But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes she wanted it to be... Both "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" were viewed by female scholars as celebration bordering on satire. "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" is often considered the weaker of the two, and only works as a companion piece to Loos’s first installment. The film based on the novel, "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" (1955), is very loosely based on Loos’s book. The plot is very different. "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" is a musical film made by Russ-Field productions, starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain, and released by United Artists. The film was directed by Richard Sale, produced by the
Jayne Mansfield biggest successes, both critically and financially, earning more than "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" had three years before. Soon afterwards, Fox started promoting Mansfield as "Marilyn Monroe king-sized", attempting to coerce Monroe to return to the studio and finish out her contract. Mansfield had become one of 20th Century Fox's main sex symbol actresses. Mansfield next played a dramatic role in 1957's "The Wayward Bus", an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel of the same name. With this film, she attempted to move away from her "blonde bombshell" image and establish herself as a serious actress. The film enjoyed moderate box office success,