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Anita Loos Has Family Roots in Newcomerstown
Born: April 26, 1888 - Died: August 18, 1981
Burial: Etna Cemetery, Etna, Siskiyou County, California, USA

 

The Flapper

Literary critics credit F. Scott Fitzgerald, as did Dorothy Parker, for popularizing the flapper. He had, however, lots of help, most notably from Anita Loos who not only wrote about flappers but also looked the part herself. Her famous line, "I really think that American gentlemen are the best after all, because kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond and a sapphire bracelet lasts forever," inspired the song "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." The lyrics, by Leo Robin (music by Jule Styne) run:

First edition cover of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos.A kiss on the hand may be quite continental,
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.
The kiss may be grand,
But it won't pay the rental
On your tiny flat
Or help you at the Automat.

Men grow cold
When girls grow old,
And we all lose our charms in the end.
But round cut or pear-shaped,
These rocks don't lose their shape.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

 

 

Here is part of the entry on Loos from the Encyclopedia Brittanica's Women in American History site:

Anita Loos was born on April 26, probably in 1893 (some sources say 1888), in Sissons (now Mount Shasta), California. She was a child actress, playing on the stage in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, California, as well as in early films. At an early age she also began contributing sketches and articles to various periodicals. The film of her first scenario, "The New York Hat," was produced in 1912 by D.W. Griffith and starred Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore. By the age of 20 Loos was a professional screenwriter, and she eventually worked on more than 60 silent films. "His Picture in the Paper" (1916), a Douglas Fairbanks film, signaled a new departure in its use of discursive and witty titles, and its success convinced Griffith to let Loos write titles for his epic "Intolerance" (1916), and many others. In 1919 Loos married writer-director John Emerson, a frequent collaborator, and in New York City they began writing and producing their own films, notably" A Virtuous Vamp" (1919), "The Perfect Woman" (1920), "Dangerous Business" (1920), "Polly of the Follies" (1922), and "Learning to Love" (1925). They also wrote two books, Breaking Into the Movies (1919) and How to Write Photoplays (1921), and on her own Loos wrote two plays for Broadway, "The Whole Town's Talking" (filmed 1926), and "The Fall of Eve" (filmed 1929). In 1926, a year after its serialization in Harper's Bazaar, Loos's first novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, was published. Its success was immediate and astonishing. The tale of Lorelei Lee, the archetypal "dumb blonde" gold digger from Arkansas, made Loos an international celebrity. Her stage version of the story opened in New York in September 1926 and later toured successfully. More than two decades later she wrote with Joseph Fields the book for a successful musical version, and in 1953 Marilyn Monroe starred in a movie version. Her next book, But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1928), was also successful.

 
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