Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928 film)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by Mal St. Clair, co-written by Anita Loos based on her 1925 novel, and released by Paramount Pictures. No copies are known to exist, and it is now considered to be a lost film.Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at silentera.com databaseThe Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ..Retrieved July 19, 2018 The Broadway version Gentlemen Prefer Blondes starring Carol Channing as Lorelei Lee was mounted in 1949. It was remade into the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Jane Russell as Dorothy Shaw and Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee in 1953, directed by Howard Hawks.Dwyer, 1996 p. 210: Filmography

Plot Blonde Lorelei Lee (Ruth Taylor) and her brunette friend Dorothy Shaw (Alice White), are each seeking a wealthy husband They learn that the richest man in the world, the bachelor Henry Spoffard, is boarding a luxury liner to Europe. The women purchase tickets for the same voyage. Spofford turns out not to be a licentious playboy, but a so-called social reformer intent on investigating immoral Americans abroad. Spoffard's seasickness en route prevents his seduction by either woman, but Lorelei obtains Lady Beekman's (Emily Fitzroy) diamond tiara from her love-struck husband Sir Francis Beekman (Mack Swain).

At the Ritz hotel in Paris, Spoffard and Lorelei begin a liaison that is repeatedly interrupted by his mother and fellow reformers. Love triumphs, and the couple are married, the ceremony broadcast on the radio.Dwyer, 1996 p. 210: Filmography, plot synopsis

Cast

Casting and Louise Brooks

St. Clair directed Louise Brooks in two films for Paramount before pre-production began on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, each satiric comedies released in 1926: A Social Celebrity and The Show-Off. In both films she played the leading female protagonist. Brooks would also star in The Canary Murder Case (1929), also directed by St. Clair and her final film with Paramount.Dwyer, 1996 pp. 205-207, p. 213: FilmographyGallagher, 2016: Cites the three films Brooks made with St. Clair.

Film historian Ruth Anne Dwyer, in her biography of Malcolm St. Clair, examines the circumstances concerning the casting for the lead role of Dorothy Shaw for the 1929 version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (note: Jane Russell was cast as Dorothy in the 1953 remake of the film directed by Howard Hawks).Dwyer, 1996 p. 112

The Anita Loos novel Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1925) inspired at least three popular spin-offs:

A 1926 film entitled Just Another Blonde, directed by Alfred Santell for First National Pictures.Dwyer, 1996 p. 112 Show Girl, a magazine serial created by J. P. McEvoy, featuring a character named Dixie Dugan, modeled on Dorothy Shaw.Dwyer, 1996 p. 112 A cartoon strip entitled Dixie Dugan by John H. Striebel, with Dixie also a “Dorothy-like” figure.Dwyer, 1996 p. 112 Dwyer reports Dixie Dugan, “a cynical flapper,” were “thinly disguised” tributes to the actress Louise Brooks.Dwyer, 1996 p. 112

In the Santell production for Just Another Blonde, Brooks was cast as a “gold-digging show girl" similar to the fictional Dorothy Shaw. When First National made a film adaption of the magazine Show Girl in 1927, clearly based on Brooks’ screen persona in Just Another Blonde, Alice White was selected to play the role: Brooks, who expected to be cast, was not offered a screen test, though, according to her biographer Barry Paris she was “made" for the part. Brooks’ in anticipation of securing the role, posed for a photo depicting her reading a copy of Loos’ novel.Dwyer, 1996 p. 112: See Dwyer for Paris material sources, page numbers. And: “She even had a photo reading the book in preparation for the part.”

Both director Malcolm St. Clair and novelist Anita Loos screen-tested actors for the role of Dorothy Shaw in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, including Louise Brooks, but settled on Antia White.Gallagher, 2016: See here for Anita Loos negative reaction to Brooks’ screen test. According to Dwyer, Paris describes a bitterly disappointed Brooks, who subsequently denounced St. Clair as a drunkard and his direction of Paramount production of the film as a failure.Dwyer, 1996 p. 111: Brooks’ considered Alice White her “arch enemy.” And p. 112: “...called [St. Clair] a drunk...”

Film critic Beth Ann Gallagher reports that contemporary reviews of the film were “lukewarm,” and that the cast was ranked among critics higher than the production.Gallagher, 2016: See here for Brooks’ low opinion regarding St. Clair and other unnamed directors. Dwyer notes that the movie was “quite a success” with New York Times critic Mordaunt Hall, who described it as “splendid” and Alice White “an excellent selection” to perform the character Dorothy Shaw.Dwyer, 1996 p. 110: Hall calls the film “perfection” in his review. And p. 112: Hall review quotes. And p. 128-129: See footnotes no. 8, no. 9 for Brooks alternating hostility and praise for St. Clair Dwyer reports that St. Clair's professional and personal contemporaries she interviewed contradict and correct Brooks’ negative appraisal of the director.Dwyer, 1996 p. 4: “...Louise Brooks’ critical appraisal of St. Clair is highly inaccurate.”Gallagher, 2016

Reception New York Times film critic Mordaunt Hall described the film as “a splendid pictorial translation of Anita Loos's book,” reserving high praise for the performances of Ruth Taylor, Alice White and Mack Swain. An “infectious treat,” Hall added that “St. Clair has given to it just the right touch.”Hall, 1928Dwyer, 1996 p. 112: Dwyer cites the Hall review: “...a splendid pictorial translation of Anita Loos’ book…the film is an infectious treat.” Hall further praised Alice White as Dorothy: “She is also an excellent selection…”

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928 film)

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