# SDMB Musical Lovers' Debate Society: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256 "2004-09-27T04:28:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/1 "2004-09-27T04:28:56Z")
It’s not one of the great musicals of all time…but it’s a fun one. The plot is silly, but it works. The songs are cute and well staged. The dialogue works. Marilyn Monroe is a perfect Lorelei Lee (I cannot picture Carol Channing doing the role. I know it happened, I just can’t picture it) and Jane Russell (who had top billing) was great as Dorothy. The direction was dead on. The film looks good all the way through. And I just really like watching the movie. I hope everyone enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/2 "2004-09-27T04:54:01Z")
Wow. Anyone read Jonathan Rosenbaum’s deconstruction of this movie? Very very impressive. Haven’t read it in a while, but it’s a pretty convoluted piece of criticism. Bit headache making. But convincining. He places it, IIRC, among the ten best films of all time. Anyway, the novel _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_ is a lot darker, more satirical, than the movie, and it’s one of my favorite frequent re-reads. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/3 "2004-09-27T05:18:11Z")
> [@](#): > > But convincining. He places it, IIRC, among the ten best films of all time. Even by my standards, that is pushing it.😃 Great movie. Good performances all around, excellent numbers. “Well, I was being the deer, and Piggie was the anaconda…” ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/4 "2004-09-27T12:06:25Z")
How funny. I couldn’t remember which movie was the next selection for the Society, but I borrowed the correct title anyway. I’m pretty sure I’d never seen any movie with Marilyn Monroe in it before, but now I am likely to see more. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/5 "2004-09-27T12:32:42Z")
It was also pretty daring for its time. The dance scene in the gym with the males in bathing suits was a pretty risque take-off on every prior musical ever made, with females in bathing suits. We actually showed this at my mother’s old-folks home a few months ago, and they loved it too. The sex is implicit, not explict, and it’s very funny. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/6 "2004-09-27T12:40:48Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > The sex is implicit, not explicit, and it’s very funny. I always get a laugh too. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/7 "2004-09-27T13:41:09Z")
One of my faves! A very entertaining musical with sparkling wit and memorable songs. Marilyn Monroe is wonderful, but Jane Russell -_Va Va Va Voom_!!! this gentleman prefers brunettes! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musical-lovers-debate-society-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/266256/8 "2004-09-27T14:34:35Z")
Here’s one of those stories that I want to tell despite feeling that it’s a bit too personal to share on the Internet, so I’ll probably end up mangling it. Oh well, here goes anyway. **Gentlemen Prefer Blondes** is the favorite musical, and perhaps the all-time favorite movie, of someone close to me. A couple of years back she suffered a severe head injury, and while she eventually managed a pretty amazing recovery it was a long and difficult road. For a long time she couldn’t respond coherently to questions, couldn’t recognize her family, couldn’t even give her own name and age correctly. However, when shown a photo of herself dressed up as Lorelei Lee, she was able to launch into a shaky, slightly inaccurate, but all things considered fairly decent rendition of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”: _Square cut or pear-shaped, These rocks don’t know their shape, Diamonds are a girl’s best friend!_ I don’t think I’ll ever forget that, down to the one word she got wrong. It was one of the first sure signs that the person I knew was still “in there”.