In Appreciation: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

With the New York City Center's Encores revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (starring Smash alumnus Megan Hilty) opening this week, I thought it was time to take a look at the hit 1953 musical, starring the one-and-only Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as Lorelei and Dorothy, the two most beloved golddiggers in the world.


Set in the Roaring Twenties, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes follows the madcap adventures of  Lorelei Lee, as she sets sail for Europe with her best friend Dorothy Shaw. As Dorothy puts it, the gold-digging Lorelei is “the only girl in the world who can stand on a stage with a spotlight in her eye and still see a diamond inside a man’s pocket.”

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made a star of Carol Channing on Broadway and later cemented Marilyn Monroe’s status as an American film icon and sex symbol.  Directed by Howard Hawks, the musical was such a hit that both Monroe and Russell were asked to put their handprints in cement at Grauman's Chnese Theater.  Hawks was a one-of-a-kind director: able to work in any genre.  Among his films are Bringing Up Baby, To Have And Have Not, Sergeant York, The Thing, and Rio Bravo--all of them classics.


 “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” is the crown jewel in the score that sparkles with songs like “Bye, Bye, Baby,” and “A Little Girl from Little Rock."  Jane Russell sings, "Anybody Here For Love" with a group of half-naked team Olympic team members performing their "workout."  The number still stands as one of the sexiest showstoppers ever filmed.

The film was a huge critical and commercial success, ending up as the sixth top moneymaker of 1953. The fifth was another Monroe hit, How To Marry A Millionaire. Together, both films cemented Monroe's image as a sex symbol for generations to come.


For more info on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on DVD, click on the pic: