Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes

The book came first, and then the play featuring Carol Channing as Lorelei, and then the movie starring Marilyn Monroe, and those things created the earworm “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” But the book established all that, and while it may not have the same qualities as a song, it has plenty of charm. Written as if entries into a diary, it’s all told in Lorelei’s breathless prose, which often runs on for longer than it should, complete with misspellings and repetitions that makes it seems she’s talking directly to you. You quickly discover that Lorelei isn’t as naîve as she portrays herself, but it’s her friend Dorothy who steals the show with her one liners rendered faithfully by her friend.

This is comedy in the style of P.G. Wodehouse or Thorne Smith, although favoring the latter in its playful sexual implications. (Wodehouse’s characters aren’t sexless, but sex is only a way to differentiate the characters rather than imply any kind of bedroom sport.) Lorelei and Dorothy, sometimes in their “negligays,” are much more up front with their gentlemen, although Lorelei only describes talking late into the night rather than anything more amorous. But they are somehow able to wheedle dinners, shows, nightclubs, and gifts of all kinds from their admirers. From New York to London to Paris to Vienna and back, the two girls live a life of Riley on their ability to be “charmant,” as the French say. Along the way, many “instants” happen to keep you smiling.

There’s something revealed in the book about Lorelei’s past that presages the story of the musical Chicago, in about the same manner when she describes her experience in the courtroom. And the ending is kind of a surprise but flows naturally (I won’t spoil it) from what went before. I’d hesitate to call this great literature, but it was more than a pleasant diversion and really shows Loos’ ability to construct comic scenes.