Marilyn Monroe's character, near the end of the 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, delivers the ultimate utilitarian speech:

"Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You may not marry a girl just because she is pretty, but, my goodness, doesn't it help? And if you had a daughter, wouldn't you rather she didn't marry a poor man? You'd want her to have the most wonderful things in the world and to be very happy. Oh, why is it wrong for me to have those things?"

(film based on the novel by Anita Loos, from a script written by Joseph Fields; see also http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/film/marylin_feminism.htm ...)

TopicArt - TopicEntertainment - 2004-05-14

(correlates: ParamilitaryOrganization, MustLoveDogs, MercifulSchadenfreude, ...)