Liberty Lighthouse Journal: DOSSIER

"I made 60 motion pictures and only wore the sarong in about six pictures, but it did become a kind of trademark.”

BORN: December 10^th, 1914

DIED: September 22^nd, 1996

BIRTH NAME: Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton

NICKNAMES: Sarong Girl, Dottie, Bond Bombshell

HEIGHT: 5' 5”

Dorothy Lamour (Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, daughter of Carmen Louise LaPorte (1892-1930) and John Watson Slaton (1895-1963), both were waiters. Lamour was Spanish, French and English. Her parents' marriage lasted only a few years. Her mother remarried to Clarence Lambour, whose surname Dorothy adopted and modified as her stage name. That marriage also ended in divorce when Dorothy was a teenager.
At age 14, Dorothy quit school and after taking a business course, she worked as a secretary to support herself and her mother. She began entering beauty pageants and was crowned Miss New Orleans in 1931.
Miss Lamour was close friends with Dorothy Dell, who was in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Lamour used her beauty pageant prize money to support herself while she worked in a stock theatre company.
She and her mother moved to Chicago and Lamour found a job working at Marshall Field's department store working as an elevator operator at the age of 16. Her boss, Douglas Singleterry, referred to her as “Dolly Face” and recalled that she spent a lot of her time auditioning around Chicago.
Lamour was discovered by orchestra leader Herbie Kay when he spotted her performing at a Chicago talent show held at the Hotel Morrison. She had an audition the next day and Kay hired her as a singer for his orchestra and in 1935 went on tour with him. Her work with Kay eventually led Lamour to vaudeville and work in radio.
In 1935, she had her own 15-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. Lamour also sang on the popular Rudy Vallée radio show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour.
In 1936, Lamour moved to Hollywood and at that time her mother married her third husband, Ollie Castleberry and the family lived in Los Angeles. That year she did a screen test for Paramount Pictures and signed a contract with them. Lamour made her first film for Paramount, College Holiday, where she had a small part as an unaccredited dancer.
Lamour's second film for Paramount was The Jungle Princess in 1936 with Ray Milland, this helped her get recognition. It was a big hit for the studio and was the first film where she wore a sarong, which became her trademark. The song she sang, “Moonlight and Shadows” also became a hit.
Her third film was in 1937 where she followed a support role with Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray in Swing High, Swing Low, and she sang “Panamania”. In the same year she was top billing in The Last Train from Madrid.
In 1937, Lamour played a supporting roll with Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott in High, Wide and Handsome, singing “The Things I Want”.
Sam Goldwyn borrowed her for John Ford production The Hurricane in 1937, where she once again wore a sarong, portraying an island princess alongside Jon Hall. Her swimming and diving scenes were performed by stunt double Lila Finn, who at one point dropped the sarong and was filmed diving into a lagoon nude. The film was a great success and Lamour had another hit song - “The Moon of Manakoora”.
Again in 1937, Lamour had a cameo in Thrill of a Lifetime and in 1938, was billed in The Big Broadcast of 1938 with W.C. Fields and Martha Raye. Bob Hope also appeared early in the film.
In 1938, Paramount reunited Lamour with Milland and her sarong in Her Jungle Love. She was then cast as a Mexican with Bob Burns, Raye and Milland in Tropic Holiday. Lamour supported George Raft and Henry Fonda in Spawn of the North.
1939 – Lamour starred with leading man Lloyd Nolan in St. Louis Blues. Then with Jack Benny in the musical Man About Town. Portraying a Chinese girl in melodrama Disputed Passage.
In 1940, Lamour starred in Road to Singapore, utilizing Dorothy's sarong. It was originally meant to star Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie, then George Burns and Gracie Allen were considered until it was decided that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby would star along with Lamour. Hope and Crosby began ad-libbing during filming. Lamour later stated:

“I was trying to follow the script but just couldn't get my lines out. Finally I realized that I should just get the general idea of a scene rather than learn the words by heart, then go along with the boys.”
Hope said:

“Dottie is one of the bravest gals in pictures. She stands there before the camera and ad-libs with Crosby and me knowing that the way the script is written she'll come second or third best, but she fears nothing.”

