'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ' Summary

Born in Arkansas, a blonde flapper named Lorelei Lee meets Gus Eisman, a Chicago businessman whom she calls "Daddy." He installs her in a New York City apartment and spends a small fortune "educating" her. He pays for jewelry from Cartier, dinners at the Ritz, and tickets to the Ziegfeld Follies. During this time, she meets a married novelist named Gerry Lamson, who frowns upon her liaison with Eisman. Lamson wishes to "save" her from Eisman and asks her to marry him. Not wishing to forgo an upcoming trip to Europe paid for by Eisman, Lorelei spurns Lamson. Meanwhile, she is dismayed that her friend Dorothy Shaw wastes her time with a poor editor named Mencken, who writes for a dull magazine, when she could be spending time with wealthier men.

Lorelei and Dorothy sail for Europe on the RMS Majestic. Lorelei learns that Bartlett, a former district attorney who is now a U.S. Senator, is aboard the ship. She tells a sympathetic Englishman about how she met Bartlett. She recounts a dubious backstory in which a lawyer employed her as a stenographer, and she shot him to defend her virtue. During the trial, which Bartlett prosecuted, Lorelei gave such "compelling" testimony that the all-male jury acquitted her. The skeptical judge bought her a ticket to Hollywood so that she could use her acting talents to become a star. Due to her siren-like personality, the judge nicknamed her "Lorelei". Conspiring with the Englishman, Lorelei exacts revenge on Bartlett by seducing him and revealing private information about his senatorial activities.