Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos exploits the formula later popularized in the early 1930s Gold Digger musicals which often featured Joan Blondell and Dick Powell.  Young women, usually from some small midwestern or southern town, head for the big city to play on the gullibility of older men—traveling and shopping on their money, and hoping to snag a rich husband.

Loos’ protagonist Lorelei Lee shares her diary as she and her best friend Dorothy work their wonders on the men of New York City, London, Paris and other European capitals.  Throughout the narrative, Lorelei finds a way to be innocent on the surface while slyly manipulating her targets to her advantage.

The book sometimes seems like a 1925 version of Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump.  Both novels are in the first person.  They initially require a little effort to adjust to the grammatical errors and misspelled words (Ever been to the Eyefull Tower?).  Both have a trusted sidekick—at least Lorelei’s is human—and their adventures place them in entertaining situations.  Lorelei, though, is funnier than Forrest.

Loos’ bestseller is an easy and amusing read, especially if you remember its context of the mid-1920s.  It’s about materialism, gender roles, Americans’ naiveté outside their home country—all fueled by the finest champagne.  So, lose yourself for a little while in Prohibition, speakeasies, Atlantic cruises, and see why Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

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Quotes

And he said he ought to know brains when he sees them, because he is in the senate and he spends quite a great deal of time in Washington, d.c., and when he comes into contact with brains he always notices it.

Lulu has had a very sad life because when she was quite young a pullman porter fell madly in love with her.  So she believed him and he lured her away from her home to Ashtabula and deceived her there.  So she finally found out that she had been deceived and she really was broken hearted and when she tried to go back home she found out that it was to late because her best girl friend, who she had always trusted, had stolen her husband and he would not take Lulu back.

…I told Piggie he was wonderful the way he could tell jokes.  I mean you can always tell when to laugh because Piggie always laughs first.

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