Anita Loos with humorous anecdotes and Jule Styne played songs from Loos' musicals, including "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". Anita Loos Anita Loos (April 26, 1889 – August 18, 1981) was an American screenwriter, playwright and author, best known for her blockbuster comic novel, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". She wrote film scripts from 1912, and became arguably the first-ever staff scriptwriter, when D.W. Griffith put her on the payroll at Triangle Film Corporation. She went on to write many of the Douglas Fairbanks films, as well as the stage adaptation of Colette’s "Gigi". Anita Loos was born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson,
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical) was produced by Herman Levin and Oliver Smith, directed by John C. Wilson, and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, with vocal direction by Hugh Martin. Financial backers included Harold M. Esty, Jr. The original cast featured: Several well-known blonde actresses, including Betty Hutton, Jayne Mansfield (Carousel Theater, 1964), Mamie Van Doren, Barbara Eden (Florida, January 1999) and Morgan Fairchild, have starred in regional and summer stock productions of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" over the years. The musical ran in the West End at the Princes Theatre, opening on August 20, 1962 for 223 performances, and featured Dora Bryan as Lorelei Lee,