Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
Encyclopedia
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is a 1955 musical film produced by Russ-Field productions, starring Jane Russell
and Jeanne Crain
, and released by United Artists
. It was directed by Richard Sale
, produced by the director and Bob Waterfield
(Russell's husband) with Robert Bassler as executive producer, from a screenplay by Mary Loos
and Sale, based on the novel But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
by Anita Loos
.
Anita Loos was the author of the novel and play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
, which had been turned into a smash film with Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe
two years before. The studio attempted to repeat the formula, with Russell returning but Jeanne Crain
stepping in for a presumably otherwise engaged Monroe (both women played new characters). Alan Young
(later the star of TV's Mr. Ed), Scott Brady
(brother of Lawrence Tierney
), and Rudy Vallee
also appear. This film was not as well received as the earlier one.
The choreography was by Jack Cole
, who had also contributed to the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes film. The dance ensemble includes the young Gwen Verdon
.
Anita Loos had entitled her book But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, but the studio dropped the first word from the title for the film.
and Earle Hagen
.
Incidental Music Composed and Conducted by Robert Farnon
.
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
and Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain was an American actress.-Early life:Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a school teacher, and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and distant French descent on her father's...
, and released by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. It was directed by Richard Sale
Richard Sale (director)
Richard Sale, was an American screenwriter and film director.He started his career writing for the pulps in the Thirties, appearing regularly in Detective Fiction Weekly , Argosy, Double Detective, and a number of other magazines...
, produced by the director and Bob Waterfield
Bob Waterfield
Robert "Bob" Stanton Waterfield was an American football player.Waterfield attended Van Nuys High School, in Van Nuys, California and went on to play college football for UCLA. In 1943 he led the Bruins to the Pacific Coast Conference football championship...
(Russell's husband) with Robert Bassler as executive producer, from a screenplay by Mary Loos
Mary Loos
Mary Loos was an American actress, screenwriter and novelist.Born in San Diego, California, she was the daughter of Dr. Clifford Loos, co-founder of the Ross-Loos Medical Clinic. She was the niece of screenwriter Anita Loos....
and Sale, based on the novel But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is a 1927 novel written by Anita Loos. It is the sequel to her 1925 novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes follows the further adventures of Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw and is illustrated by Ralph Barton.As a sequel to the 1953 film Gentlemen...
by Anita Loos
Anita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
.
Anita Loos was the author of the novel and play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (novel)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady is a comic novel written by Anita Loos first published in 1925. Loos was inspired to write the book after watching a sexy blonde turn intellectual H. L. Mencken into a lovestruck schoolboy. Mencken, a close friend, actually...
, which had been turned into a smash film with Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
two years before. The studio attempted to repeat the formula, with Russell returning but Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain was an American actress.-Early life:Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a school teacher, and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and distant French descent on her father's...
stepping in for a presumably otherwise engaged Monroe (both women played new characters). Alan Young
Alan Young
Alan Young is an English-Canadian actor and voice actor, best known for his role as Wilbur Post in the television series Mister Ed and as the voice of Scrooge McDuck in Disney films, TV series and video games...
(later the star of TV's Mr. Ed), Scott Brady
Scott Brady
Scott Brady was an American film and television actor.Born as Gerard Kenneth Tierney, he was the younger brother of fellow actor Lawrence Tierney. Brady served in the Navy during World War II, where he was a boxing champ...
(brother of Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
), and Rudy Vallee
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
also appear. This film was not as well received as the earlier one.
The choreography was by Jack Cole
Jack Cole
Jack Cole may refer to:*Jack Cole *Jack Cole *Jack Cole *Jack Isadore Cole , founder of the Coles chain and Coles notes...
, who had also contributed to the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes film. The dance ensemble includes the young Gwen Verdon
Gwen Verdon
Gwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an actress and dancer who won four Tony awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was a critically acclaimed dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
.
Anita Loos had entitled her book But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, but the studio dropped the first word from the title for the film.
