Carroll, Georgia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Singer, actress
DATE OF BIRTH= November 18, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH= Blooming Grove, Texas
DATE OF DEATH=
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