Jayne Mansfield Made a Career of Being a Girl

April 19 is Jayne Mansfield's birthday and though perhaps not a great actor or comedienne, she was a great star and became one of the leading icons of the late 1950s. In case you’ve never experienced Jayne Mansfield before, now might be the time. The films she made are light and funny and exhibit a classic 1950s obsession with good, clean sex. Probably her best film (and my favorite) is the 1956 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? A spoof of the TV advertising industry, Rockwell Hunter has found the perfect spokesmodel for Stay-Put lipstick, his big account. When Rita Marlowe, the famous actress with the oh-so-kissable lips, comes to New York he knows it’s his big chance, but in order to secure the account, Rock has to pretend to be Rita's "Lover Doll." Is Rock cut out to be a high power executive after all? Co-starring are Tony Randall, Betsy Drake and Joan Blondell in her standard 1950s sidekick role.

I would think that Turner Classic Movies would, with their usual perspicacity, show a few of her movies on her birthday, but a quick glance of their online schedule proves me a hapless optimist. So while TCM can't help us on this one, several of her films are on DVD and Amazon has virtually everything she ever made. Netflix has a few, but they seem to be specializing in the exploitation films she made in Europe in the early 1960s, which are pretty painful. Even those might be worth watching as long as you’re not expecting too much. They do have the 1964 double feature Primitive Love/Mondo Balordo, which pairs Jayne with the horror great Boris Karloff. Apparently, Jayne plays some part in an international freak show which includes transvestites, 27-inch tall singing men, and Japanese bondage. You never know, it might be worth checking out.

Some of her better movies you might want to look for are: The Girl Can’t Help It with Tom Ewell, The Burglar, a low budget noir based on a David Goodis novel, and Kiss Them For Me with Cary Grant.

"A forty-one inch bust and a lot of perseverance will get you more than a cup of coffee-a lot more. But most girls don't know what to do with what they've got."

Official Jayne Mansfield Website