St. Louis Style
By Ted Wright
February 14, 2018
Born Vera Jayne Palmer, Jayne Mansfield was one of America’s top pinup girls. Jayne desired to be an actress from a young age and after graduating high school she studied drama and physics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
In January 1950, Jayne married Paul Mansfield and spent the next few years juggling motherhood and college classes while her husband was in the army. Living in Texas she competed in and won several beauty pageants. Few actually knew how smart she was. She had an IQ of 163, had many hidden talents such as the ability to speak five languages, and was a classically trained pianist and violinist.
Paul Mansfield had hoped she would lose interest in acting, however when she didn’t, he moved to LA with her to begin her movie career. Her film career began at Warner Brothers where she was given smaller roles. She was soon given a large part in the dramatic film The Burglar (which wasn’t released until two years later when her career had peaked.)
Jayne later had appearances in various productions such as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? The Girl Can’t Help It, The Wayward Bus and The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw. These were all hugely successful and cemented her image as a blonde comic relief.
In January 1958 Jayne divorced Paul Mansfield and married actor, bodybuilder, and Mr. Universe titleholder, Mickey Hargitay. “Newlyweds Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay bought this seven-bedroom Mediterranean mansion in 1958 for $76,000 (nearly 700,000 today.) The couple painted it pink — the actress’ trademark color — and dubbed it the Pink Palace. Features added by Mansfield included a heart-shaped pool and pink shag carpeting, even on the walls and ceilings. The actress lived there until her death in 1967, and it was part of her public persona.” (HollywoodReporter.com)
Their marriage came to an end after five years when Jayne got a Mexican divorce in Juarez in May of 1963. The divorce was declared invalid and the two reconciled in October 1963. After their third child, Jayne sued for the Juarez divorce to be declared legal and actually won. During their marriage, they had three children: Miklos, Zoltan, and Mariska (Detective Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.)
Jayne’s career was at its height, and she sought publicity in whatever she could find. She repeatedly and successfully managed to create wardrobe malfunctions that exposed her famous chest. An “accident” occurred once at an appearance on the “Tonight Show” and another time to deflect attention from Sophia Loren while at a dinner party for the Italian star’s honor. She made headlines again worldwide when Mickey picked her up so that she could bite some low-hanging grapes from a vine and both breasts “accidentally” popped out of her dress while at a Berlin Film Festival party. The incident was published in magazines all over the world with the word CENSORED hiding her chest. Her racy publicity which had brought her fame became her downfall as well.
After her divorce from Mickey Hargitay, Jayne was linked romantically to singer Nelson Sardelli, but married director Matteo Ottaviano in 1964. After her divorce from Ottaviano in July 1966, Jayne was supporting herself and her children by doing burlesque and dinner theater.
In late 1966, she took another step to revive her career and joined the newly formed Church of Satan. It is still unsure if this was a serious attempt to find herself or if it was another publicity stunt. However, founder Anton LaVey (left) was entranced by Jayne and took an instant dislike for her attorney boyfriend, Sam Brody (right.) LaVey and Brody clashed several times, and the story goes that LaVey put a “curse” on Brody to protect Jayne. LaVey warned her to stay away from him, or the curse would affect her also.
[To be continued]
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