Marilyn Monroe dress, which prompted veteran star Joan Crawford to describe her behavior as "unbecoming an actress and a lady" to the press. While "Niagara" made Monroe a sex symbol and established her "look", her second film of the year, the satirical musical comedy "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", established her screen persona as a "dumb blonde". Based on Anita Loos' bestselling novel and its Broadway version, the film focuses on two "gold-digging" showgirls, Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, played by Monroe and Jane Russell. The role of Lorelei was originally intended for Betty Grable, who had been 20th Century-Fox's most popular "blonde bombshell"
Anita Loos her work; he was, in the words of his wife, "a man who enjoyed ill health." It was the opinion of New York's leading psychiatrist, Smith Ely Jelliffe, that she was to blame and that in order for Emerson to "get better" she would have to give up her career. She resolved to retire after her next book, "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes", a sequel to "Blondes" she had promised "Harper's Bazaar". On the further advice of the psychiatrist, the couple had planned another European vacation. At the last minute, Emerson feigned being unwell and insisted Loos continue alone. Arriving in