Vintage #badgirlcrush – Joi Lansing

Vintage #badgirlcrush – Joi Lansing

With perfect platinum brushed out curls, a bombshell figure and wardrobe any Bad Girl would be proud to own, our vintage #badgirlcrush of the week is the beautiful 

Joi Lansing!

“I was always known as a glamour girl, and categorized only as that. It was very limiting… many gals in the industry have more talent than they’re given credit for. My being blond and curvy, you might say, was a kind of mixed blessing.”

Born Joyce Rae Brown in April 1929 in Salt Lake City, Joy was in the whirlwind of Hollywood fame from the tender age of 14 when she was signed to MGM.

Like many young starlets she completed her high school education on the MGM studio lot and in 1952 had an uncredited role in ‘Singin In The Rain’.

Joi appeared in over 37 films during her acting career, and starred in many television series. She learnt from a young age that she was mainly hired for her looks, and any acting talent she possessed was a second thought to the director, much like her contemporaries Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren.

 

Joi gracing the cover of Life magazine in 1949 and Eye magazine in 1950.

In 1950 she was crowned Miss Hollywood!

Joi was an avid yoga enthusiast, who practised it to help her relax and never drank, smoke or posed nude.

On February 8^th 1960 she was awarded a prestigious star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6259 Hollywood Boulevard.

Joi was also noted as the most photographed woman of 1960. During an Actor’s Strike she discovered her singing talent and took the downtime as an opportunity to fine tune her voice.

Joi’s car of choice a ’69 Cadillac Eldorado, perfect for cruising between her Hollywood Penthouse and Palm Springs house!

Joi continued her new found singing career and debuted at the New York Living Room Club, she went onto to become a notorious singer on the nightclub scene in the 60’s, and did a New York Hotel Circuit performing at the Hilton and Waldorf Astoria to name a few!

Joi then cut her first recording album in 1965 for RCA – Victor.

Queen of Candy at 1964’s World Fair

  

In 1968 she starred as gold-digging Lorelei Lee in an eight week theatre production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Throughout her life Joi was married four times and had noted romances with Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra.

In 1958 Sinatra cast her to appear in his ABC variety show at the El Capitan Theatre and their relationship blossomed from there, she was later cast in ‘A Hole In The Head’ and ‘Marriage On The Rocks’, which was to be her last major studio movie.

Sinatra remained good to Joi and paid for her hospital bills when she was in the last stages of her life with breast cancer, she later passed away in Santa Monica in August 1972.

With her perfect pincurls, beautifully arched brows and rose petal red lips , Joi remains a timeless hollywood pin-up and total Bad Girl to this day.

Measuring 36-23-33, Joi and sweaters were a match made in heaven and like other pin-ups of the era, she championed the Sweater Girl look, here’s how to get the Lansing look with TOBG:

Pair your Golden Heart or Vixen top with short shorts for a perfect summer Bad Girl look, and when the evening cools add cigarette pants for a killer ensemble!   

Pour your curves into the Lola top and a pencil skirt for a 9-5 Bad Girl look, or pair with high waisted capris and mules to wiggle the night away! Add a slick of rose petal red lipstick to complete the look!

Don’t forget to add #TOBGSTYLE and #theoriginalbadgirl to your photos so we can see how you channel your inner Joi!

                                      Patsy xx

(Columnist for The Original Bad Girl Blog)