Jayne Mansfield: The Lady in Waiting

[Crimson]

Fox just casually lost interest in Jayne Mansfield after about a good two years. THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT and WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? were bit successes, and THE WAYWARD BUS showed her credible in the dramatic realm, but then it all just went off the rails.

I think Jayne's career was doomed for a simple reason: Fox saw her as a threat to and replacement for Marilyn. Once Marilyn reconciled with Fox after her NYC sojourn, the studio didn't need a replacement. Jayne was a superfluity. Beyond that, she was a prisoner of her own gimmicky image. I see Jayne as being like Carmen Miranda -- a gaudy, cartoony novelty that was glorious fun for a brief period. Perhaps she would have fared better if Fox moved her into supporting roles, as a sexy-funny comic relief.

And at the risk of being un-gallant, Jayne lost her looks fairly quickly. She was gorgeous in the mid-50s but even by the early 60s she was kind of blowsy. I think she was pregnant more often than not.

 

[ClassyCo]

I think Jayne's career was doomed for a simple reason: Fox saw her as a threat to and replacement for Marilyn. Once Marilyn reconciled with Fox after her NYC sojourn, the studio didn't need a replacement. Jayne was a superfluity. Beyond that, she was a prisoner of her own gimmicky image. I see Jayne as being like Carmen Miranda -- a gaudy, cartoony novelty that was glorious fun for a brief period. Perhaps she would have fared better if Fox moved her into supporting roles, as a sexy-funny comic relief.

And at the risk of being un-gallant, Jayne lost her looks fairly quickly. She was gorgeous in the mid-50s but even by the early 60s she was kind of blowsy. I think she was pregnant more often than not.

I have honestly never really viewed Jayne that way, but it does make sense. She is really a poster example of a novelty celebrity. She was perfect for the late-fifties access; bigger, blonder, bustier. Just generally and generically over-the-top. Her primary claim to fame was her figure and her fueling the dumb blonde caricature. She played that role until the day she died.

Fox did try to loan Mansfield out to do some pretty good movies in the late-fifties. Apparently she had been recruited to star in BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE for Columbia in 1958, where she would've co-starred with James Stewart. She had to decline the role because of pregnancy, and Kim Novak was cast instead. I think Jayne would've played a barefoot bohemian witch very well. Fox also wanted to cast her in RALLY 'ROUND THE FLAG, BOYS! that same year, which was publicized as Paul Newman's first attempt at comedy. She had been slated for the supporting role of Angela, the sexy neighbor that tries to woo Newman away from his real life and on-screen wife Joanne Woodward. As the story goes, Newman and Woodward didn't want her in the film, so after "intense lobbying" Mansfield's former WAYWARD BUS co-star, Joan Collins, got the part as a result.

I read once somewhere that Mansfield campaigned hard for the lead in HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS in 1959. Fox apparently showed some interest in casting her, but the whole situation got tied up in lingo somewhere, and Carol Lynley ended up with the role Jayne wanted. Rumor has it Mansfield was going to make KISS ME STUPID sometime around 1963. That movie had been slated as a Monroe vehicle, but her death postponed the production. This was another role that Jayne apparently missed out on because of pregnancy. This time she gave birth to future television star Mariska Hargitay. Kim Novak ended up playing Polly the Pistol that enjoyable Billy Wilder comedy.

She was slated for some good movies, but she never got to make them.
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[Willie Oleson]

Louis A. Morelli sounds a better name to me than Trax Colton.

I prefer Colton Trax or Trax Morell or Aloysius Von Traxburg or L.A. Coltrax.

It's much easier these days. All they have to do is check out our Unused Dynasty Names thread if they want to pursue a serious movie career.

 

[ClassyCo]

Jayne Mansfield's last film role was in the 1967 bedroom comedy A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN, which starred Walter Matthau. The plot basically concerns a middle-aged man (Matthau) contemplating cheating on his wife (Inger Stevens) with the aid of his sneaky friend (Robert Morse). It was directed by actor-director Gene Kelly and its title song became a hit single for The Turtles. The film was a late sixties bedroom farce, and featured many well-known names: Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Polly Bergen, Joey Bishop, Sid Caesar, Art Carney, Wally Cox, Jeffrey Hunter, Sam Jaffe, Hal March, Louis Nye, Carl Reiner, Phil Silvers, and Terry-Thomas.

Jayne appears in a single scene as the flirtatious and nameless adulterous correspondent of Terry-Thomas. Her character is simply created as "Girl with Harold" on Wikipedia. Her scene consists entirely of a one-night stand with Terry-Thomas's character, and the fact that they as a couple cannot locate Mansfield's bra after they have slept together. It is a witty little scene, but it pales in comparison to where Jayne had been during her heyday. It was typical of the parts she was being offered at the time: small, exploitational parts that capitalized more on her physical attributes over any dramatic capability.

A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN would offer Mansfield a brief return to the Hollywood mainstream. The film itself is an an enjoyable late-sixties romp, albeit an uneven one. I primarily enjoy it for all the well-known faces that pop up in the different vignettes.
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[ClassyCo]

Today marks 54 years that Jayne Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident while traveling to Biloxi, Mississippi.

She was just 34 years old.​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Poor Choo-Choo... She never had a chance.

 

[DallasFanForever]

She was just 34 years old.

So very sad! She could’ve still been with us. So tragic!

 

[darkshadows38]

there was a movie i watched with her i do not recall which one it was but her acting did not impress me now her daughter is a far better actress i think

 

[DallasFanForever]

there was a movie i watched with her i do not recall which one it was but her acting did not impress me now her daughter is a far better actress i think

I actually found her vastly underrated as an actress to be honest but yes, her daughter is the better actress of the two.

