PAST OBITS: CATHERINE CROSBY

 Here is the obituary of Bing's mother Catherine Crosby. It appeared in NY Times on January 8, 1964...

Mrs. Catherine H. H. Crosby, Mother or Singer, Was 90

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 7 (AP)—Mrs. Catherine Helen Harrigan Crosby, mother of Bing Crosby, died today in a rest home at the age of 90. She had lived with the singer in Holmby Hills since her husband died in 1949.

Mrs. Crosby was known to her friends as Kate and to her fam­ily as “The Boss.” She ruled her family with warm affection, but even Bing heard from her in no uncertain terms when a show, an associate or a song displeased her.

Surviving are four other sons, Laurence, Everett, Edward and Bob, the orchestra leader, and two daughters, Mrs. Catherine Mullin and Mrs. Mary Rose Pool...

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PAST OBITS: JOHN SCOTT TROTTER

On this day 42 years ago, Bing's long time orchestra leader John Scott Trotter passed away. He never fully got the recognition that he deserved. Here is the original NY Times article from October 31, 1975...

HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 30 (UPI) —John Scott Trotter, whose entertainment career spanning a half century took him from the side of Hal Kemp in the bigband era to Bing Crosby on radio and records and George Gobel on television, died yesterday of cancer at Mt. Sinai Hospital. He was 67 years old.

Mr. Trotter's most remembered musical achievement was that of arranger and conductor for Mr. Crosby, an association that lasted 17 years on radio and included recordings that encompassed some of the crooner's best‐known songs, such as “White Christmas” and “Swinging on a Star.”

Only last month, Mr. Trotter joined with the Bostorl Pops conductor, Arthur Fiedler, in recreating the big‐band sound on a public television fund‐raising broadcast.

He was the recipient of an Academy Award nomination in 1970 for his musical work on the Charles Shultz animated movie “A Boy Named Charlie Brown,” and he received an Emmy nomination for the music of one of the peanuts television specials.

Mr. Trotter, who was born in Charlotte, N. C., June 14, 1908, began his musical career at the University of North Carolina, playing piano for a college band formed by Mr. Kemp in 1925.Continue reading the main story

Mr. Trotter was the orchestra's pianist and principal arranger for 11 years, creating the “fresh, happy sound” of Mr. Kemp that produced such music as “Got a Date With an Angel” and “You're the Tops.”.

In 1936, while vacationing in California, Mr. Trotter was signed to orchestrate five songs for the film “Pennies From Heaven,” starring Bing Crosby, and a year later he took over as musical director for Mr. Crosby's radio show.

Mr. Trotter was Mr. Crosby's arranger and conductor for 364 consecutive weeks on NBC radio shows.

In 1954, when the Crosby radio shows came to an end, Mr. Trotter began a 10‐year career as musical director for the “George Gobel Show.”

He is survived by his sister, Margaret Kinghorn, and three brothers, William, Thomas and Robert...

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PAST OBITS: GARY CROSBY

Today marks 22 years since Bing's oldest son Gary Crosby died. Here is what the NY Times was saying about it in August of 1995...

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25— Gary Crosby, the eldest son of Bing Crosby, died on Thursday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. He was 62.

The cause was lung cancer, said Mr. Crosby's manager, Paul Volpe.

Although Mr. Crosby tried to follow in his father's footsteps as a singer and actor, his career was largely confined to television parts. But he was part of the first double-sided gold record in history, joining his father on "Sam's Song" and "Play a Simple Melody" in 1950.

His greatest claim to fame came in 1983 with his autobiography, "Going My Own Way," in which he accused his father of abusing him. The younger Crosby had a weight problem and he wrote that his father would weigh him every week as a boy and whip him with a cane if he had gained weight. He later recanted much of what he wrote.

Gary Crosby and his siblings, Lindsay and the twins, Philip and Dennis, formed their own singing group in the 1950's but had little success. The brothers, Crosby's sons from his first marriage to Dixie Lee Crosby, were better known as Hollywood "bad boys" who were constantly getting into trouble because of their drinking.

