Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction by Anita Loos, Creator of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Hardcover

Anita Loos; Cari Beauchamp; Mary Anita Loos

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520228944 ISBN 13: 9780520228948

Publisher: University of California Press, 2003

Synopsis

Anita Loos (1888-1981) was one of Hollywood's most respected and prolific screenwriters, as well as an acclaimed novelist and playwright. This unique collection of previously unpublished film treatments, short stories, and one-act plays spans fifty years of her creative writing and showcases the breadth and depth of her talent. Beginning in 1912 with the stories she submitted from her San Diego home (some made into films by D. W. Griffith), through her collaboration with Colette on the play Gigi, Anita Loos wrote almost every day for the screen, stage, books, or magazines. Film scripts include San Francisco, The Women, and Red-Headed Woman. The list of stars for whom she created unforgettable roles includes Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, and Carol Channing.

This collection has been selected by Anita's niece and close friend, the best-selling author Mary Anita Loos, together with the acclaimed film historian Cari Beauchamp. Their essays are laced throughout the volume, introducing each section and giving previously untold insights and behind-the-scenes stories about Anita―her life, her friendships, and her times.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"I adored Anita, as did the entire fashion and literary world. She was four feet nine inches of lithe, slender, dramatic chic."--Carol Channing

"This book celebrates a character as memorable as any Anita Loos created in her writing. She was an indomitable, wise-cracking prodigy who not only helped create Hollywood, but managed to survive it."--John Sayles

"If we can't have the wonderful Anita Loos-smart, witty, literate and fun- writing today's Hollywood movies, at least we can get reacquainted with her and her work through this delightful book. Filled with previously unpublished material, it shows that while gentlemen may have preferred blondes, everyone else in town wisely preferred the irresistible Ms. Loos."--Kenneth Turan, film critic for the "Los Angeles Times

"This is a wonderful book about a talented, fascinating, and groundbreaking woman. Her life epitomizes a certain era in show business and describes a Hollywood in which few women were allowed to rise to the top. Anita Loos did and we were all the beneficiaries. I loved the book!"--Peter Duchin

"Not only is it valuable to have these delightful Anita Loos pieces, but the biographical chapters are fascinating too."--Kevin Brownlow, author of "David Lean: A BiographyJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

About the Author

Cari Beauchamp is the author of Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood (California, 1998) and Hollywood on the Riviera: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival (1992). Mary Anita Loos is the author of A Pride of Lovers (1981), The Barstow Legend (1978), Belinda (1976), and The Beggars Are Coming (1974).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0520228944
• ISBN 13: 9780520228948
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 322