Aileen Pringle and Valentino, of which Mencken wrote an account, some weeks after Valentino had died. Mencken does not name her but describes her as "discreet as she is charming." Ralph Barton, American artist, was also a devoted friend and used her as the model for "Dorothy" in his illustrations for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" by Anita Loos. Another admirer was George Gershwin who met her in Hollywood and wrote much of the Second Rhapsody at her Santa Monica, California, home. Her wit, keen intellect and sparkling personality made her a sought-after companion. After her 1926 divorce from Charles Pringle, Aileen Pringle further
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (novel) as a book by Boni & Liveright in 1925 and became a runaway best seller, becoming the second best selling title of 1926 and earning the praise of no less than Edith Wharton who dubbed it "The Great American Novel." A sequel, "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes", was published two years later. Responding to a male friend’s suggestion that she should write down her thoughts because it would make an interesting book, the blonde Lorelei Lee narrates the novel in the form of a diary complete with spelling and grammatical errors. Lorelei Lee had been working in movies in Hollywood when