Gary Crosby acknowledged that he was an alcoholic in 1967. Lindsay committed suicide in 1989 and Dennis in 1991.

Gary Crosby made his acting debut when he was 9, playing himself in "Star-Spangled Banner" in 1942. The film starred his father and Betty Hutton. After several more acting parts, he concentrated on his education, graduating from Stanford University before returning to Hollywood to play in a series of films in the 1950's, never in starring roles. They included "Holiday for Lovers," "A Private's Affair" and "Mardi Gras." His most recent film was "The Night Stalker" in 1987.

On television, he was best known as Officer Ed Wells on "Adam 12," which ran from 1968 to 1975. He also played Eddie on "The Bill Dana Show" from 1963 to 1964 and had a regular role on "Hunter" in the mid-1980's. He made guest appearances on a number of shows, including "Twilight Zone," "Matlock" and "Murder, She Wrote."

He is survived by a son, Steve, of Santa Barbara, Calif., and his brother Philip...

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PAST OBITS: FRED ASTAIRE

I can not believe it has been nearly 30 years since Fred Astaire's death. Here is just the partial obituary that appeared in the NY Times on June 23, 1987...

Fred Astaire, whose flashing feet and limber legs not only made him America's most popular dancer but also set standards for motion picture musical comedies that have rarely been met and never exceeded, died of pneumonia yesterday at Century City Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 88 years old.

Mr. Astaire blithely danced his way into the heart of an America tormented by the Depression and edging toward World War II. His deceptively easy-looking light-footedness, warm smile, top hat, cane, charm and talent helped people to forget the real world that nagged at them outside the movie house.

In a statement released by the White House press office, President Reagan said: ''Nancy and I are deeply saddened by the loss of a very dear friend. Fred Astaire, an American legend, has died. We join the entire nation in mourning his passing, and our heart-felt sympathies are with his wife, Robyn, and his family.'' 'The Ultimate Dancer'

''Fred was, in every sense of the word, a 'superstar,' '' Mr. Reagan said. ''He was the ultimate dancer -the dancer who made it all look so easy.''

The Astaire legend, which spanned more than six performing decades on stage, screen and television, began before he was 10 years old when his mother paired him as a dancer with his sister, Adele, the partner with whom he first found success.

Mr. Astaire starred in more than 30 film musicals between 1933 and 1968. Eleven of these co-starred Ginger Rogers, his most durable dancing partner. The music they danced to was written by the cream of the popular-music world, including Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and George and Ira Gershwin.

There were other famous dancers, but few could match the sophistication and inventiveness of Mr. Astaire in such films as ''Flying Down to Rio,'' ''The Gay Divorcee,'' ''Top Hat,'' ''Swing Time,'' ''Follow the Fleet,'' ''Blue Skies'' and ''Easter Parad For all the lushness of his films, often in settings of splendor and champagne, Mr. Astaire projected a down-to-earth personality, that of a good-hearted fellow whose effortless steps, even at their most dazzling, matched his casual demeanor.

His dance numbers fit neatly within the bounds of a movie screen, but they gave the illusion of being boundless, without regard for the laws of gravity or the limitations of a set.

He danced with Rita Hayworth atop a wedding cake (''You'll Never Get Rich,'' 1941), danced on roller skates (''Shall We Dance?'' 1937), danced while hitting golf balls off a tee (''Carefree,'' 1938) and danced up the walls and on the ceiling (''Royal Wedding,'' 1951). He danced while airborne, aboard ships and in countless ballrooms where he glided flawlessly across wide-open spaces. It was the kind of dancing that caught the imagination, even of those who disdained the thought of witnessing any dancing at all.