Plot
Bonnie and Connie Jones are showgirls, who are also sisters. They are sick and tired of New York as well as not getting anywhere. Quitting Broadway, the sisters decided to travel to Paris to become famous and find true love.Cast
- Jane RussellJane RussellJane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
as Bonnie Jones / Mimi Jones - Jeanne CrainJeanne CrainJeanne Elizabeth Crain was an American actress.-Early life:Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a school teacher, and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and distant French descent on her father's...
as Connie Jones / Mitzi Jones - Alan YoungAlan YoungAlan Young is an English-Canadian actor and voice actor, best known for his role as Wilbur Post in the television series Mister Ed and as the voice of Scrooge McDuck in Disney films, TV series and video games...
as Charlie Biddle / Mrs. Biddle / Mr. Henry Biddle - Scott BradyScott BradyScott Brady was an American film and television actor.Born as Gerard Kenneth Tierney, he was the younger brother of fellow actor Lawrence Tierney. Brady served in the Navy during World War II, where he was a boxing champ...
as David Action - Rudy ValleeRudy ValléeRudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
as Himself - Guy MiddletonGuy MiddletonGuy Middleton Powell, usually credited as Guy Middleton, was an English film character actor.Middleton was born in Hove, England and originally worked in the London Stock Exchange, before turning to acting in the 1930s...
as Earl of Wickenwave - Eric PohlmannEric PohlmannEric Pohlmann was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor.Born Erich Pollak in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was a classically trained actor who studied under the renowned director Max Reinhardt...
as M. Ballard - Robert Favart as Hotel Manager
- Guido LorraineGuido LorraineGuido Lorraine was a Polish-born actor, musician and singer, known primarily for his roles in war films. He was also sometimes known by the stage name Guy Borucki. Lorraine appeared in twenty-eight films during his career, as well as many theater productions.Lorraine was born Gwidon Borucki in...
as M. Marcel - Ferdy MayneFerdy Mayne-Early life:He was born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel, in Mainz, Germany. His German father was the Judge of Mayence, and his half-English mother gave singing lessons. Because his family was Jewish, he was sent to England to protect him from the Nazis, and he stayed with his aunt, the photographer...
as M. Dufond
Musical Numbers
The Musical Supervision is credited to “M.S.I.” Herbert SpencerHerbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
and Earle Hagen
Earle Hagen
Earle Harry Hagen was an American composer who created music for movies and television. He is remembered for co-writing and whistling "The Fishin' Hole", the melody of the main theme to The Andy Griffith Show, the instrumental classic "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme to television's Mickey...
.
Incidental Music Composed and Conducted by Robert Farnon
Robert Farnon
Robert Joseph Farnon was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a famous composer of original works , he was recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation...
.
- “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” (music by Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen, lyrics by Richard Sale)
- “I Wanna Be Loved By You” (music by Herbert StothartHerbert StothartHerbert Stothart was a song writer, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for nine Oscars, winning Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz.-Biography:...
and Harry RubyHarry RubyHarry Ruby was a Jewish American songwriter and screenwriter.After failing in his early ambition to become a professional baseball player,...
, lyrics by Bert KalmarBert KalmarBert Kalmar was a Jewish American lyricist.He was born in New York, New York. He ran away from home at the age of 10 to become a magician at a tent show, and retained an interest in magic all his life. He never got much of an education, but decided to make a career in show business...
) - “Have You Met Miss Jones?” (music by Richard RodgersRichard RodgersRichard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
, lyrics by Lorenz HartLorenz HartLorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
) - “My Funny Valentine” (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart)
- I’ve Got Five Dollars” (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart)
- “Daddy” (music & lyrics by Bobby TroupBobby TroupRobert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
) - “Miss Annabelle Lee” (music & lyrics by Sydney Clare and Lou Pollock)
- “You’re Driving Me Crazy” (music & lyrics by Walter DonaldsonWalter DonaldsonWalter Donaldson was a prolific United States popular songwriter, composing many hit songs of the 1910s and 1920s.-History:...
) - “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (music & lyrics by Thomas ‘Fats’ W. WallerFats WallerFats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
, Harry BrooksHarry BrooksHarry Brooks may refer to:*Harry W. Brooks, Jr., general of the 25th Infantry Division *Harry Brooks , jazz composer, pianist and songwriter *Harry Brooks , Tennessee state representative from Knoxville...
, and Andy Razaf)