A Mouse is Born

by Anita Loos

Mild fading to jacket spine; 1/4"" horizontal chip at top jacket spine edge not affecting text; else a better than very good jacket, unclipped and protected by a Brodart cover. Scarce in a jacket this nice.

Genres: Fiction, Humor

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

People best know American writer Anita Loos for her novels, especially Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925), which she later adapted for film; her many screenplays include The Girl from Missouri (1934).

She authored plays and her blockbuster comic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Loos

Reviews

[Margaret]

The third of Anita Loos' fictional (i.e.non screenplay) works, 'A Mouse is Born' is very much in the vein of her first big success "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Like 'Blondes', it's the first-person memoir of a deceptively simple-minded igenue, in this case a pregnant movie star whose career and marriage are on the skids. Loos humorously uses her heroine's gee-whiz candour to mock the foibles of early Hollywood.



The Good

Loos' humour is nothing if not dependable. A joke in every sentence, but with more poignancy than you'd expect.



The Bad

If you read the books she wrote before this one, you know exactly what to expect. Same heroine, similar situations, similar faux naif observations on the female human condition - or rather the beautiful-but-dumb actress/model/high level kept woman female human condition. The amusing one-liners keep on coming, setup punchline, setup punchline. This is rich fare best taken in small doses.

[Richie]

I've slowly been working my way through Loos' works, albeit backwards. Everything she writes is so funny and charming. This books is magical because the protagonist is so out of touch and spells everything incorrectly. For example: astroundment= astoundment, dweleve= delve, and many more that made me laugh out loud. This book is very much like "Little Me" by Patrick Dennis. By the end you totally love this ditz. Some of the stories the character tells I recognized from one of Loos' autobiographies, "Kiss Hollywood Goodbye," which I imagine she recycles stories a lot (fact is stranger than fiction!). I look forward to reading "A Girl Like I" which is sitting on my shelf!

[Sketchbook]

25 years after Lorelei Lee came screen siren Effie
Huntriss who announces : "Nobody can tell about this
California climate. One minit its hot and the next minit
its cold, so a person never knows what to hock." Like
Lee, Effie is an enchanting stupido fr the darling of
NY intellects -- Anita Loos. Why hasnt PBS dun a docu
on this American Master? (Congealed minds, that's why.
Only shows worth watching are fr UK. It's otherwise
worthless).

Anita Loos, who began as a teenager writing for silents,
was an American original who authored 2 Bwy hits : Happy
Birthday for Helen Hayes and Gigi (fr Colette) for Audrey
Hepburn. Sez Effie : "While a few authors of the Masculine
Gender can describe how men feel in the presents of Sex,
the opasite viewpoint leaves a big gap." Effie is ready
to play Milady Fixit.

No one should buy "Blondes" without the orig illustrations
by comic genius Ralph Barton. Here, the drawings, which add to the merriment, are by Pallavicini. Ironically Loos, whose life spanned Women's Lib, was fleeced by her mentl husband, John Emerson. At the end of her life (d. 1981), she was asked about the modernity of "Blondes."

She opined : "If I were writing a sequel today I'd have to call it 'Gentlemen Prefer Gentlemen.' " Ya gotta luv her.

[David]

Real rating would be 3.5 stars. Novel is clearly much influenced by Anita Loos's time and experiences at MGM. Some actual events recounted in her own memoirs appear in this novel (BARELY disguised). I'm betting the 1st-person narrator "Effie Huntriss" is much influenced by Jean Harlow, as she (Effie) has many of the same qualities.

This book got better as it went along and as Effie began to describe her experiences in Hollywood. The satire was mild but pointed. Not as out-and-out funny as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but good.

[Richard]

Charming, in the same vein as Loos's earlier works. I like the whole premise of the pregnant starlet (first person narrative), and the execution is just fine. This doesn't appear to have been as successful as her first two books, but if you read GPB and you see a copy of this, by all means, grab it.

[Laurel]

[Jim Jones]

Witty and playful, but at the same time a rather sad fictional look at the lives of Hollywood's stars. This was Loos' domain and she knew how to skewer it mercilessly.

[Mathilde]

a little too sugary sweet

[Krista]

This novel has similar humor to Loos’ previous novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but instead of flappers you have a pregnant actress whose life/marriage seems to be on the rocks. It was interesting to see the references to abortion or the subtle discussion surrounding a woman’s choice in this novel. Not having read much 1950s literature I wasn’t sure if that conversation was the norm or if it was something to stand out. While I enjoyed this book, I do feel that it was a less clever version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. You have a similar heroine, but one that feels much more at the whims of society and/or the men in her life. Perhaps I need another read through. The first time I read blondes I didn’t know what to think...

Update: a reread does change some things :)

[Barbara]

Delightful!