a girl on a bench

A classic, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos is far superior to its more infamous film counterpart starring the legendary Marilyn Monroe. Though nothing is more truly legendary than Anita Loos’ ability to capture depth within aloofness, humor and vulnerability within genuine stupidity, all portray the many comical characters presented in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. A fluid and joyous read, the simplicity and directness of the narrator influxes effortless feelings of carefree fun unto the reader, with a laugh on every page.

I was so excited to come across this book in Powell Books of Portland, OR in its original form, printed in 1925. The inside cover is signed with the name of the original owner in worn down ink, carrying a piece of its past life. I’ll cherish this book and pass it down to my children, and theirs to come 💖

I highly suggest reading this book — it was so much fun; and significantly better than the movie, there’s something to really be appreciated about this story in its original form.

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“Loos said her anti-heroine, Lorelei Lee, was modeled after “the dumbest blonde of all, a girl who had bewitched one of the keenest minds of our era—H.L. Mencken.” (Mencken was a prolific journalist who he helped to found The American Mercury, perhaps the most influential magazine of culture of its day.)
Mencken’s ego was apparently strong enough to take the attack on his taste in women. He read a draft and recommended that Loos seek publication in Harper’s Bazaar. He was afraid it would “affront” his American Mercury readers because, as he said to Loos, “you’re the first American writer to ever poke fun at sex.” When Gentlemen Prefer Blondes came out as a novel, Mencken published a short but glowing review in The American Mercury, confessing, “there are pages that made me stop reading to bawl.”
Its first printing in December 1925 sold out overnight.”

“The “literary gentlemen” whose company Lorelei Lee enjoys ply her with jewels and money but also occasionally with books. Lorelei hunts eagerly for the “riskay” parts of novels, but passes on the actual chore of reading to her maid. Lorelei entirely misses the irony of her gentlemen friends’ literary selections—from Joseph Conrad to Benvenuto Cellini to Robert Service, every author who falls into Lorelei’s hands writes about a different kind of gold-digger.
Both Anita Loos and her readers in 1925 knew that the joke was actually on Lorelei for bothering to read at all—every literary work Lorelei encounters in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was adapted for screen or stage in 1924. All Lorelei had to do to pursue her literary education was to go to the theater!
The more “riskay” parts of Lorelei’s books fall victim to the Hollywood censor’s pen in their Broadway and film adaptations, but Lorelei doesn’t let her own marriage to weak-minded censor Mr. Spoffard keep her from continuing the “education” she receives from other gentlemen, literary or otherwise.” (src:drt.edu)

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Quotes:

“…I overheard Dorothy talking to Mr Montrose and she was telling Mr Montrose that she thought that I would be great in the movies if he would write me a part that only had three expressions, Joy, Sorrow, and Indigestion.”

“I mean Fanny is almost historical, because when a girl is cute for 50 years it really begins to get historical.”

“So I even promised Henry’s mother that she could act in the films. I mean I even believe that we could put in a close-up of her from time to time, because after all, nearly every photoplay has to have some comedy relief.”

“And when a girl walks around and reads all of the signs with all of the famous historical names it really makes you hold your breath. Because when Dorothy and I went on a walk, we only walked a few blocks but in only a few blocks we read all of the famous historical names, like Coty and Cartier and I knew we were seeing something educational at last and our whole trip was not a failure.”

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Some facts about Anita Loos:

In 1912, she became the first female staff writer in Hollywood. A prolific writer who appeared in the press in a manner as glamorized as the stars she wrote for, Anita Loos wrote over one hundred and fifty scripts in her thirty years as a Hollywood screenwriter and elevated inter-titles to an art.
Loos is credited with elevating inter-titles to “a legitimate form of screen humor” . Ally Acker agrees, claiming that “the art of the subtitle was born” with the film His Picture in the Papers (1916) from Loos’s script for Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
She started largely in her film career working alongside John Emerson, who she later went on to marry and continue co-collaborating on. Though, it is stated that Loos contributed to many works of Emerson’s in which he would not provide her credit, potentially due to Emerson’s well-documented hypochondria, philandering, and later institutionalization for schizophrenia.

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Other books by Anita Loos:

But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1927)
No Mother to Guide Her (1961)
A Girl Like I. (a memoir) (1963)