The Madonna of the 50s

"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."

Today would have been the 77th birthday of Miss Jayne Mansfield, bubbly, busty blonde starlet of such memorable movies as The Girl Can't Help It, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and Kiss Them For Me. Her photogenic beauty made her hugely popular with the 50s and 60s tabloid press, and rather than the demure title of "pin-up" she became one of the earliest ladies to be known as a "sex symbol". Miss Mansfield was also much in demand in the budding television industry, with numerous "guest star" appearances in top US shows with the likes of Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Bob Hope and Jack Paar. She was also a bit of a gay icon, as my blog last year revealed.

Her popularity on both sides of the Atlantic was so great that, had she lived, she might well have turned out to be a serious player in the celebrity stakes. Not for nothing has she been referred to today as "the Madonna of the Fifties" - and by the mid 60s Jayne commanded $35,000 a week for performing in Las Vegas!

However it was not to be. In 1967, aged just 34, her car slammed into the back of a tractor trailer, killing her instantly. Rumours abounded that she had been decapitated, and once again the media had a frenzy over the unexpected death of a glamorous blonde screen icon.

Some facts about Jayne Mansfield:

• Her stage name was in fact her married name by her first husband. She kept it because "it sounded prestigious".
• She married 1956 Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, much to the anger of his "employer" and would-be lover Mae West, who tried all manner of dirty tricks to smear their relationship.
• Her Sunset Boulevard home was so outrageous a landmark it became known as "The Pink Palace."

Here is a fabulous screen moment in the company of Miss Mansfield:

Jayne Mansfield - That Makes IT!

Jayne Mansfield on IMDB