The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 232

By Dennis McLellan Times Staff Writer Constance Moore, the glamorous singer-actress who co-starred in a string of World War II-era movie musicals and gained cult-film status as Buster in the 1939 serial, has died. She was 84. Moore, who also appeared in a hit Broadway musical in the early died Friday of heart failure at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills after a long illness, said her son, Michael Maschio. Moore was a band vocalist on a Dallas radio show before being discovered by a Universal Studios talent scout. She arrived in Hollywood as a teenager in 1937 and subsequently appeared in comedies, dramas, westerns and musicals.

Among her more than 40 film credits are the movie musicals with Jane Powell, with Eddie Cantor and George Murphy, Carroll with Dennis and Parade of with Eddie Albert. She also appeared with Ray Milland and William Holden in the wartime drama Wanted co-starred with Bill Elliott in the western Old and supported Rosalind Russell and Fred MacMurray in the comedy a Letter, On television two decades later, she co-starred with Robert Young in the short- lived on Main a 1961-62 situation comedy. But Moore may be best remembered for playing the daughter of W.C. Larson E. Whipsnadein the classic 1939 comedy Cheat an Honest and Wilma Deering in the 1939 science-fiction serial based on the popular comic strip.

Of her role Moore told Filmfax Magazine a few years ago: remember being amazed at the special effects. And, thinking about them now amazes me even more. As Wilma Deering, I wore a space belt and a disintegrator pistol things that are pretty much becoming a part of reality today. As for working on Cheat an Honest Moore recalled in the same interview that during cast meetings on the set each morning, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, her love interest in the movie, would launch into a routine with his famous dummy, Charlie McCarthy, who had a chair with his name on it. Finally, Moore recalled, Fields barked, enough! Get off the But made it so funny and so ridiculous was that he was speaking to Charlie McCarthy, and not to she said.

Taking time out from her film career during World War II, Moore played the romantic lead in the Rodgers and Hart Broadway 1942 hit Ray Bolger. Said the New York World- Telegram of performance: so gorgeous has been seen on a Broadway stage for a couple of wars. a Texan socialite who soared high and fast in Hollywood due to her unique possession of Grade A singing and acting ability as well as her obvious, radiating Longtime friend Marvin Paige, a Hollywood casting director and archivist, told The Times on Wednesday that Moore kind of the essence of what Hollywood had glamour, style and talent and she was a wonderful he said. Born Mary Constance Moore in Sioux City, Iowa, Moore grew up in Dallas, where she studied voice and dreamed of becoming an opera singer. That changed after her godfather, the owner of a chain of Dallas drugstores, sponsored a radio show on the local CBS affiliate to showcase impressive contralto.

While still in high school, Moore became the featured singer on Early on which she sang popular songs of the day. The Universal talent scout heard her sing on a CBS program and signed her to a contract without the requisite screen test. was a big shining sister, Shirley Rastatter, told The Times on Wednesday. was so gorgeous. She was not only a beauty but probably the loveliest person I have known, just an absolute During her Hollywood heyday in the Moore headlined as a singer at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and in Las Vegas.

She also appeared in stage productions, including Get Your around the country. And she made occasional TV appearances, including a stint on the soap opera Young before retiring in the late 1960s. In 1939, Moore married John Maschio, a Hollywood talent agent. The marriage lasted until his death in 1998. were blissfully happy said Miles of the Los Angeles-based Institute of the American Musical, a friend who interviewed Moore at the annual Cinecon film festival some years ago.

As Moore signed autographs and chatted with fans after the interview, Kreuger recalled, he went into the audience to talk to Maschio. was beaming like a Kreuger said, he said to me it was so charming know what done to deserve a wife like In addition to her son and sister, Moore is survived by her daughter, Gina Marks; another sister, Betty Kelly; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. A memorial service was held Tuesday. UCLA Film and Television Archive CONSTANCE MOORE Shown with W.C. Fields, in Cheat an Honest in which she played his daughter, the versatile actress co-starred with Buster Crabbe in the popular serial that same year.

Constance Moore, 84; Film, Stage, TV Actress, Singer was not only a beauty but probably the loveliest person I have Shirley Rastatter, Constance sister Edgar Haber, 93; Golf Enthusiast Once Owned Quail Lodge Edgar Haber, 93, a golf enthusiast who was one of the developers of the posh Quail Lodge in Monterey County, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Carmel Valley. Eventually the sole owner of the lodge, which was originally known as the Carmel Valley Golf and Country Club, Haber sold the enterprise in 1997 but remained active in the Carmel Valley community, where he had lived since 1947. Joe Bauman, 83; Set Home Run Record That Lasted 47 Years Joe Bauman, 83, whose 72 minor-league home runs in 1954 stood as a professional baseball record until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001, died Tuesday in Roswell, N.M., where he played for the Roswell Rockets of the Longhorn League during the 1950s. He succumbed to pneumonia, a complication from an Aug. 11 fall during a ceremony to rename the old Fair Park as Joe Bauman Stadium.

He broke his pelvis in the fall and remained hospitalized until his death. Bauman, a left-handed first baseman, had his record season at age 32, when he also hit .400 over 138 games. His single-season home run record lasted 47 years, but feat widely heralded because it happened in the minors. never thought last this long, to be Bauman said in 2001. was watching on TV when Barry Bonds hit that last one.

