'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' by Anita Loos

I have never seen the Marilyn Monroe movie of this name, but I have now read the novella on which it is (apparently) very loosely based, and found it to be something of a comic masterpiece. It was published a century ago in the autumn of 1925 and was a big hit.

A sequel of sorts entitled ‘But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes’ followed in 1927 which I have also read. It is amusing enough in its social satire, but for me it lacked the sparkle and originality of the first book which is consistently funny throughout.

The novella is narrated by a New York showgirl from Little Rock who is presumably blonde and stunningly beautiful, but poorly educated and childlike in many respects. Her name is Lorelei Lee. She is taken up by a variety of older wealthy men who encourage her to travel, read and write, the purported diary that forms the novel being one result.

It is something of a one-trick pony in that the laughs all arise from her lack of self-knowledge, poor spelling and unreliability as a narrator, but it is nonetheless a true classic of comic literature. It satirises the morals of the American post-World-War-One prohibition era jazz age, just as effectively as 'The Great Gatsby' does, but with less literary panache and much more humour.

Much of Lorelei’s diary covers a tour she makes around Europe for the purposes of educating herself. She is accompanied on the trip by her friend Dorothy who she is sometimes quite sniffy about, and this is another source of comedy. Needless to say, not a lot of education takes place as they spend most of their time knocking about with American guys and shopping.

This was my favourite passage:

May 27th:

Well finaly I broke down and Mr Spofford said that he thought a girl like I, who was trying to reform the whole world was trying to do too much, especially beginning on a girl like Dorothy. So he said there was a famous doctor in Vienna called Dr Froyd who could stop all of my worrying because he doers not give a girl medicine but he talks you out of it by psychoanalysis. So yesterday he took me to Dr Froyd. So dr Froyd and I had quite a long talk in the English language. So it seems that everybody seems to have a thing called inhibitions, which is when you want to do a thing and you do not do it. So then you dream about it instead. So Dr Froyd asked me what I seemed to dream about. So I told him that I never really dream about anything. I mean I use my brains so much in the day time that at night they do not seem to do anything else but rest. So Dr Froyd was very very surprized at a girl who did not dream about anything. So then he asked me all about my life. I mean he is very very sympathetic, and he seems to know how to draw a girl out quite a lot. I mean I told him things that I would no even put in my diary. So then he seemed very very intreeged at a girl who always seemed to do everything she wanted to do. So he asked me if I really never wanted to a thing that was really vialent, for instance, did I ever want to shoot someone for instance. So then I said that I had, but the bullet only went in Mr Jennings lung and came right out again. So then Dr Froyd looked at me and looked at me and he said he did not really think it was possible. So then he called in his assistance and he pointed at me and talked to his assistance quite a lot in the Viennese language. So then his assistance looked at me and looked at me and it really seems as if I was quite a famous case. So then Dr Froyd said all I needed was to cultivate a few inhibitions and get some sleep.

Narrators who have a rather higher opinion of themselves than the rest of the world and who misunderstand the way that they are perceived always provide a rich source of comedy. Misplaced over-confidence just is perennially amusing – Alan Partridge, David Brent and Captain Mainwaring are great examples of iconic TV characters who we laugh at for this reason, but also admire in a strange way because there are accompanying redeeming features. Lorelei Lee is in the same league. She is silly, but is not a nasty person, and admirably is trying to make something of her life. It works really well.