Kurt Kaiser (3 November 1906 – 24 May 1970), better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.
Born in Leipzig, Germany of Peruvian-Jewish descent, he originally pursued an engineering career in Berlin, but in 1927 he joined the German-Jewish showband The Weintraub Syncopators as a musician.
After the Nazi's came to power in 1933, the Syncopators went on a world tour, and were in Sydney when war was declared.
[1] Kaiser was interned during the early days of the war, but was eventually released, changing his name in honour of his new home, Sydney.
He produced the famous production of Molière's The Imaginary Invalid that was seen by Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh which led to them inviting Peter Finch to England.