This
week’s #badgirlcrush is the original girl next door,
Jayne Mansfield!
After
her father passed away when Jayne was only three, her mother re-married and the
family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she took ballroom dance lessons and
excelled at school.
Jayne
first visited the playground for starlets aged 14, and remembered it fondly, “It was the greatest thing that ever happened
to me. I stood on the corner of Hollywood and Vine one afternoon, and I knew
someday this town would belong to me.”
In
1950 Jayne married and had her first child with Paul Mansfield, the couple
moved to Austin and she began studying acting at the University of Texas, where
she also posed as a nude model for art classes.
During
her time at University Jayne entered numerous beauty pageants and won titles
such as Miss Photoflash, Miss Magnesium Lamp and Miss Fire Prevention week –
hot stuff!
Jayne also studied Theatre Arts at the University Of California and signed a seven year contract with Warner Bros in 1955 after her first film role in Female Jungle, but dissatisfied with the lack of star treatment promised to her by WB, she signed a six year contract with 20th Century Fox who had her penned as ‘their Marilyn’.
“ A 41-inch bust and a lot of perseverance will get you more than a cup of coffee – a lot more.”
Blessed
with 41-21-35 measurements she soon became a phenomenon in Hollywood, though
when she landed her first professional job in an advertising campaign for
General Electric, they believed her chest size to be too distracting and cut
her out of the shot!
Jayne went on to audition for The Seven Year Itch but lost out on the part to Marilyn, however later went on to star in The Girl Can’t Help It.
In
between auditions and publicity stunts, she started posing for Playboy, and was
featured as the February playmate in every issue from 1955 to 1958, and again
in 1960, also the year she got her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
Like
many Hollywood starlets, Jayne adopted a colour as her own and pink was the hue
of choice in 1954. In ‘57 shortly before she married Mickey Hargitay , she
bought 10100 Sunset Boulevard, a 40 room Mediterranean style mansion and turned
it into The Pink Palace!
“It’s a
pink landmark… and that’s what counts!”
With
an IQ of 163 and being able to speak four languages, Jayne was known as
Hollywood’s smartest dumb blonde but she was so very savvy and contacted furniture and
building suppliers requesting samples for her home, in total she was sent over $150,000 of free
merchandise for the Palace!
With
a fountain that poured pink champagne, a heart shaped swimming pool, cupids and
baby pink furs, the palace became the ultimate in kitsch interior design and
cemented pink as her colour!
When
the film roles were few and far between Jayne launched her striptease revue,
The Tropicana Holiday as Trixie Divoon, in Las Vegas in 1958, never out of the
press, her gold mesh dress with sheer sections caused a stir and was described
as, “Jayne Mansfield and a few sequins”
“If you’re
going to do something wrong, do it big, because the punishment is the same
either way.”
Jayne
passed away at the tender age of 34 in a traffic accident, she will forever be remembered for her distinctive bombshell style and will always remain an icon of the golden era to the present day, forever a total Bad
Girl!
A
perfect combination of stripes and springolators, get the look with some of our fav stripe T's over on our website
Make
sure you #TOBGSTYLE and #theoriginalbadgirl so we can see how your bad girl
style and for the chance to be featured on our Instagram page!
Patsy - Jungle Pat X
(Columnist for The Original Bad Girl Blog)