The movie was a hit and the team became popular with fans.

20^th Century Fox borrowed Lamour to play leading lady with Tyrone Power in the gangster film Johnny Apollo in 1940. She sang “This is the Beginning of the End” and “Dancing for Nickels and Dimes”.
In 1940, Lamour was back in a sarong in Typhoon. Her male star was Robert Preston who also starred with Lamour in Moon Over Burma (1940).
1941 – Fox borrowed her again for Chad Hanna with Henry Fonda.
1941 – Paramount reunited Lamour, Hope and Crosby in Road to Zanzibar and the film was even more successful than the original of the series. Hope and Lamour then did Caught in the Draft, which also became a big hit of the year.
1941 – Lamour was reunited with Jon Hall in Aloma of the South Seas.
1942 – Lamour did a musical with Eddie Bracken, William Holden, and Betty Hutton in The Fleet's In, and song she song became a hit: “I Remember You”.
1942 --- Another sarong movie: Beyond the Blue Horizon, the film was liked by the public, but not as popular as her third “Road” movie in the same year, Road to Morocco. Lamour was one of many Paramount stars who did guest shots in Star Spangled Rhythm.
1943 – Lamour and Hope were borrowed by Sam Goldwyn for a comedy They Got Me Covered, then she did one in same year with Crosby in Dixie.
During World War II, Lamour became one of the popular pinup girls among American servicemen, along with Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, and Veronica Lake. Lamour also sold war bonds during tours. She reportedly sold $300 million worth of bonds earning the nickname “The Bond Bombshell”. Lamour also volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen where she would dance and talk to soldiers. It wasn't until 1965 that she finally received a citation award for her contributions during World War II from the United States Department of the Treasure for her war bond sales.
1943 – Lamour made Melody Inn with Dick Powell.
1944 – She made And the Angels Sing with Fred MacMurray and Betty Hutton and sand “It Should Happen to You”.
1944 – Lamour made her last sarong film, Rainbow Island.
1945 – Lamour played a Mexican in A Medal for Benny, based on a story by John Steinbeck, co-starring Arturo de Córdova.
1945 – Joined other Paramount stars in a cameo in Duffy's Tavern.
1945 – Her fourth “Road” film, Road to Utopia.
1945 – Masquerade in Mexico with Arturo de Córdova.
1947 – My Favorite Brunette, a popular comedy with Hope.
1947 – Wild Harvest, a melodrama with Alan Ladd and Robert Preston.
1947 – Road to Rio became her third bid hit for the year. She also sang a duet with Ladd in Variety Girl. She then left Paramount.
In 1947, Lamour emceed Front and Center, a variety comedy show with the Army Air Force recruiting as sponsors.
1948 – After leaving Paramount, Lamour made a series of films for producer Benedict Bogeaus. On Our Merry Way, Lulu Belle with George Montgomery, and The Girl from Manhattan also with Montgomery.
1949 – The Lucky Stiff, produced by Jack Benny co-starring Brian Donlevy.
1949 – Slightly French with Don Ameche.
1950 – Manhandled with Dan Duryea.
1950 – Lamour played a successful season at the London Palladium.
1952 – The Greatest Show on Earth, the Cecil B. De Mille epic.
1952 – Road to Bali. This did not lead to better film offers, so Lamour concentrated on being a nightclub entertainer and stage actress. She also worked on television as a guest star on Damon Runyon Theater.
1958 – On Broadway in Oh Captain!
1962 – Lamour returned to movies with a cameo in the final “Road” film, The Road to Hong Kong; she was replaced with Joan Collins as a love interest because Crosby wanted a younger actress. Bob Hope would not do the film without Lamour, she she appeared in an extended cameo.
1963 – Donovan's Reef produced by John Ford provided Lamour with a bigger part with John Wayne and Lee Marvin.
1964 – Lamour made guest appearances in shows like Burke's Law, I Spy, and The Name of the Game and the film Pajama Party.
1970 – Lamour guest starred in The Phynx.
Lamour moved to Baltimore with her family where she appeared on TV and worked on the city's cultural commission. David Merrick offered her the task to headline a road company of Hello Dolly! - which she did for over a year.
In the 1970s, Lamour was popular at dinner theatres and in shows such as Anything Goes.
1976 – Lamour guest starred on Marcus Welby, M.D. - and The Love Boat on television. Films: Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood and Death at Love House.
1977 – Lamour toured in the play Personal Appearance.
1978 – Lamour's husband died.
1980 – Lamour published her autobiography My Side of the Road and revived her nightclub act.
During the remainder of the 80s she performed in plays and television shows like Hart to Hart, Crazy Like a Fox, Remington Steele, and Murder, She Wrote.
1984 – Lamour toured in the production Barefoot in the Park.
In 1986 she said:

