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"
Lorelei (musical) Lorelei (musical) Lorelei is a musical with a book by Kenny Solms and Gail Parent, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Jule Styne. It is a revision of the Joseph Fields-Anita Loos book for the 1949 production "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and includes many of the Jule Styne-Leo Robin songs written for the original. The 1974 Broadway production of "Lorelei", directed by Robert Moore and starring Carol Channing, ran for 320 performances. Subtitled "Gentlemen Still Prefer Blondes", it opens with the title character, a heavily-bejeweled, very wealthy widow, about to set sail on the SS Ile de