Chic seems". By contrast, in Anita Loos' novel, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1925), the diarist Lorelei Lee recorded that "the French use the word 'sheik' for everything, while we only seem to use if for gentlemen when they seem to resemble Rudolf Valentino" (a pun derived from the latter's being the star of the 1921 silent film, "The Sheik"). The Oxford Dictionary gives the comparative and superlative forms of "chic" as "chicer" and "chicest". These are wholly English words: the French equivalents would be "plus chic" and "le/la plus chic". "Super-chic" is sometimes used: "super-chic Incline bucket in mouth-blown, moulded glass". An
But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes Blondes". Both books began as sketch series originally published in "Harper's Bazaar" magazine. Loos had planned on retiring after writing "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in order to care for her partner, John Emerson. However, she had promised "Harper's Bazaar" a sequel, so Loos and Emerson did not leave for Europe until shortly after the sequel had been published. The sequel to "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is also narrated by Lorelei, the bubbly blonde; however, she tells the tale of her friend, Dorothy, a bright talented young woman who grew up in a carnival company; she is discovered by Charlie, who helps her