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| "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend" | |
|---|---|
| Song byCarol Channing | |
| Released | 1949 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Songwriter | Leo Robin |
| Composer | Jule Styne |
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a jazz song written for the stage musicalGentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), with music byJule Styne and lyrics byLeo Robin.Carol Channing introduced the song in the originalBroadway production, andMarilyn Monroe followed inthe film version, performing it in astrapless, “now-iconic satin pink gown”[1] in a rendition ranked by theAmerican Film Institute the12th best film song of the 20th century.[2]
The song has since been covered by scores of singers of various genres, such asLena Horne,Eartha Kitt,Kylie Minogue, andEmmylou Harris, some in imitation of Monroe,[3][4][5] whose rendition has inspired spectacles beyond the song itself.[6][7][8][9]
| "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" | |
|---|---|
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| Song byMarilyn Monroe | |
| Released | 1953 |
| Songwriter | Leo Robin |
| Composer | Jule Styne |
The American actress and singerMarilyn Monroe performed the song in the 1953 filmGentlemen Prefer Blondes. Monroe's character, Lorelei Lee, has been followed on a transatlantic ocean liner by a detective hired by her fiancé's father, who wants assurance that she is not marrying purely for money. He is informed of compromising pictures taken with a British diamond mine owner and cancels her letter of credit before she arrives in France, requiring her to work in a nightclub to survive. Her fiancé arrives at the cabaret to see her perform this song, about exploiting men for riches. Diamonds are an element in another story line in the film, in which Lorelei is given a diamond tiara by the mine owner, in gratitude for her recovering the photographs. In a later scene,Jane Russell, who plays opposite Monroe, sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in court, while pretending to be Lorelei.
Most of the song in the film is Monroe's own voice, and sources differ on how much help she had. TheAmerican Film Institute,[10]TCM,[11] and a biography of directorHoward Hawks[12] state the only help she had was for the brief high-pitched introduction to the song (usually not included insingles), which was sung byGloria Wood. However, a 2007 article inThe New York Times recounting the career of famousghost singerMarni Nixon claims Nixon dubbed the phrase "These rocks don't lose their shape."[13]George Chakiris can be spotted as a member of the admiring male chorus.
The number was later re-shot inCinemaScope, to be used as part of a CinemaScope demonstration held on the Fox lot in March 1953. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck toldDaily Variety that it only took3+1⁄2 hours to shoot the number in CinemaScope versus four days for the original film version. The public finally saw the CinemaScope version ten years later when it closed Fox'sdocumentary tribute to Marilyn, but this has not been released on DVD or VHS.
Monroe's performance, ranked the 12th best film song of the century by the American Film Institute,[14] has been referenced by entertainers ranging fromMadonna andKylie Minogue toGeri Halliwell andAnna Nicole Smith. The music video for Madonna's "Material Girl" references Monroe's "Diamonds" gown as she is surrounded by male dancers.[15] The song was sampled byMegan Thee Stallion andNormani in 2020 for "Diamonds", with the music video featuring a set and costumes evoking Monroe's film performance.[16][17] Monroe's vocals can also be heard in the background throughout the song.Ryan Gosling's performance ofI'm Just Ken from the filmBarbie at the96th Academy Awards in 2024 was also inspired by Monroe's performance.[18]
The display of diamonds in Hollywood films and songs is one of the most successful cases ofproduct placement inmarketing history. The diamond companyDe Beers, who dominates the world market for diamonds, engaged advertising companyN.W. Ayer in the 1930s and 1940s to make diamonds more popular. The advertising company came up with the idea of placing diamond jewelry on idols in popular movies. Diamonds were placed in several Hollywood films, includingGentlemen Prefer Blondes andDiamonds Are Forever, and in songs such as "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". This campaign madeengagement rings with diamonds popular and made diamond sales rise dramatically.[19][20][21]
The song is also featured in the 2001 filmMoulin Rouge!, in which it is sung principally byNicole Kidman in the role of Satine, the (fictional) star performer of the famousMoulin Rouge nightclub inParis, at the turn of the 20th century. This film version is technically a musical adaptation that directorBaz Luhrmann titled "Sparkling Diamonds". Although it consists almost entirely of an adaptation of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", this version differs from the lyrics inGentlemen Prefer Blondes in several ways. For example, it does not include the nameHarry Winston in the chant of famous jewelers; rather, Moulin Rouge founderCharles Zidler's name was changed to Harold in the film, so his name replaces Winston's in the song as "Harry Zidler". Black Starr & Frost-Gorham was known by that name only after 1925, but instead of using their 1875-1925 name of "Black, Starr & Frost", the Luhrmann film's makers substituted nonsense words (understood by many listeners as "Ross Cole;" in the 2002 DVD release, the words printed in the text captioning are "Black Star, Roscor"). And the potentiallyanachronistic line "help you at theAutomat" was altered in the Luhrmann film to "help you feed your pussycat." Additionally, a lyrical snippet fromMadonna's song "Material Girl" was worked into this adaptation of the song.