He was popular and beloved, a thin, sandy-haired man 5 feet 9 inches tall, who fretted and sweated off-camera and offstage to make his dance come across with a spontaneity that few could equal. During a long career in which he went from vaudeville to Broadway to Hollywood and later to triumph in television - his own special, ''An Evening With Fred Astaire,'' won nine Emmy Awards in 1957 - he never failed to delight mass audiences. 'Greatest Dancer in World'

He was also a paragon among his professional peers. George Balanchine, the artistic director of the New York City Ballet and a man whose supreme standards rarely allowed for superlatives, called him, simply, ''the greatest dancer in the world.''

Irving Berlin, in whose musical ''Top Hat'' Mr. Astaire wore the topper and tails that became the dancer's working hallmark, said: ''He's not just a great dancer; he's a great singer of songs. He's as good as any of them - as good as Jolson or Crosby or Sinatra. He's just as good a singer as he is a dancer - not necessarily because of his voice but by his conception of projecting a song.'' On learning of Mr. Astaire's death, Mr. Berlin told The Associated Press yesterday that ''there hasn't been such a talent as his.''

''He was an international star,'' Mr. Berlin added.

Anna Kisselgoff, dance critic of The New York Times, gave this description of the Astaire genius: ''At its most basic, Mr. Astaire's technique has three elements - tap, ballet and ballroom dancing. The ballet training, by his account, was brief but came at a crucial, early age. He has sometimes been classed as a tap dancer, but he was never the hoofer he has jokingly called himself. Much of the choreographic outline of his dancing with his ladies - be it Miss Rogers or Miss Hayworth - is ballroom. But of course, no ballroom dancer could dance like this.''

The Astaire seen in performance was a different Astaire from the one who lived out of the spotlight. He detested formal dress, although his personal wardrobe was stylish, and frequently told interviewers how he regarded top hat and tails as no more than working dress, certainly nothing to be worn on his own time.

The easygoing air that surrounded his own performance was developed by a dancer who was extremely serious and painstaking about his work. He was frequently described as a perfectionist, and the evidence seems to leave little doubt that he worked with more than average diligence to bring his production numbers to final gloss. 'Can't Just Sit and Do It'

''Dancing is a sweat job,'' he said in a Life magazine interview when he was 66. ''You can't just sit down and do it, you have to get up on your feet. When you're experimenting you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion. This search for what you want is like tracking something that doesn't want to be tracked.''

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PAST OBITS: KITTY CARLISLE

Here is the obituary from April 18, 2007 of actress and socialite Kitty Carlisle. She starred with Bing Crosby in two movies - She Loves Me Not (1934) and Here Is My Heart (1935). Kitty died on April 17, 2007 at the age of 95...

Kitty Carlisle Hart, who began her career in the theater in a 1932 musical comedy revue on Broadway, acted in films and opera and was still singing on the stage, into her 10th decade, as recently as last fall, died Tuesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 96.The cause was heart failure, her daughter, Catherine Hart, said. Outgoing and energetic, Miss Carlisle became in her middle years a visible advocate of the arts, lobbying the New York State Legislature and the United States Congress for funding. For 20 years, first as a member and later as chairman of the New York Council on the Arts, she crisscrossed the state to support rural string quartets, small theater groups and inner-city dance troupes.

At another moment, she could be found performing on a cruise ship plying the Greek islands, as she was during her 90th year. Just last November, she sang George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” at the annual gala fund-raiser for Jazz at Lincoln Center. That followed a series of engagements in New York and other cities celebrating her 96th birthday. Miss Carlisle, as she was know professionally, also became a favorite of the first television generation as a regular on the game shows “To Tell the Truth” and “What’s My Line?”Photo

As a young girl, she was taken around the capitals of Europe by her mother, whose ambition was to establish her daughter in a “brilliant” marriage, preferably to a prince. There were piano lessons, voice lessons and a grounding in the dramatic arts.

When a royal husband did not materialize, Miss Carlisle remembered, her mother would tell her, “You’re not the prettiest girl I ever saw, and you’re not the best singer I ever heard, and you’re certainly not the best actress I ever hoped to see, but if we put them all together, we’ll find the husband we’re looking for on the stage.”