 

[ClassyCo]

Like others, Mansfield was good as an actress when used in the right type of role. She was really good in the two comedies she did with director Frank Tashlin: THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT (1956) and the film version of WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957).

She belonged to that satirical, over-the-top-type comedy. Other than those two movies, however, I'd argue that her film career was basically a waste of time. Yeah, she had other good movies over the years: THE WAYWARD BUS (1957) was a good little melodrama, but it was not a major success at the time it was released, and it usually falls under the radar because the Steinbeck heirs don't like the finished product. TOO HOT TO HANDLE (1960) gets a lot of attention, but it was really the first film that ushered her into making cheap European comedies and dramas.

I actually like THE SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1958), an amusing little English Western spoof she did with Kenneth More, and I thought IT HAPPENED IN ATHENS (1962), the miscalculated comedy that was her swan song at Fox before the executives booted her out, was decent, despite her having a smaller role than I liked her to have. Those are two enjoyable movies in their own right.

Otherwise, her filmography is full of junk. All of her early-to-late-'60s movies can be forgotten and overlooked. None of them are good, and some of them are not even available and are considered lost.
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[darkshadows38]

i remember my mom or my dad i forget which one when i told them that they agreed with me on that actually i mean on what i thought of her acting

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[DallasFanForever]

It’s always amazed me that all three children survived that accident unharmed. Someone was definitely watching over them that night!

 

[darkshadows38]

no shit i think they prolly feel the same thing too. there's a movie that Mickey Harigtay spelling? did in i think (1965) in i think Italy and i forget the name of it cause it's that bad but he was pretty buff in that one. he later did an episode of SVU before he did and he was good in that and it was his last acting job i believe

 

[Crimson]

New(ish) biography of Jayne.

 

[ClassyCo]

New(ish) biography of Jayne.


View attachment 29054

The only biography I have on Mansfield is "The Tragic Secret Life of Jayne Mansfield", the tackily written story of her life by a "close friend" named Raymond Strait. I remember borrowing it from the library some years ago before finally purchasing it for myself on Amazon.

Mine didn't come with the outer-cover artwork shown below. It's just a basic black book with gold writing down the side.

 

[ClassyCo]

Joi Lansing .... more impressive careers, and that's not saying much.

I was at work today and decided to do some browsing through some of the older threads.

In doing so, I stumbled on this comment of yours @Crimson that Joi Lansing had a more impressive career than Mamie Van Doren. Perhaps my opinion isn't the most valid one, but I've never thought of Joi having a very impressive career herself. I know she did a good I LOVE LUCY episode (where she played herself), she was Superman's wife on TV, and she did several episodes of THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, but wasn't she predominantly used in small, sex symbol-type roles in mostly low-grade B-movies that found what success they did on the drive-in circuit? I seem to remember her filmography having movies like HOT CARS and HOT SHOTS in it.

Yeah, she appeared in some good movies, some of which are deservedly called classics, but wasn't she barely in some of them? She appears in TOUCH OF EVIL (1958), the Frank Capra film A HOLE IN THE HEAD (1959), and the sci-fi camp classic QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE (1958), starring Zsa Zsa Gabor.

It seems her career finally picked up some momentum in the late-'60s when she started making those cheesy movies from those no-name production companies. She took over for Van Doren as country singer Boots Malone in HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE (1967), the lackluster sequel to the equally lackluster LAS VEGAS HILLBILLYS (1966) that Van Doren had done with Mansfield and a bus-load of country music singers. But yet she apparently declined the opportunity to replace Mansfield after she passed in the low-budget horror film THE ICE HOUSE, which wasn't released until 1969, and instead left the door wide open for English model-turned-actress Sabrina to fill the vacancy. And then Joi's career was effectively over after the sci-fi flick BIGFOOT (1970) bombed at the box office.



Like I said, I may not be the best one to legitimately say whether or not Joi Lansing had a impressive career or not. Outside of her I LOVE LUCY and BEVERLY HILLBILLIES appearances, there's little of her work that I've actually seen. Sure, I've stumbled upon a few clips here and there online, but nothing substantial to have any solid opinion on her professional career, popularity, or respectability. I my head, however, I've always tossed her into the "pin-up girl"/"movie star wannabe" corner that didn't make a very big impression on the movie or TV industry during her prime.

But I could be wrong.​

 

[Crimson]

whether or not Joi Lansing had a impressive career or not

Well, to be clear, I didn't say she had an impressive career; I said it was more impressive than Mamie van Doren's. Since Mamie's career was rock bottom, even a step up from rock bottom was more impressive. Mamie's only brushes with respectability was standing behind Bob Mitchum and Jane Russell, and sharing like six minutes of screen time with Gable; otherwise, it was dreck. Joi had notable guest appearances on SUPERMAN (as his "wife"), I LOVE LUCY, a recurring role on LOVE THAT BOB, a semi-recurring role on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, and frequently appeared on other hit shows. She was directed by Capra and Welles, even if those parts were small. I think Mamie would have committed murder to have that career.

Joi was the subject a very interesting biography, written by her ex-girlfriend (a detail to which I would not have guessed).

 

[ClassyCo]

Above all else, Jayne Mansfield wanted to be a movie star. Her Broadway co-star Orson Bean said, "Jayne Mansfield had decided very early on that she wanted to be a movie star. Not an actress. And not even a movie actress. But a movie star." Quite simply put, Mansfield wanted to be famous. She wanted the world to know her name.
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[ClassyCo]

Jayne Mansfield and her trip to Paris.