Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / Джентльмены предпочитают блондинок. Анита Лус

but Mr. Eisman thinks my interest in him is more literary.

      March 30th:

      At last Mr. Eisman has left and I must say I am quite tired and a little rest will be quite welcome. I mean I do not mind staying out late every night if I dance, but Mr. Eisman is really not such a good dancer so most of the time we just sit and drink some champagne or have a bite to eat and of course I do not dance with anyone else when I am out with Mr. Eisman. But Mr. Eisman and Gerry, as Mr. Lamson wants me to call him, became quite good friends and we had several evenings, all three together. So now that Mr. Eisman is out of town at last, Gerry and I are going out together this evening and Gerry said not to dress up, because Gerry seems to like me more for my soul. Gerry does not like a girl to be nothing else but a doll, but he likes her to bring in her husband’s slippers every evening.

      But before Mr. Eisman went to Chicago he told me that he is going to Paris this summer on professional business and I think he is going to present me with a trip to Paris as he says there is nothing so educational as traveling. I mean it did worlds of good[11] to Dorothy when she went abroad last spring and I never get tired of hearing her telling how the merry-go-rounds in Paris have pigs instead of horses. But I really do not know whether to be excited or not because, of course, if I go to Paris I will have to leave Gerry and both Gerry and I have made up our minds[12] not to be separated from one another from now on[13].

      March 31st:

      Last night Gerry and I had dinner at a place where we had roast beef and baked potato. I mean he always wants me to have food which is what he calls “nourishing.” So then we took a cab and drove for hours around the park because Gerry said the air would be good for me. It is really very sweet to have someone think of all those things that gentlemen hardly ever seem to think about.

      So then we talked quite a lot. I mean Gerry knows how to draw a girl out and I told him things that I really would not even put in my diary. So when he heard all about my life he became quite depressed and we both had tears in our eyes. Because he said he never dreamed a girl could go through so much as I, and stay so sweet and not made bitter[14] by it all. I mean Gerry thinks that most gentlemen are brutes and hardly ever think about a girl’s soul.

      So it seems that Gerry has had quite a lot of trouble himself and he cannot even get married because of his wife. He and she have never been in love with each other but she was a suffragette[15] and asked him to marry her, so what could he do? So we rode all around the park until quite late talking and philosophizing quite a lot. So Gerry calls me his little thinker and I really would not be surprised if all of my thoughts will give him quite a few ideas for his novels. Because Gerry says he has never seen a girl of my personal appearance with so many brains. And he had almost given up looking for his ideal when our paths crossed[16] each other and I told him I really thought a thing like that was nearly always the result of fate.

      So Gerry says that I remind him quite a lot of Helen of Troy[17], who was of Greek origin. But the only Greek I know is a Greek gentleman by the name of Mr. Georgopolis who is really quite wealthy and he is what Dorothy and I call a “Shopper” because you can always call him up at any hour and ask him to go shopping and he never seems to care how much anything costs. I mean Mr. Georgopolis is also quite cultured, as I know quite a few gentlemen who can speak to a waiter in French but Mr. Georgopolis can also speak to a waiter in Greek which very few gentlemen seem to be able to do.

      April 1st:

      From now on I am taking writing in my diary seriously as I am really writing it for Gerry. I mean he and I are going to read it together some evening in front of the fireplace. But Gerry leaves this evening for Boston as he has to lecture about all of his works at Boston, but he will come right back as soon as possible. So I am going to spend all of my time improving myself while he is gone. And this afternoon we are both going to a museum on 5th Avenue, because Gerry wants to show me a very very beautiful cup made by an antique jeweler called Mr. Cellini[18] and he wants me to read Mr. Cellini’s life which is a very very fine book and not dull while he is in Boston.

      So the famous playwright friend of mine who is called Sam called up this morning and he wanted me to go to a literary party tonight that he and some other literary gentlemen are giving in Harlem but Gerry does not want me to go with Sam as Sam always insists on telling risky stories. But personally I am quite broad-minded and I always say that I do not mind a risky story as long as it is really funny. I mean I have a great sense of humor. So I am going to stay home and read the book by Mr. Cellini instead, because, after all, the only thing I am really interested in, is improving my mind. So I am going to do nothing else but improve my mind while Gerry is in Boston.

      April 2nd:

      I seem to be quite depressed this morning as I always am when there is nothing to put my mind to. Because I decided not to read the book by Mr. Cellini. I mean it was quite amusing in spots[19] because it was really quite risky but the spots were not so close together and I never seem to like to always be hunting clear through a book for the spots I am looking for, especially when there are really not so many spots that seem to be so amusing after all.

      Well, I just got a telegram from Gerry that he will not be back until tomorrow. And it is quite depressing to stay at home and do nothing but read, unless you really have a book that is worth bothering about.

      April 3rd:

      I am really so depressed this morning that I was even glad to get a letter from Mr. Eisman. Last night I felt so lonesome with nothing to do that I made a telephone call for Boston to talk to Gerry but it never went through[20]. So today I think I had better go over[21] to Madame Frances and order some new evening dresses to cheer me up.

      Well, Lulu just brought me a telegram from Gerry that he will come this afternoon, but I must not meet him at the station because of all of the reporters who always meet him at the station wherever he comes from. But he says he will come right up to see me as he has something to talk about.

      April 4th:

      What an evening we had last evening. I mean it seems that Gerry is madly in love with me. Because all of the time he was in Boston lecturing to the women’s clubs he said, as he looked over the faces of all those club women in Boston, he never understood I was so beautiful. And he said that there was only one in all the world and that was me. But it seems that Gerry thinks that Mr. Eisman is terrible and that no good can come of our friendship. I mean I was quite surprised, as they both seemed to get along[22] quite well together, but it seems that Gerry never wants me to see Mr. Eisman again. And he wants me to give up everything and study French and he will get a divorce and we will be married. Because Gerry does not seem to like the kind of life all of us lead in New York and he wants me to go home to papa in Arkansas and he will send me books to read so that I will not get lonesome there. And he gave me our engagement ring, but some way I still seem to be depressed. I mean I could not sleep all night thinking of the terrible things Gerry said about New York and about Mr. Eisman. Of course I can understand Gerry being jealous of any gentleman friend of mine and of course I never really thought that Mr. Eisman was Rudolph Valentino

11

принесло большую пользу

12

решили

13

отныне

14

не ожесточиться

15

Суфражистка – участница движения за предоставление женщинам избирательных прав.

16

наши пути пересеклись

17

Елена Прекрасная (Елена Троянская), в древнегреческой мифологии – прекраснейшая из женщин.

18

Бенвенуто Челлини – итальянский скульптор, ювелир, живописец, воин и музыкант эпохи Ренессанса.

19

местами она была смешная

20

но так и не дозвонилась

21

сегодня я, пожалуй, отправлюсь

22

ладить/дружить