She found that husband in the dramatist Moss Hart. They were married in 1946. In the years before he died, in 1961, they were at the center of New York’s glittering theatrical life.

The revue in which she broke into show business, “Rio Rita,” played the Capitol Theater on Broadway four or five times a day as the stage show between movies. She also played the “subway circuit” for one-week stands in Brooklyn and the Bronx. The show then went on the road for eight months.

Her next role, as the prince in a musical based on Strauss’s “Fledermaus,” won her a screen test and a Hollywood contract. In 1934, Miss Carlisle made her first movie, “Murder at the Vanities.” That same year she appeared in a movie called “She Loves Me Not,” in which she sang “Love in Bloom” with an up-and-coming crooner, Bing Crosby. She was paired with Crosby again that year in “Here Is My Heart.” In its review, The New York Times called her “a charming and gifted young woman who promises to make her mark in the cinema."

The same was not said of her opera ambitions. Asked to sing “Alone” in the Marx Brothers spoof of the genre, “A Night at the Opera,” she was horrified to learn that she was expected to move her lips to the sound of someone else’s recording. She refused. For the next three days, her agent argued for her right to perform with her own voice. She won. For years, the song became something of a signature for her.

The collaboration with the Marx Brothers was as close as she came to opera until 31 years later, when, at the age of 56, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Prince Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus.”

When Paramount found no more roles for her — “I was a meteoric bust,” she wrote in “Kitty: An Autobiography” (Doubleday, 1988) — Miss Carlisle returned to Broadway as the lead in “White Horse Inn” in 1936 and in “Three Waltzes” the next year. Brooks Atkinson, the drama critic for The Times, wrote that the show was “distinguished chiefly for the admirable singing and acting of Kitty Carlisle and Michael Bartlett.”

Miss Carlisle accepted jobs wherever they were offered, often in summer stock. She sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at many World War II bond rallies and appeared in the 1944 film “Hollywood Canteen.” In her later years, Miss Carlisle was seen around town with her latest beau, Roy R. Neuberger, the financier.

Until the end of her life, Miss Carlisle remained a svelte, attractive woman with dark, neatly coiffed hair that she said she colored herself. With a full mouth outlined in bright red lipstick, she burst easily into warm laughter. She was known for her grace and charm, but by her own account she was slightly eccentric, a trait she treasured because she believed it gave her a lot of leeway.

She practiced singing every day, exercised every morning (and was the first to tell anyone that she had beautiful legs, which she did) and believed that discipline was the key to life. In her last decades, she became a popular lecturer. She often told her audiences, “With a soupçon of courage and a dash of self-discipline, one can make a small talent go a long way.” In recent years, Decca Broadway re-released her operetta recordings from the 1940s and ’50s.

In her later years she performed occasionally in a one-woman show, “My Life on the Wicked Stage.” It was full of anecdotes about her friends Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Robbins and George and Ira Gershwin. She also appeared on stage in a Broadway revival of “On Your Toes” and made film appearances in “Six Degrees of Separation” and Woody Allen’s “Radio Days.”

“I’m more optimistic, more enthusiastic and I have more energy than ever before,” she said just after her 79th birthday. Energy, she said, came from doing the things she wanted to do.

“You get so tired when you do what other people want you to do,” she said. When she was 90, she started work on a second book.

Miss Carlisle was born Catherine Conn in New Orleans on Sept. 3, 1910. Her father, Joseph Conn, a doctor, died when she was 10 years old. Afterward, her mother, the former Hortense Holtzman, sold their house and took her daughter to New York and then to Europe, where the young Catherine was enrolled in Mont Choisi, a school overlooking Lac Léman in Switzerland. She ended her education at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, where she won a certificate.

She wrote that her mother, as critical as ever, saw her first performance, looked her straight in the eye and said, “My dear, we’ve made a ghastly mistake.”

