It’s hard to imagine what moviegoers today would make of Kay Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge, but during the late thirties and early forties the big band conductor was one of the most popular entertainers in America. Thanks to the medium of radio (which was at the height of its popularity during the WWII era), Kyser built up a huge fan base through his novelty act, a winning combination of music, humor and “kollege brainbuster questions” with a cash prize for the winner. Sporting wire-rim glasses, mortarboard and academic gown, Kyser created an eccentric bookworm persona for himself and surrounded himself with equally outlandish “colleagues,” one of the more famous being Ish Kabibble (the alter ego of musician M.A. Bogue). It was only a matter of time before Kyser took his act to Hollywood and, in 1939, RKO produced his first film, That’s Right, You’re Wrong. Its success led to a more ambitious second feature, You’ll Find Out (1940), which paired the bandleader with the triple threat team of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre.