Kay Van Riper was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1908. She
graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in education.
She relocated to Los Angeles in 1929 and began writing for and acting
in local radio programs. After recuperating from a car accident, she
went to work for MGM in the late 1930s as a scriptwriter, with her
first film being one of
Mickey Rooney's "Andy Hardy" series,
A Family Affair (1937). She
also wrote the scripts for several of MGM's most well-known musicals,
such as
Babes in Arms (1939) and
Strike Up the Band (1940). She died in 1948.