Anita Loos Rediscovered

Anita Loos (1888-1981) was a prolific actress, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. Author of the international bestseller Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, adapted into the classic film starring Marilyn Monroe, she was the first woman to work as a staff screenwriter in Hollywood.   Cari Beauchamp (1949-2023) was author and editor of many books on early Hollywood, including the classic Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. Emmy-nominated for her documentary film work, she was twice named an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scholar.   Mary Anita Loos (1910-2004) was an actress, screenwriter, and novelist, and the niece of Anita Loos. She wrote or cowrote screenplays for many Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s, including for the film Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, based on her aunt’s novel of the same name.

Plates follow page
Foreword
Mary Anita Loos
Introduction
Cari Beauchamp

ANITA LOOS AND HER STORIES FROM SAN DIEGO, 1888–1915
The School of Acting
The Highbrow
Plagiarism
The Man Who Looked Up
By Way of France
Jane Wins Out
A Ride with Billy

HOLLYWOOD SUCCESSS AND INTERNATIONAL FAME, 1915–1930
The Heart That Has Truly Loved
Play for Mr. Fairbanks
All Men Are Equal
Where Does Annie Belong?
The Moving Pictures of Blinkville
My First Memories of Aunt Anita
Mary Anita Loos

RETURN TO HOLLYWOOD, 1931–1944
Winkie Boy
Suggestion for Keaton Story
Evelina
Women in Uniform
Aunt Anita’s Romances and Friendships
Mary Anita Loos

NEW YORK AT LAST, 1944–1981
It Pays to Advertise
One More Heroine
Mr. Sherard
Travels with Aunt Anita
Mary Anita Loos

Anita Loos’s Memorial Service, August 27, 1981
Notes
Works by Anita Loos
Acknowledgments
Index