The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 223

ii 1 I i I i i i MUs amour buys her groceries at a supermarket in Towson. and most frequently shops for clothing at a store mere. With Gus Schirmer. Ir director of "Pal Joey." in which she will appear at Painters Mil beginning September 17. The Howards at the BrooklcmdrUle headquarters of their business enterprises.

0 TZi w'r j1 Dorothy Lamour at Home in Maryland The family on the patio of their home. On the left Richard Thomson Howard, who is 13; on the right, John Ridgely Howard, 17. The family eats here whenever weather permits. HiSWViClSHBMSiBBBBMiiBHBSBBBMBMiBBH A fi I II Continued from Page 15 much of anything specifically," says Dorothy, "a little bit of everything generally." Furnishings range from old pieces to very new. There's an oil painting by Rembrandt Peale and a washstand once owned by Martha Washington.

There are numerous Colonial period pieces made by George Montgomery, a friend of the Howards when they were in Hollywood. There are gardenias, some fresh, some plastic. They are Dorothy's favorite flower half a dozen pictures, I felt naked without a gardenia in my and they are what she gets on birthdays (December 10) and anniversaries (April 7). In the utility room there's an ancient office-model water cooler which Bill Howard found long ago in a junk shop, and which he has carried all over the country. He refuses to throw it away.

Most of the patio furnishings are wrought iron and glass. The newest touch there is pure suburban, a set of aluminum and web chairs which Dorothy bought not long ago when she went on a binge with 35 books of green stamps. She's prouder of the aluminum furniture than of her antiques. "Comfortable in that chair? That's seven books of green stamps you're sitting on." The club cellar is the one part of the bouse that reflects the Howards' show business interests. There's a baby grand piano with a tike on top of it.

There are hunting prints on the walls, and cups and medals from a dozen cities, honoring Dorothy for her work in war bond rallies. John Eager Howard's sword hangs nearby. On the bar are some trick rubber fish v. became the old duffer's great-great-grand-daughter-in-law by marrying Air Force Capt. William Ross Howard 3d.

Five years ago which was fifteen years, two sons and a dozen motion pictures after their marriage the Howards returned to Maryland because Dorothy wanted the boys to grow up in their father's home state. They lived for a while in Pikes-ville, a while in Lutherville. A year ago they moved on out into the Dulany Valley. There, knee-deep in a pleasant confusion of teen-age boys and their bicycles, show business, school business, plans for a string of benefits and personal appearances, half a dozen commercial enterprises and redecorating the house, Dorothy Lamour Howard keeps pace with a full schedule that keeps getting fuller. Their neighbors are an aeronautics engineer and a steel company executive.

Dorothy Lamour's house does not look like Dorothy Lamour's house'. It is a solid, ranchy structure of red brick that tops an oak and maple-shaded knoll. There are a smooth lawn and well tended borders of evergreen, kept that way (with a certain amount of prodding) by the two boys, John Ridgely Howard, 17, and Richard Thomson Howard, 13. The rear of the house follows the contour of the knoll and slopes down to a patio, where the family eats whenever weather permits. There is no private lagoon, not even a pool.

The inside decor has been called French Provincial, probably for its touches of to Hong Kong," and the leather mouthpiece by which Dorothy hung by her teeth, as an aerialist in "Greatest Show On Earth." There are autographed pictures of J. Edgar Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower and other celebrities, including a photograph of Dorothy, Crosby and Hope. Hope autographed the picture to "Mother," a nickname he gave her long ago because she was forever helping people with small jobs get better ones at her studio. Crosby's autograph across the seat of his pants-reads: t'My best angle." Behind the bar hangs the framed typewritten disposition of Dorothy's screen test (1936) with Paramount: "I think this girl really has possibilities.

I understand her singing voice is also quite good. There are some scrapbooks on a shelf, filled mostly with pictures and clippings of experiences the Howards have snared. A 1943 front page from a Los Angeles paper carries the headlines: "ROMMEL ELUDES TRAP-DOROTHY LAMOUR TO WED CAPTAIN." Mrs. Howard does much of her own housekeeping. Her most time-consuming duties are those involving Ridge, who goes to Towson High, and Tom, who goes to Towsontown Junior High.

She has a maid in twice a week when she is home, a housekeeper for those periods when she has to be gone more than a night or so. Away from home, she checks by telephone at least once daily. There are two silent-number telephones in the house one for business, one for personal calls and two extensions to each. The monthly telephone bill has been as low as $160, but more often is around $300. Dorothy Lamour blends her show business -and household chores into a strange but effective pattern.

She is rehearsing for "Pal Joey," which on September 17 will open at Painters Mill for a week. She rehearsed the scores with her accompanist, had him play the accompaniment for a tape recorder, then had a record made of the tape. With the record playing for background music, Dorothy scoots around the house in a pair of grass sandals and a flowery muu-muu, singing her songs while she makes beds, cooks, does the dishes (automatic dishwasher) and vacuums. This is the way she has rehearsed for most of her movies, night club and supper theater appearances. "After a few days of living with a musical score like that," she says, tapping her forehead, "it cuts a groove up here.

Once I've got it, I can sing any part of it a hundred years later." The Howards are a diversified family. Mr. Howard is a former member of the Maryland General Assembly. His pet project was the Bay Bridge, which wasn't to become a reality until years later. In the evenings he is a reader.

Tom wanders off to his models, mostly sports cars. Ridge gets involved with short-wave radio equipment. The whole family likes television. When one of Dorothy's pictures comes up, the family usually sits downstairs and watches it, while Dorothy sits upstairs and watches Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. "Joan Crawford," she says, "is the world's most glamorous woman." Dorothy's most complete relaxation other than watching television, is driving.

It is a practical relaxation, for she likes to cover a lot of ground and handle detailscostuming, grocery shopping, theatrical affairs, insurance matters, general business administration in person. She drives to New York almost as casually as she drives into Baltimore. Most of her days run by schedule, which she works out in her mind every morning while drinking coffee from a huge cup marked "Mom." Her home in the Valley is exactly 3 hours from the Gotham Hotel, where she stops in New York. She turns on the car radio when she starts her car, even if she's only going two blocks. IER oyster-white Cadillac turns up all over Baltimore.

She buys groceries in a Towson supermarket, goes back to Pikes-ville often because she likes the 5 10 and has old friends there. She parks in midtown and browses the Howard street antique shops, and sees a dressmaker on Reisterstown road for special fittings. She has a favorite manicurist, and has followed her from one beauty shop to another all over town. "Two things I can't do: I can't iron a shirt or give myself a decent manicure." She shops most frequently for clothes in a Towson department store because it is closest home and because she has made friends with many salesgirls there. Continued on Next Poge gap yj; A green-stamp sorer.

Miss Lamour is proud of a set of aluminum and web chairs she acquired in this manner. 17 The dining room, with a bowlful of gardenias, the actress' favorite flower. "After half a dosen pictures, I felt naked without a gardenia in my hair." 16 wnire wrougni iron gnuwork. "It nothing used by Bob Hope for a laugh in "Road SUNDAY SUN MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 8, 1963.