The first Marilyn Monroe film I ever saw was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I was only 7, but it became a major influence on my life. The fashion, glamour and the magic of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are like nothing I had ever seen before. It opened up a whole new world to me. I began to collect Marilyn Monroe books (amassing well over 100) and the film photos that always made me smile the most were the ones from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The film is based on the novel by Anita Loos and was released in 1953. Marilyn Monroe plays the role of gold digging Lorelei Lee and Jane Russell is the no nonsense Dorothy Shaw. After scouring many books I noticed that there was a a sequence of photos of Marilyn and Jane in pointed hats and flower trimmed bustiers climbing what looked like a ladder that didn’t appear in the film. I had to find out more – which was a much lengthier task before the internet was invented!
Four French Dances
In Lawrence Crown’s wonderful coffee table book Marilyn at Twentieth Century Fox I discovered that this was from a deleted scene featuring a number called ‘Four French Dances’.
The Four French Dances are made up of Sur la Balcon, Soltaire, Parle d’affair, La Tentateur. Jane and Marilyn are wearing bustier/ corsets designed by William Travilla and sequinned hats based on the style worn by Napoleon. Lorelei and Dorothy can be seen briefly in the costumes in the dressing room scene with Tommy Noonan directly before Lorelei takes to the stage to sing the iconic Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend number. (Interestingly Marilyn’s costume showed up on Sheree North a few years later in 1955 for an appearance on Us TV – see below).
One of the costumes had up until recently been part of the famous David Gainsborough – Roberts collection and I was lucky enough to see it at an exhibition a few years ago. It was recently sold by Juliens Auctions, although alterations had been made to the costume – it was sold with artificial pink flowers instead of the original yellow faux roses (looking more like it did when Sheree North borrowed it in 1955 – see below).
The scene was filmed in full and looks like a lavishly choreographed, fun and flirty piece. A snippet of film exists in the original film trailer which can be viewed here
I have heard different stories surrounding the Four French Dances: some say that it is completely instrumental, whilst others suggest that Marilyn and Jane are singing Two Little Girls From Little Rock in French. Unless the original footage is discovered in the Twentieth Century Fox vault we will never know for sure. Unfortunately this looks very unlikely . According to Lawrence Crown the soundtrack was found in the Twentieth Century Fox archive, but not the footage. The book quotes James Blakely, the assistant editor on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes:
“In those days it was standard practice at Fox to wait one year after the release of a picture, and then we would junk all of the outtakes and all of the trims. We’d throw them away because of storage problems, and because we never thought we’d use them again. In fact, when I graduated from editing and was put in charge of post-production, I would issue a ‘letter of destruction’ with my signature on it, saying that it was okay to throw away a specified list of trims and outtakes. Those would be dumped into large barrels and taken away.”
With all things Marilyn though, you never know what will turn up – which leads me on to the next ‘lost’ scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Down Boy
In April 2005 one of the most exciting Marilyn discoveries of recent times took place. A gentleman named Jack Allen was looking through some auction memorabilia which belonged to a studio worker who had recently passed away. To his surprise he found a truly hidden gem – a recording of Marilyn Monroe singing an unreleased song entitled Down Boy. Mr Allen told Entertainment Weekly:
“It was mixed in with some other records, what they call playback records, which are records that film studios produced that artists would then move their mouths to during filming. There was a set from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and among them was this record, ‘Down Boy.’ ”
Mr Allen did some research and found that although the song was recorded, the scene was never actually filmed. It was intended as a song for Lorelei to sing to Sir Frances Beekman aka ‘Piggy’, played by Charles Coburn. The song would most likely have been featured in the scene in which we just see a brief glimpse of Marilyn and Piggy dancing whilst Jane Russell and Elliott Reid look through the window. Marilyn is wearing the famous William Travilla gold lame gown which she wore in various publicity photos and to events.
