Anita Loos (1888-1981) made history as Hollywood’s first female screenwriter when D. W. Griffith hired her at Triangle Film Corporation in 1912, later lauding her as "the most brilliant young woman in the world.” Although she achieved modest success as a screenwriter, Loos is best remembered today for her charmingly humorous novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady. This witty and incisive work offers a humorous critique of the materialism and social mores of the Jazz Age through the eyes of its protagonist, flapper Lorelei Lee, a gold-digging showgirl with a sharp intellect masked by her glamorous exterior.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady, by Anita Loos (New York; Boni and Liveright, 1925) Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, Delaware Art Museum
The novel originated as a series of short sketches in Harper’s Bazaar, featuring the flapper Lorelei Lee, whom Loos described as a “woman of loose morals and high self-esteem.” Due to their immense popularity, the "Lorelei" stories were compiled into a book in 1925, the same year as The Great Gatsby. Although critics dismissed it as “too light in texture to be enduring,” Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became the second-best-selling title of 1926. It has since been adapted into two films and a Broadway musical, and has been published in over 86 editions.
The book is illustrated by Ralph Barton, a renowned American cartoonist and caricaturist known for his portrayals of actors and celebrities. Barton’s work was highly sought after throughout the 1920s and his style has come to define the era.
But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, by Anita Loos (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1928) Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, Delaware Art Museum
The sequel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes follows Dorothy Shaw, Lorelei's cynical brunette friend, as she attempts to become a Ziegfld showgirl.
Blondes Prefer Gentlemen, by Nora K. Strange (New York: J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, 1926) Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, Delaware Art Museum
This satire about a naive and unsophisticated country girl who wants to be a good infuence on others was illustrated by Merle De Vore Johnson.
Smoldering Flames: Adventures and Emotions of a Flapper, by Clara Palmer Goetzinger (Chicago: The Zuriel Publising Co., 1928) Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, Delaware Art Museum
Written in diary form like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, this book recounts the adventures of Nan, "an eight cylinder Gold Coat flapper . . . [she] had foresight because mere hindsight might leave her in an awful pickle; knew when to hide some carfare in her stocking; when to laugh and when to Jiu Jitsu; and trained her dainty feet to take long walks."