She delighted in proving her mother wrong. “A career takes more than talent,” Miss Carlisle was fond of saying. “It takes character.” And perhaps stamina. Still working as a nonagenarian, she took her stage show on the road last fall, appearing in Atlanta, St. Louis and other cities.

“I’m 96,” she told The St. Louis Post Dispatch in October, “and I’m loving it.”

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PAST OBITS: MARJORIE REYNOLDS

One of the most beautiful leading ladies that appeared with Bing Crosby was Marjorie Reynolds. Reynolds was by his side when he introduced "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn (1942) and also appeared with Bing in the now forgotten blackface film Dixie in 1943. Here is her obituary that appeared in the New York Times of February 16, 1997. She died on February 1st...

Marjorie Reynolds, 79, Actress, In Classic Films and on Television
Published: February 16, 1997

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif., Feb. 15— Marjorie Reynolds, an actress who began her career as a child in silent films and went on to star in a number of Hollywood classics and on television, died on Feb. 1 at her home here, her family said on Wednesday. She was 79.

The film that crowned Ms. Reynolds's career in Hollywood was ''Holiday Inn'' (1942), in which she was the love interest in a rivalry between Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and got to dance a minuet with Astaire.

She also appeared opposite Ray Milland in the 1944 screen adaptation of Graham Greene's ''Ministry of Fear,'' directed by Fritz Lang, and showed her comedic gifts in ''Up in Mabel's Room'' (1944), opposite Dennis O'Keefe.

Her film credits also include ''Duffy's Tavern'' (1945), ''Monsieur Beaucaire'' (1946), with Bob Hope, and ''That Midnight Kiss'' (1949), with Mario Lanza.

On television, as Peg Riley in ''The Life of Riley,'' Ms. Reynolds became a familiar face to American audiences. She played the wife of Chester A. Riley (William Bendix), an aircraft plant worker and lovable bumbler, from 1953 to 1958.

After the series went off the air, Ms. Reynolds appeared in such television shows as ''The Millionaire'' and ''Leave It to Beaver.'' Her last film appearances included ''Juke Box Rhythm'' (1959) and ''The Silent Witness'' (1962).

Ms. Reynolds was born Marjorie Goodspeed in Buhl, Idaho, and moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was a child.

Ms. Reynolds began acting in her childhood under the stage name Marjorie Moore. She changed her screen name after marrying Jack Reynolds, a production manager and screenwriter. After they divorced, she married Jon M. Haffen, a film editor.

She is survived by a daughter, Linda Hinshaw of Playa del Rey, Calif...

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PAST OBITS: SKITCH HENDERSON

Here is the New York Times obituary for legendary conductor Skitch Henderson from November 3, 2005. He died ten years ago...

Skitch Henderson, the conductor, pianist and radio and television entertainer who provided music and repartee for the "Tonight" show in the 1950's and 60's and who founded and led the New York Pops, died on Tuesday at his home in New Milford, Conn. He was 87.

His death was announced by James M. Johnson, executive director of the Pops.

With his neatly trimmed Vandyke beard and friendly disposition, Mr. Henderson was a familiar personality to millions of Americans over a long career. He had shows of his own on radio and television, and made many guest appearances in the 1950's and 1960's on "To Tell the Truth" and other game shows.

He was also a mainstay of the "Tonight" show, conducting the studio band and swapping stories with Steve Allen beginning in 1954 and later with Johnny Carson. He devised the "Stump the Band" routine, in which members of the studio audience would suggest obscure song titles and challenge the band musicians to play the tunes.

Mr. Henderson liked to stretch his players when he could, using arrangements by distinguished writers like Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins. Among the sidemen in the Henderson band were the trumpeter Clark Terry and Doc Severinsen, who took over as leader in 1967.

Though he became as much a performer as a conductor-pianist, Mr. Henderson always maintained his musical presence. He once described himself as "a middlebrow musician who does quality show music," and critics over the years seemed to agree with that assessment.

