Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / Джентльмены предпочитают блондинок. Анита Лус

does not mind me going out with other gentlemen when they have something to give you mentally, I am going to luncheon with Eddie Goldmark of the Goldmark Films who is always wanting me to sign a contract to go into the cinema and who is madly in love with Dorothy.

      April 6th:

      Well, I finally wrote Mr. Eisman that I was going to get married and it seems that he is coming on at once as he would probably like to give me his advice. Getting married is really quite serious and Gerry talks to me for hours and hours about it. I mean he never seems to get tired of talking and he does not seem to even want to go to shows or dance or do anything else but talk, and if I don’t really have something to put my mind on soon I will scream.

      April 7th:

      Well, Mr. Eisman arrived this morning and he and I had quite a long talk, and after all, I think he is right. Because here is the first real opportunity I have ever really had. I mean to go to Paris and broaden out and improve my writing, and why should I give it up to marry an author, where he is the whole thing and all I would be would be the wife of Gerald Lamson? So I am sailing for France and London on Tuesday and taking Dorothy with me and Mr. Eisman says that he will see us there later. So Dorothy knows all ofthe ropes[24] and she can get along in Paris just as though she knew French[25] and besides she knows a French gentleman who was born and raised there[26], who speaks it like a native and knows Paris like a book. And Dorothy says that when we get to London nearly everybody speaks English anyway. So it is quite lucky that Mr. Lamson is out lecturing in Cincinnati[27] and he will not be back until Wednesday and I can send him a letter and tell him that I have to go to Europe now but I will see him later perhaps. So anyway I will not be listening to any more of his depressing conversation. So Mr. Eisman gave me quite a nice string of pearls[28] and he gave Dorothy a diamond pin and we all went to the Colony for dinner and we all went to a show and supper at the Trocadero and we all spent quite a pleasant evening.

      Chapter Two

      FATE KEEPS ON HAPPENING

      April 11th:

      Well, Dorothy and I are really on the ship sailing to Europe as anyone could tell by looking at the ocean. I always love the ocean. I mean I always love a ship and I really love the Majestic[29] because you would not know it was a ship because it is just like being at the Ritz, and the steward says the ocean is not so unpleasant this month as it generally is. So Mr. Eisman is going to meet us next month in Paris because he has to be there on business. I mean he always says that there is really no place to see the latest styles in buttons like Paris.

      So Dorothy is out taking a walk up and down the deck with a gentleman she met on the steps, but I am not going to waste my time going around with gentlemen because if I did nothing but go around I would not finish my diary or read good books which I am always reading to improve my mind. But Dorothy really does not care about her mind and I always scold her because she does nothing but waste her time by going around with gentlemen who do not have anything, when Eddie Goldmark ofthe Goldmark Films is really quite wealthy and can make a girl delightful presents. But she does nothing but waste her time and yesterday, which was really the day before we sailed, she would not go to luncheon with Mr. Goldmark but she went to luncheon to meet a gentleman called Mr. Mencken from Baltimore who really only prints a green magazine which has not even got any pictures in it.

      So Mr. Eisman and Lulu came down to the boat to see me off and Lulu cried quite a lot. I mean I really believe she could not care anymore for me[30] if she was light and not colored. Lulu has had a very sad life because when she was quite young a pullman porter[31] fell madly in love with her. So she believed him and he lured her away from her home. Finally she found out that she had been deceived and she really was broken-hearted and when she tried to go back home she found out that it was too late because her best girl-friend, who she had always trusted, had stolen her husband and he would not take Lulu back. So I have always said to her she could always work for me and she is going to take care of the apartment until I get back, because I would not sublet the apartment because Dorothy sublet her apartment when she went to Europe last year and the gentleman who sublet the apartment allowed girls to pay calls[32] on him who were not nice.

      Mr. Eisman has literally filled our room with flowers and the steward has had quite a hard time to find enough vases to put them into. And of course Mr. Eisman has sent me quite a lot of good books as he always does, because he always knows that good books are always welcome. So he has sent me quite a large book of Etiquette as he says there is quite a lot of Etiquette in England and London and it would be a good thing for a girl to learn. So I am going to take it on the deck after luncheon and read it, because I would often like to know what a girl should do when a gentleman she has just met, says something to her in a taxi. Of course I always become quite upset but I always believe in giving a gentleman another chance.

      So now the steward tells me it is luncheon time, so I will go upstairs as the gentleman Dorothy met on the steps has invited us to luncheon in the Ritz, which is a special dining room on the ship where you can spend quite a lot of money.

      April 12th:

      I am going to stay in bed this morning as I am quite upset as I saw a gentleman who quite upset me. I am not really sure it was the gentleman, as I saw him at quite a distance in the bar, but if it really is the gentleman it shows that a girl has a lot of fate in her life. So when I thought I saw this gentleman I was with Dorothy and Major Falcon, who is the gentleman Dorothy met on the steps, and Major Falcon noticed that I became upset, so he wanted me to tell him what was the matter, but it is really so terrible that I would not want to tell anyone. So I said good night to Major Falcon and I left him with Dorothy and I went down to our room and did nothing but cry and send the steward for some champagne to cheer me up. I mean champagne always makes me feel philosophical. So this morning the steward brought me my coffee and quite a large pitcher of ice water so I will stay in bed and not have any more champagne until luncheon time.

      Dorothy never has any fate in her life and she does nothing but waste her time and I really wonder if I did right to bring her with me and not Lulu. I mean she really gives gentlemen a bad impression as she talks quite a lot of slang. Because when I went up yesterday to meet her and Major Falcon for luncheon, I overheard her say to Major Falcon that she really liked to become intoxicated once in a while. Only she did not say intoxicated, but she really said a slang word that she really should not say.

      Major Falcon is really quite a delightful gentleman for an Englishman. I mean he really spends quite a lot of money and we had quite a delightful luncheon and dinner in the Ritz until I thought I saw the gentleman who upset me and I am so upset I think I will get dressed and go up on the deck and see if it really is the one I think it is. I mean there is nothing else for me to do as I have finished writing in my diary for today and I have decided not to read the book of Etiquette as I looked through it and it does not seem to have anything in it that I would care to know. So I will not waste my time on such a book. But I wish I did not feel so upset about the gentleman I think I saw.

      April 13th:

      It really is the gentleman I thought I saw. I mean when I found out it was the gentleman my heart really stopped. Because it all brought back things that anybody does not like to remember. So yesterday when

24

знает все ходы и выходы / хорошо ориентируется

25

как будто она знает французский

26

который там родился и вырос

27

Цинциннати – город в штате Огайо.

28

нитка жемчуга

29

«Маджестик» – трансатлантический круизный пароход.

30

она не заботилась бы обо мне больше

31

проводник на железной дороге

32

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