It bother me or anything. Ijust thought, goes my From Times Staff and Wire Reports PASSINGS EDGAR HABER He was also active in the Carmel Valley community. Mike Pettit Associated Press JOE BAUMAN The first baseman for the Roswell Rockets hit 72 home runs in 1954, a record that lasted until major-league slugger Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. B8 CALIFORNIA LOSANGELESTIMES Obituaries schools moved off controversial year-round schedules this year, due to the Los Angeles Unified School construction program that opened 32 schools this year. South Gate sent nearly 2,000 students to the newly built South East High Schoolnearby, which also enrolled more students than expected.

As parents in the community learned that South Gate had switched to a September-June schedule, many decided to keep their students close to home instead of sending them to private schools or putting them on buses to less crowded campuses, said Merle for District 6, which includesSouth Gate High. that it is a traditional calendar year, they had confidence, and they came Price said. Each day this week at least five students have enrolled. The unexpected overflow has pushed some students into classes already straining with up to 48 students. Some have been forced to take notes on their laps or while sitting on floors.

Nearly 200 students spent the first weeks of school rotating through the auditorium as they waited to receive class schedules. Administrators still need to hire at least nine more teachers, Price said. Most campuses opened after Labor Day, and middle and high schools across the district are dealing with crowded classes, students who need schedule changes and assorted other problems. But teachers at South Gate, along with some parents and students, are complaining that education is suffering on their campus. They held a rally Wednesday morning to call attention to the problems.

Bill Crosgrove had 13 students in his AP economics class last year. He has 39 this year. On Wednesday, he was three desks short. One student stood. One sat in a chair without a desk.

One sat at the desk. worse than ever he said. never had this many students here at the same Principal Patrick Moretta said 3,669 students are enrolled at South Gate, though the district had projected closer to 3,400. Part of the crowding comes from the decision last year to keep South entire senior class of 1,100 students, instead of sending 400 to the new high school. Enrollment will drop significantly next year as those seniors leave.

Moretta still needs teachers, particularly in math and science. District officials said several Los Angeles high schools hired too many teachers this year, and there are plansto send them to South Gate by Sept. 30. For years, scores of Los Angeles schools have operated on year-round schedules that often interfered with getting classes they needed for college admission. Those schools, which operated on the so-called Concept 6 calendar, shaved 17 days off the school year.

School board member David Tokofsky called South Gate overcrowded classes and reliance on substitutes unacceptable. He added in an e-mail that the school is from more than 20 years spent on the year-round schedule. Though the problems are expected to be fixed immediately, he said many parents will appreciate extra days of school this year for the first time in 20 years, so try not to waste them Some teachers say students afford to wait much longer. This year, South Gate also moved to a block schedule, in which students attend four classes a day instead of the traditional six. Each class runs 90 minutes.

Students who spent the last two weeks in the auditorium waiting for classes, or in classes with unprepared substitutes, have missed the equivalent of nearly a month of instruction. Substitutes are in and leaving, coming and Crosgrove said. are sitting, watching TV, doing Crosgrove shares his classroom with a filmmaking class, which substitutes have handled for the last three weeks, he said. Most of the filmmaking students, he thought they were taking an hour and a half they had substitutes telling them to draw Crosgrove said. Then last week students were informed that the drawing class had now turned into afilmmaking class, but Crosgrove has yet to see any cameras or equipment.

Instead, on Wednesday a substitute showed the movie Time without discussing it. Also Wednesday, English teacher Trista Mayoral stood outside the classroom she shared with a substitute math teacher. Inside, the substitute chitchatted with a class of noisy students. Mayoral rolled her eyes as some teenagers in the 12th-grade algebra class talked on cellphones, applied makeup and listened to music over earphones. In the last two weeks, the class has watched movies and completed little work, she said.

she said. are seniors. If they are in algebra as seniors they are already Freshman Jessica Carranza, 14, said she spent two weeks in a geometry class with rotating substitutes, even though she was supposed to be enrolled in algebra. substitute really know what to she said. just gave us copies of problems and then we sat Counselors moved Carranza into an algebra class this week, where she is struggling to catch up.

Her dance class has gone through three substitutes, but no dance moves. she said. school must not care about us. They should have been more Inside Tim classroom of 36 students, 14 raised their hands when asked how many had been taught by substitutes over the last two weeks. Nine hands stayed up when he asked how many had classes still being taught by substitutes.

a breakdown of planning and bad said Stephens, the campus union representative. Price said the district can learn from South Gate struggles as more schools move off year-round calendars. a broader view, this is all a good news Price said. have them bused. We have them back to a traditional schedule.

We just have to get the crystal ball South Gate School Strains at the Seams South Gate, from Page B1 unfair. This school must not care about us. They should have been more Jessica Carranza, 14, South Gate High student who spent two weeks in a geometry class when she was supposed to be enrolled in algebra Bob Chamberlin Los Angeles Times CHOW LINE: Students line up to get into the South Gate High cafeteria. The overcrowding is expected to ease next year when seniors leave. The district last year decided to keep the entire class of 1,100 seniors instead of sending 400 to a new school..