Under Mr. Henderson's leadership, the New York Pops were born unofficially in the 1950's, with 70 members of the New York Philharmonic. It faded, but Mr. Henderson started it again, formalized its existence in 1983 and conducted it for many years, drawing musicians from the city's freelance pool.

Mr. Henderson was regarded as one of the best-traveled musicians on the scene. In addition to turns on the podium of the New York Philharmonic, he made appearances as a guest conductor of orchestras in San Diego, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa and Stamford, Conn., and of quality pops orchestras in Virginia, Florida and Kentucky. Abroad, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony.

He received a 1963 Grammy Award for an album of selections from "Porgy and Bess," with the RCA Orchestra and Leontyne Price as the main soloist. "What's great about Skitch," Marvin Hamlisch, who performed with him often, once said, "is that he can move between any type of music. Now he does a lot of pop music, but he knows the repertoire of the classics as well as anyone. He's a consummate musician."

Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson was born on Jan. 27, 1918, in Birmingham, England. In interviews over the years he said that he took piano lessons when he was 6 from his mother, a church organist, and that he came to the United States when he was 14. By the time he turned 15, he said, he had decided to try to make his mark in music.

Mr. Henderson told reporters that when he was very young, "I ran away and played with a rinky-dink band." He was somewhere in the Midwest in the 1930's, playing a hotel, when he encountered Judy Garland. He stepped in when her regular accompanist became ill and later was a rehearsal accompanist for both Garland and Mickey Rooney.

In 1938 he played piano for "The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show" on radio. Two years later, Mr. Henderson enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. When the United States entered the war in 1941, he joined the Army Air Corps and became a fighter pilot.

After his discharge in 1945, he organized his own dance band and toured the United States. He worked with Bing Crosby on the radio and was also music director of Frank Sinatra's "Light-Up Time" radio show.

He was often asked where he got the name Skitch. He said it was given to him by Bing Crosby, who told him the public would never remember proper names like Harry Lillis Crosby but couldn't forget him once he became Bing. Crosby began to call him the Sketch Kid, because as a rehearsal pianist he made piano sketches for the orchestrator. From that came Skitch.

In 1998, he summarized his career for The Salt Lake Tribune. "I've never had goals," he said. "I have worked and been lucky enough. If one trolley broke down, I was able to get on another that was running. Goals are dreams but they are seldom realistic."

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PAST OBITS: DOROTHY LAMOUR

Bing Crosby's most frequent movie co-star Dorothy Lamour died on this day 19 years ago. It is hard to believe it has been so long...

Dorothy Lamour, 81, Sultry Sidekick in Road Films, Dies
By RICHARD SEVERO
Published: September 23, 1996

Dorothy Lamour, whose sarong-draped charms adorned many films of the late 1930's and 40's, especially the ''road'' pictures she made with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, died yesterday at her home in North Hollywood, Calif. She was 81 years old.

Miss Lamour, a comely brunette who was also a favorite pinup of thousands of G.I.'s during World War II, was in her heyday at a time when the major studios believed that certain actresses needed something of a signature. Veronica Lake peered out from behind the lock of hair that invariably hid part of her face; Miss Lamour had her trademark sarong. She wore that clinging garment in a series of films, from the 1936 ''Jungle Princess'' through such 1940's comedies as ''Road to Singapore'' and ''Road to Morocco.''

Miss Lamour appeared in seven of the road pictures, in which she was always the exotic but demure girl invariably won by a crooning Mr. Crosby at the expense of a more comedic Mr. Hope. On occasion, Miss Lamour would join Mr. Crosby in a ballad, such as ''Moonlight Becomes You'' or ''Constantly.'' By the late 1940's, her salary rose to a top of around $450,000 a movie.

But she had no illusions about either her acting or singing ability. Asked by an interviewer if she had ever studied acting or singing, she replied, ''No, can't you tell?''

