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THE GIRL COULDNT HELP IT

EVE GOLDEN

Copyright 2021 by The University Press of Kentucky

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Golden, Eve, author.

Title: Jayne Mansfield : the girl couldnt help it / Eve Golden.

Description: Lexington, Kentucky : University Press of Kentucky, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020053334 | ISBN 9780813180953 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780813180977 (pdf) | ISBN 9780813180984 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Mansfield, Jayne, 1933-1967. | Motion picture actors and actressesUnited StatesBiography. | PublicityUnited StatesHistory20th century.

Classification: LCC PN2287.M37 G65 2021 | DDC 791.4302/8092 [B]dc23

This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

For Keith Greene (19542020),
my Uncle Mame and my Sebastian Flyte

T his has been one of my most difficult books when it comes to distinguishing truth from fiction. I am serious about getting my facts right, but Jayne has proved to be very frustrating: a performance artist, she told reporters whatever she thought would entertain them and their readers and cement her persona as a delightfully ditzy movie star. Whats more, as the years went on, she began to believe some of her own stories.

Additionally, many quotes said to be from Jayne were written by her press agents and sent out to fill newspaper and magazine space.

What was written in those newspapers and magazines is also potentially unreliable. Jaynes life and career were covered extensively by such syndicated columnists as Louella Parsons, Harrison Carroll, Jim Bishop, Dorothy Kilgallen, Walter Winchell, Earl Wilson, Hedda Hopper, and Sheilah Grahamsome of them reliable reporters, some of them shameless storytellers.

Finally, Jaynes biographers, friends, coworkers, and family all had their own agendas and told often contradictory or biased (good or bad) tales.

What to believe? I have tried to be as cynical and suspicious as possible, double-checking sources, citing them in the notes, and telling the reader how much faith I have in quotations. I hope I have done a good job.

Sometimes I think its just flightinessand sometimes I think its because, at heart, she despises the things shes trying for. And its the difficulty of deciding that makes her such an interesting study.

Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth

M arilyn Monroe was the biggest star in Hollywood in 1957, certainly the biggest on the 20th Century-Fox payroll. The blonde bombshell had been trouble from the start, thoughher latest film, Bus Stop, had been a long, hard shoot, and her current production, The Prince and the Showgirl, was mired down in England.

But there was a new girl in town, nipping at Marilyns heels, and she seemed like a sure bet. Signed less than a year before by Fox, she was climbing quickly to the top of her game: unlike Monroe, Jayne Mansfield had been a Broadway star, playing a featured role in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Also unlike Monroe, she seemed to enjoy the hell out of being a star.

That April Mansfield was in the midst of shooting the film version of Rock Hunter. Her first Fox film, The Girl Cant Help It, had opened the year before, showing her to be not only a stunning beauty but a smart, savvy comic actressand a real threat to Marilyn Monroe. She had just finished filming John Steinbecks drama The Wayward Bus, which was due to open in May. Rough cuts proved she was equally impressive as a dramatic actressplaying a former pin-up trying to hide her past, she gave a lowkey, Oscar-worthy performance. It looked like Fox had picked a winner.

Fox had also just signed Italian bombshell Sophia Loren, whose US debut, Boy on a Dolphin, was to premiere later that month. The studio threw Loren a huge bash at Romanoffs restaurant in Beverly Hills, inviting its stars and the press to meet the new acquisition. As Loren chatted with tablemate Clifton Webb, in swanned Jayne Mansfield, her hair like whipped cream, her face like an angelsand wearing a dress cut so low you could see her knees.

She wiggled toward the guest of honors table, squealing happily, making her way through the stunned crowd. She leaned overway overto greet Loren, who was unable to hide her shock: Im so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blowBOOM!and spill all over the table, she said decades later. Webb politely averted his eyes, concentrating on his food, as delighted photographers crowded around. Jayne sat herself down next to Loren and beamed at the cameras, as Loren gave her what was to be historys most famous side-eye. Look at the picture. Where are my eyes? Im staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate. In my face you can see the fear.

That photo was enduring. It made all the papers in 1957; it made book covers years later; it was the subject of parodies and tributes; in 1993 Anna Nicole Smithfittingly enoughre-created the moment for a Guess? ad.

20th Century-Fox executives, however, were not happy. They wanted their stars to be stars, to be in the public eye, but it began to dawn on them there might be something a little off about their new blonde bombshell. Without proper handling and oversight, their new Marilyn Monroe might become more problematic than their