CAST OF THOUSANDS

Anita's on the Loos again, pasting her own photos into an album breezily annotated for the public. Not too many people could carry it off, but even before Gentlemen Prefer Blondes established her reputation, this brunette was uncommonly enterprising. Coming from a California family of misfits (including one Cleopatra Fairbrother), she had an early stage career before changing to writing, first for silent films, then for the stage and talkies. She married early, lost interest quickly, and enjoyed the independence her career allowed--traveling, partying, writing dialogue just before the cameras rolled. She was game for anything, including II Duce, who turned down her invitation to America by shouting ""I am chained to this desk!"" And the faces are legendary: Chaplin and Goddard and Hayes, Huxley and Mencken--a who's who of both coasts for the last 60 years. Now 80+, she speaks candidly and her closing notes are sober but in the main the times are merry and everyone's gracious and elegant. No diamond in the rough--more like a cultured pearl.