Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925)

I recently finished reading Anita Loos’ 1925 novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Intimate Diary of a Professional Lady. Although generally overshadowed by its 1953 screen adaptation starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, the work is considered an American classic. After a hundred years, it still had me laughing out loud, much as Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 Three Men in a Boat manages, despite multiple readings.

Not wishing to give away the plot or style, I shall share this much: the heroine, Miss Lorelei Lee, of Arkansas, appears somewhat unintelligent and inane, yet by the book’s close I reckoned her the smartest woman of the entire tale:

“A kiss on the hand may make you feel very nice, but a diamond and sapphire bracelet lasts forever.”

Despite her poor spelling and hopeless command of geography, she is the one who ends up with the tiaras and jewels. Her colleagues might have had a better education, but it is she who seems to collect all the prizes.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. 1 Corinthians 1:27

A.  D