“I'm still as busy at 71 as I was when I was just a slip of a girl. I do concerts, television and a lot of dinner theatre, where I sing old songs and talk about Bob and Bing and starting out at Paramount at $200 a week and working myself up to $450,000 a picture … I feel wonderful. Age is only in the mind and I'm grateful that God has taken care of me. And I'm very grateful for that sarong. It did a lot for me! But to be truthful, the sarong was never my favorite wearing apparel.”
1987 – Lamour made her last big-screen appearance in Creepshow 2, appearing with George Kennedy as an aging couple who are killed during a robbery.
1995 – Lamour performs in Swinging on a Star, songs written by Johnny Burke, who wrote most of the “Road” songs.

PERSONAL INFORMATION & TRIVIA

Lamour's first marriage was to orchestra leader Herbie Kay. They married in 1935 and divorced in 1939.
Early in her career, Lamour met J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hoover pursued a romantic relationship with Lamour, and the two spent the night together at a Washington, D.C. Hotel. When Lamour was later asked if she and Hoover had a sexual relationship, she replied: “I cannot deny it.” In her autobiography she only refers to Hoover as a “lifelong friend”.
On April 7^th, 1943, Lamour married Air Force captain and advertising executive William Ross Howard III in Beverly Hills. The couple had two sons, John Ridgely (1946-2018) and Richard Thompson Howard (born 1949).
In 1957, Lamour and Howard moved to Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1962, the couple and their two sons moved to Hampton, another Baltimore suburb with their oldest son, John, who attended Towson High School. Lamour also owned a home in Palm Springs, California.
1978 – Howard, Lamour's husband died.
Lamour was a registered Republican who supported the presidency of Ronald Reagan as well as his re-election in 1984.
Lamour died at her home in North Hollywood on September 22^nd, 1996, at the age of 81. Her funeral was held at St. Charles Catholic Church in North Hollywood, where she was a member. She was interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
From femme fatale in the “Road” film series of Paramount Pictures from 1941 to 1953, her final entry was The Road to Hong Kong in 1962, appearing with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, but the femme fatale in this last “Road” film was Joan Collins.
Lamour was host of the NBC Radio show “Sealtest Variety Theater” from 1948-1949.
“The Moon of Manakoora” song from the film The Hurricane (1937) became her signature song.
In 1946, with assistance of Paramount's publicity department, Lamour staged a memorable stunt by publicly burning a sarong.
Lamour went to secretarial school and became an excellent typist. Despite being a star, she typed her own letters.
Her stepson gave her a dog, CoCo, when her husband died. She did not want it at first, but he insisted. She soon learned to love the dog and referred to him as her boyfriend.
Lamour was awarded two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – one for Motion Pictures at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard and the other for Radio at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
In Italy, almost all her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta.
Lamour first met Bob Hope while working as a singer at the popular nightclub Fifth Avenue in New York's Greenwich Village, where she was accompanied with twin pianos played by Julius Monk and Cy Feuer.
Lamour was one of the few film stars who was allowed to make records throughout her career.
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are seen watching her from the audience in the film The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).
Lamour was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), but Vivien Leigh got the part.
Was long-time friends with Betty Grable, Carole Landis, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Linda Darnell and Betty Hutton.
In the 1940s, she was celebrity spokeswoman for Chesterfield Cigarettes.