During World War II, Miss Lamour was also known as ''the bond bombshell'' because of the volunteer work she did selling United States War Bonds. In tours around the country, she was credited with selling some $300 million of the bonds. So effective was she as a saleswoman that the Government put a private railroad car at her disposal when she decided to go on a bond tour.

She received a belated citation for her bond work from the Treasury in 1965, at which time William H. Neal, at that time the director of the United States Savings Bond Division, credited her with being the first star to offer her services to sell war bonds and the originator of the successful Government plan for payroll deductions for those who wanted part of their salaries set aside for war bond purchases.

Her contributions to the war effort did not stop there. She was frequently seen at the Hollywood Canteen, the nightclub for servicemen founded by Bette Davis and John Garfield, where she spent many hours talking to and dancing with G.I.'s.

Miss Lamour was born on Dec. 10, 1914, in New Orleans as Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton, the daughter of John Watson Slaton and the former Carmen Louise La Porte. Her father was a waiter. Her mother, who soon divorced her father, worked as a waitress.

Young Dorothy never finished high school. The family finances were so desperate that when she was 15, she forged her mother's name to a document that authorized her to drop out of school.

Later, however, she did go to a secretarial school that did not require her to have a high school diploma. She regarded herself as an excellent typist and usually typed her own letters, even after she became quite wealthy.

After she won the 1931 Miss New Orleans beauty contest, she and her mother moved to Chicago, where Miss Lamour earned $17 a week as an elevator operator for the Marshall Field department store on State Street. She had no training as a singer but was persuaded by a friend to try out for a female vocalist's spot with Herbie Kay, a band leader who had a national radio show called ''The Yeast Foamers,'' apparently because it was sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast.

She left Mr. Kay's group and moved to Manhattan, where Rudy Vallee, then a popular singer, helped her get a singing job at a popular night club, El Morocco. She later worked at 1 Fifth Avenue, a cabaret where she met Louis B. Mayer, the Hollywood studio chief. It was Mayer who eventually arranged for her to have a screen test, which led to her Paramount contract in 1935.

When she was at her zenith as a star, her fans suggested that an agent had adopted her last name from the French word for ''love'' as a box-office ploy. In fact, the name was close to one in the family; Miss Lamour adapted it herself from Lambour, which was the last name of her stepfather, Clarence, to whom her mother was briefly married.

Miss Lamour's more than 50 films included ''Typhoon'' (1939), ''Johnny Apollo'' (1940), ''The Fleet's In'' (1941), ''Star-Spangled Rhythm'' (1942), ''Duffy's Tavern'' (1945), ''Here Comes the Groom'' (1951), ''Donovan's Reef'' (1962) and ''Pajama Party'' (1964).

The seven movies in which she appeared with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were ''Road to Singapore (1940), ''Road to Zanzibar'' (1941), ''Road to Morocco'' (1942), ''Road to Utopia'' (1946), ''Road to Rio'' (1948) ''Road to Bali'' (1953) and ''Road to Hong Kong'' (1962). Although Miss Lamour worked closely with Mr. Hope and Crosby for many years, she said that she was not close to them personally.

After she retired from the movies, Miss Lamour remained active. In 1968, she starred in the national road show production of ''Hello, Dolly!'' And in 1969, she was named to the Civic Center Commission of Baltimore, where she then lived. She was active in various causes there for many years. In the 1980's, she worked the cabaret circuit, where she sang many of the songs she had sung in her movies.

In the 1987 film ''Creepshow 2,'' she played a sloppily dressed housewife who gets murdered. ''Well, at my age you can't lean against a palm tree and sing 'Moon of Monakoora,''' she said. ''People would look at that and say, 'What is she trying to do?' ''

While ''Creepshow 2'' was her only film role in two decades, she was frequently seen on television, doing guest shots such shows as ''The Love Boat,'' ''Murder, She Wrote'' and, naturally, a few Bob Hope specials.

She is survived by her two sons, John Ridgley Howard and Tom Howard; a stepson, William Ross Howard 4th; a grandson, and a granddaughter...

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