Miss New Orleans, Hollywood beauty Dorothy Lamour
Hollywood beauty Dorothy Lamour
Born in 1914 in New Orleans, Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton, she spent her childhood in Louisiana. She grew in the family of waiters Carmen Louise and John Watson Slaton. A few years later, her parents divorced and her mother soon married Clarence Lamour, whose name Dorothy took later. The second marriage of the mother, too, was short-lived and after the divorce she and Dorothy were in a bad financial situation. At the age of 15, Dorothy forged her documents in order to drop out of school and find work. After that, she entered the school of secretaries, in which her happiness did not require a certificate of secondary education.
Meanwhile, aged 17 she became Miss New Orleans (1931). After she had won the Miss New Orleans contest, Dorothy and her mother moved to Chicago. There she began working as a lift keeper at the Marshall Field store. Later, she met her first husband, vocalist Herbie Kay, whose band was on the radio for a while. However, she left the group and moved to New York, where, thanks to one of her friends, settled in as a singer at the popular El Morocco nightclub.
Then she worked in a cabaret on Fifth Avenue, where she met Luis B. Mayer, the head of the MGM studio.
Lamour had a dark, exotic look that brought her stardom and typecasting as a “native girl.” Thanks to Mayer, she went to Hollywood in 1935, and signed a contract with Paramount. And the same year, Dorothy became the host of her own musical program on NBC radio.
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