Down Boy was written by Hoagy Carmichael and Harold Adamson, who also composed Aint There Anyone Here For Love and When Love Goes Wrong both of which made the final cut of the film.It’s an upbeat, lighthearted number and showcases Marilyn’s vocal talent wonderfully. Her voice is accompanied by just a piano and a man’s voice can be heard singing on occasional parts. I feel the track would have made a great addition to the film. However, although the track did not make it into Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, it did resurface sung by Betty Grable in the 1955 film Three for the Show and can be heard here.
The scene intended for Down Boy was also problematic due to Marilyn’s gold lame Travilla dress. The dress was deemed too risque and low cut for the film, so we only see Marilyn in the dress from behind. Here it is from the front:
Another song said to have been cut from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is When the Wild Wild Women Go Swimmin’ Down in Bimini Bay. Details for this song are much more sketchy. I have been unable to find out where in the film the song was intended to be performed and by whom. One day it might just surprise somebody who is clearing out their attic!
Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend – The Costume That Never Was
The pink floor length gown Marilyn wore to deliver the legendary and show-stopping number Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend was surprisingly not the original costume idea for this piece. A much more revealing outfit had been designed and costume tests completed.
Apparently William Travilla intended the original outfit to look like a giant diamond necklace.
The outfit appears to be held together by black fishnet material. It has a bejeweled bikini-effect top and a matching belt which drapes in the centre to create the ‘diamond necklace’ look. The look is finished off with long black gloves and matching feather fan and headdress.
The back of the costume features a jeweled bow made of what look like rhinestones.
With the costume tests completed the outfit was ready to go, however the ‘scandal’ of Marilyn being revealed as the model on the Golden Dreams calendar by Tom Kelly meant that Fox did not want to attract any negative publicity to the film by dressing Marilyn in such a revealing outfit, so they asked designer William Travilla to produce something “sexless” the result of which was the famous pink gown.
All that is left of the original costume today is the belt and feather fan. The top half of the costume was modified and worn by Sheree North in How To Be Very Very Popular, but it’s whereabouts is sadly unknown.
Other Bombshell Connections ….
The Girl From Missouri
In 1934 Jean Harlow starred as Eadie Chapman in The Girl From Missouri. The screenplay was partly written by Anita Loos and does bear a few similarities to her novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Eadie is determined to marry a rich man to escape her life as a showgirl. She is joined by her wise cracking brunette friend Kitty played by Pasty Kelly. Kitty doesn’t care for money and her head is easily turned by a good looking man.The two embark on Eadie’s quest, but it all goes wrong when Eadie finds herself arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. The Girl From Missouri is one of Jean Harlow’s funniest and most captivating films and I think an official UK DVD release is long overdue.
Mamie Van Doren
Blonde Bombshell Mamie Van Doren played the role of Lorelei Lee in a stage version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – a show I would have loved to have seen. She also once famously quipped “it is possible that blondes prefer gentlemen”!
Mamie also wore Marilyn’s sequinned leotard which can be seen in promotional photos for the film and on posters outside the Theatre Lorelei and Dorothy are performing at in Paris.
Sheree North
Sheree North has been pictured in various costumes worn by Marilyn or Jane Russell (it can’t be confirmed whose costume she borrowed as they look identical) in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Namely the red dress worn to perform Two Little Girls From Little Rock, the sequinned leotard trimmed with faux roses from Four French Dances and part of the original Diamonds Are Girls Best Friend costume that was never used in the film.
Sheree was also cast alongside Betty Grable in the 1955 film How to be Very Very Popular, roles that studio bosses had originally hoped would be filled by Marilyn and Jane Russell, capitalizing on their success in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Marilyn refused the role as she did not want to be typecast. How to be Very Very Popular also starred Gentlemen Prefer Blondes alumni Tommy Noonan and Charles Coburn.
Gentlemen Marry Bruenettes
In 1955 Jane Russell starred in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, which was based on Anita Loos’ follow up novel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jeanne Crain was Russell’s co star, but the film was not as well received as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
As in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes the story centres around two American showgirls who decide to leave New York for Paris.
The costumes were designed by William Travilla and the outfits worn by Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain in the still above bear more than a passing resemblance to Marilyn’s original Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend costume, although the fishnet seems to have been replaced with a sheer looking fabric.
B Movie Bombshell 