At “Oscars Outdoors,” gentlemen still prefer blondes 1

It was a super-special 60th anniversary screening, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science’s “Oscars Outdoors” summer series, of 20th Century-Fox’s comic classic from 1953, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the movie that blasted off the career of Marilyn Monroe. And the flick’s funnier than ever. Lead actresses Monroe and Jane Russell zing out hilarious double-entendres, often with dead-panned faces. They then shake their (formidable) booties in four delightful song-and-dance numbers: “Two Little Girls from Little Rock,” “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love,” “When Love Goes Wrong,” and “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

In a special tribute to “Gentlemen”‘s marvelous dance numbers, the Academy invited arts·meme‘s Debra Levine to present a brief talk on the film’s choreographer, Jack Cole.

Oscar-winning dancer-actor George Chakiris took to the stage to share his first-hand reminiscences of Marilyn Monroe.

Chakiris, by fate or by fortune, appeared as a chorus dancer in Cole’s dance masterpiece, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

More “Oscar Outdoors” photos here.

_{“oscar” images courtesy academy motion picture arts & sciences, photo credit: dana ross}