Episode 59: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Have you ever wondered how to take some pointless old rich men for a ride? Have you ever wanted to learn to do close-up magic with a diamond tiara? Join us for a discussion of Anita Loos’s 1924 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and hear all about diamonds, silly hats, funny brunette best friends, and remarkably dumb aristocrats. We talk about money, sexuality, and gender, and living the dream of having a rich husband and a fun boyfriend at the same time. We also ponder the timeless question, “what do gentlemen prefer?” turning to a most educational Cosmo survey of thousands of “horny men.”

We read the Liveright edition with an introduction by Jenny McPhee. We recommend Loos’s autobiography A Girl Like I and T.E. Blom’s 1976 reconsideration of the novel, “Anita Loos and Sexual Economics: ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,’” published in The Canadian Review of American Studies.

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