Inside Edition: Bonnie Strauss- 1992 Feature on Jayne Mansfield

Source:The Daily Review- Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield, probably in the 1960s.

Source: The Daily Review

"Movie star Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967) is profiled on "Inside Edition" in 1992, featuring film, TV and newsreel clips, as well as interviews with her first husband, Paul Mansfield, her daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield, her mother (Vera Peers) and stepfather (Harry Peers), Hollywood journalist James Bacon, super-agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar and fellow sex symbol Mamie Van Doren.

Mansfield is best known for starring roles in THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT,  WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER?, KISS THEM FOR ME and PROMISES, PROMISES, and her untimely death in 1967. She had five children, including actress Mariska Hargitay."

Source:Inside Edition- Jayne Mandfield's daughter, being interviewed by Inside Edition about her mother, in 1992.

From Inside Edition

The man anchoring this show might look familiar to all you political and news junkies out there. Especially cable news junkies, because before Bill O'Reilly got his big gig The O'Reilly Factor at Fox News Channel in the mid 1990s, he was anchor of the syndicated tabloid/news magazine show Inside Edition.

I remember watching him on that show in the mid 1990s after work. But enough about The O'Reilly Factor, or as I prefer to call him The O'Reilly Finger and give him my middle finger to show how I feel about him.

Jayne Mansfield died in a horrible car crash in 1967 and she wasn't drunk or even driving the car. The two men in front that were supposed to protect her were simply too tired to work and drive that night and should have never been on that trip. Especially with other people with them and in back of the car.

So that is why Inside Edition did this story about Jayne in 1992. Because even though she did make a brief impact in Hollywood in the mid 1950s, it was sort of like that talented QB who has a couple big years early in his career and perhaps even wins the Super Bowl, but gets hurt or thinks too much of himself and stops doing the work and finds himself even playing for bad teams, or completely out of the NFL. The fall ends up being as dramatic as the rise to the top floor in Hollywood. That was Jayne Mansfield's short Hollywood adventure.

 I disagree with James Bacon that Jayne wasn't a good actress though and was only famous because of her, lets say measurements. She was a good actress, but more importantly a very good entertainer. Who was also a very good singer and comedian and had she realized that early on and just took with that instead of trying to move to doing drama and serious roles, we might be talking about one of the best comedic actresses and comedians at least of her generation. Which is how Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore are remembered today.

Jayne wasn't a great dramatic actresses, but great comedians don't have to be. But Jayne got bored with comedy and tried to move away from what made her great in Hollywood.

Jerry Skinner: What Happened To Jayne Mansfield?

Source:Jerry Skinner- Hollywood Babydoll and Bombshell Jayne Mansfield.

Source:The Daily Review 

"Jayne Mansfield: A Tragic Ending (Jerry Skinner Documentary)"  

From Jerry Skinner

"How Jayne Mansfield's Death Car Changed The Trucking Industry. Great New segment about The Mansfield Bar on the REAR of Truck's and how her death changed Federal regulations."

Source:Jayne Mansfield Diamonds To Dust- The car crash that killed Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield in 1967.

From Jayne Mansfield Diamonds To Dust

This is a scene from CBS's The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) where Jayne Mansfield (played by Loni Anderson) just wrapped up her latest nightclub act in Biloxi, Mississippi. And she calls her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to tell him that she has a big business meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. If you are familiar with this story, you know that Jayne and her crew, including her kids, never make it to New Orleans on this tip.  

Source:Make a GIF- Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield.

From Make a GIF

This is a scene from CBS's The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) where Jayne Mansfield (played by Loni Anderson) just wrapped up her latest nightclub act in Biloxi, Mississippi. And she calls her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to tell him that she has a big business meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. If you are familiar with this story, you know that Jayne and her crew, including her kids, never make it to New Orleans on this tip. 

Source:Streamer Clips- Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson, as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield.

From Streamer Clips 

"Jayne Mansfield: A Tragic Ending (Jerry Skinner Documentary)" 

Source:Jerry Skinner- Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield, I believe appearing in a British documentary about her.

What happened to Jayne Mansfield? Well as far as her death, she died in a car accident in June, 1967. She was a passenger and not driving and was headed to New Orleans from Biloxi, Mississippi just after midnight because Jayne had an interview that next day on a local New Orleans news show. They probably should have waited until the next morning to leave because as we know now the driver of the car was working and driving literally on no sleep.

And to make things worst, they were trying to make an 87 mile trip in about an hour or so and were in a real rush. So you got a tired driver driving past midnight and in a hurry to get from Biloxi to Mississippi and you also had a lot of traffic on the road as well and two men who died in the accident in front of Jayne's car who were real impatient.

But I believe the better question as far as what really happened to Jayne Mansfield is not so much about how she died in the end, but why was she performing in nightclubs in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1967 when she was still only 34 years old. Instead of New York or Los Angeles making movies, or doing TV shows, performing comedy, perhaps putting her own music album together. Because she had real talent to do all these things as a versatile entertainer, but wasn't doing them by 1967.

One thing that I agree with the narrator in this video is that Jayne Mansfield wasn't a dumb blonde. The woman had a college degree and came from a successful family in Pennsylvania and later Texas. The daughter of a layer and teacher. She could act, she had a comedic wit, and a singer's voice. But she played the dumb sexy blonde as a career move in order to make money and bring publicity to herself.

But to go back to the fact that she was actually a good actress who could act: she played the dumb sexy blonde so well that people took her seriously as the dumb sexy blonde and didn't see her as anything else. Both her fans and studios, movie and TV executives. She voluntarily left Hollywood in the 1960s because she was tired of playing the dumb sexy blonde and wanted serious roles as an actress. She could have stayed in Hollywood and continued to play the dumb sexy blonde and had very successful career as a comedic actress and comedian in general.

But Jayne was no longer interested in playing the dumb blonde. I believe she would have made a great soap actress in the 1970s and 80s even on prime time had she lived a normal life in years, because of a great comedic timing and wit and she had real dramatic affect as well. But of course we'll never know that. I believe Saturday Night Live in the 1970s and 80s would have been a great place for her too, but we'll never know that either. By the early and mid 1960s Jayne's Hollywood career was basically over.

Jayne's Hollywood career wasn't over because she was tired of working in it, but because she was tired of the roles that she was getting as the comedy relief in movies and TV appearances and wanted to go further as an actress. And was left to doing b-movies and and even some pornographic film and even films of her simply traveling around the country and going to Europe simply to stay busy as an actress.

Marilyn Monroe is famous for saying that it takes a smart woman to play the dumb blonde. Jayne played the dumb blonde so well that she had too many people fooled. Which is why she's always been known as the dumb sexy blonde and not much else even though she had so much else going for her as an entertainer and person.