Trivia and Quotes
Trivia
 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opened at the Ziegfeld Theater on December 8, 1949 and ran for 740 performances starring Carol Channing. The original play of the same name opened in 1928 and ran 128 performances.
Judy Holliday turned down the role of Lorelei Lee because she felt no actress other than Carol Channing (who played the part on Broadway) should be cast.
Marilyn Monroe reportedly suggested the line "I can be smart when it`s important, but most men don`t like it."
The story was based on an ocean voyage to Europe that Anita Loos took on the same boat taking the US Olympic Team.
This was `Jane Russell``s only film with Marilyn Monroe. They got along well. Russell called Monroe "Blondie" and was often the only person on the set who could coax Monroe out of her trailer to begin the day`s filming.
This was `Jane Russell``s only film with Marilyn Monroe. They got along well. Russell called Monroe "Blondie" and was often the only person on the set who could coax Monroe out of her trailer to begin the day`s filming.
The "Diamonds Are A Girl`s Best Friend" number was later re-shot in Cinemascope, to be used as part of a Cinemascope demonstration held on the Fox lot in March of 1953. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck told "Daily Variety" that it only took 3-1/2 hours to shoot the number in Cinemascope versus four days for the original film version. The film-going public finally saw the CinemaScope version ten years later when it closed Fox`s documentary tribute to MM, "Marilyn".
According to Marni Nixon, the studio initially wanted Marilyn Monroe`s entire voice dubbed, as they thought her voice was silly. Nixon thought that was "awful", as she felt Monroe`s voice suited her persona so beautifully. Nixon told The New York Times in March 2007 that she ended up only dubbing the operatic "no, no, nos" at the beginning of the song.
The ship model shown is the one used previously in Titanic (1953) and was refurbished to resemble the Queen Mary. Some of the ocean liner sets used were also left over from "Titanic".
When told she was not the star of the film, Marilyn Monroe was quoted: "Well whatever I am, I`m still the blonde."
A song written for Marilyn Monroe to perform in this picture, "Down Boy" (music by Hoagy Carmichael, lyrics by Harold Adamson), was rejected, but later sung and danced by Betty Grable in Three for the Show (1955).
At least one other number was shot, then cut. In the original theatrical trailer, Jane and Marilyn were shown among dancers, climbing the steps of a slide in a children`s playground. The song was a French version of "Two Little Girls from Little Rock". Marilyn and Jane wear the costumes when Tommy Noonan corners them backstage in the French nightclub.
In the "Ain`t There Anyone Here for Love?" sequence, Jane Russell`s fall into the pool was an accident. When Hawks saw the dailies, he kept it in the film.
Monroe wears a gold lame evening dress previously worn by Ginger Rogers in Dreamboat (1952).
Marilyn Monroe kept insisting on retakes despite approval of takes by the director. When Fox asked director Howard Hawks how production could be sped up he retorted: "three wonderful ideas: Replace Marilyn, rewrite the script and make it shorter, and get a new director."
Originally bought by Fox as a vehicle for Betty Grable. After the success of Niagara (1953) (which featured Marilyn Monroe), however, the studio believed they had a more potent and far less expensive sex symbol than Grable (who was earning around $150,000 per picture vs. Monroe`s $18,000).
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