She appeared in twenty-nine movies as an actress and she was also a musician and a comedienne. Her I.Q. was reputed to be 163. She was the mother of five, including Mariska Hargitay, the star of the hit TV show LAW & ORDER SVU.
Now Frank Ferruccio, film historian and personal friend of the Mansfield children, shares more of his behind-the-scenes stories from Jayne’s life.
Following up on his first biography of Jayne, Diamonds to Dust, The Life and Death of Jayne Mansfield, this newest work fills in many of the missing pieces to Jayne’s life and is a fascinating tribute to one of the greatest sex symbols of all time.
Did Success Spoil Jayne Mansfield, Her Life in Pictures and Text is a must read for any admirer of Jayne Mansfield and of the era of film which gave her fame.
Excerpt:
"Do me a favor, Larry. Jayne's already had enough to drink. She's got a hard day tomorrow, so don't pour her any more booze," Ted screamed at him. Feldman did the opposite off what he was asked to do. He mixed doubles for Jayne and told her some cock and bull story about big review with her as the star, destined for Broadway. Jayne was enjoying the argument almost as much as the double bourbons she drank. Ted was getting nowhere with Feldman, so he called Matt and put on Feldman. While they talked, Ted got Jayne to her feet and out of the penthouse apartment with the promise that where they were going there was plenty of booze. And that was the last time either of them saw Lawrence Feldman. He was found murdered in his apartment on March 10, 1967. Jan, Celica, Ted, Jayne, and her three Chihuahuas left the Garden City Hotel early the next morning and drove to Kennedy International Airport. They had to get shots at the clinic there, and Jayne had to get prescriptions for her diet and sleeping pills filled. The trouble that day had begun when they were informed that the Avianca flight on which we they were booked had been cancelled due to insufficient crew. The airlines strike was still being waged at the time. Instead they scrounged around and with the help of the public relations man at the airport, managed to get out four seats on a Braniff Airlines flight going to Colombia. With this settled, Ted joined the others in Braniff VIP Lounge to wait. "I've decided to take the Chihuahuas with me," Jayne announced. "Wouldn't it be better to leave the dogs with the children? Besides, you can't take them on a commercial airliner." "It's easy. I do it all the time. I'll show you how to smuggle them on board." Just before they were to board the plane, Jayne, Jan, and Ted went into the men's room. Jayne put two of the dogs in a traveling bag and the third was stuffed inside Ted's jacket. Ted showed the stewardess the tickets, and she directed them to the economy class on the ship. Ted had been in such a hurry that he hadn't noticed the classification on the tickets. "I'm Jayne Mansfield!" roared Jayne. "I don't travel anywhere unless it's first class. The tickets will have to be changed." Ted had a Chihuahua jumping around inside his jacket, the plane was about to take off, and Jayne was yelling about accommodations. Before he could get the tickets changed they were almost asked to leave the plane. They had held up the flight ten minutes, which would throw the entire schedule off on down to the end of the line. At last it was straightened out, and everyone settled down in the first class compartment. As the plane taxied down the runway toward the liftoff, Ted thought about the past week at the Garden City. Had it all really happened? It had. And he was studying Jayne's bill from the Garden City Hotel, where the rooms and food had been free, to prove it. For seven days, the charges for booze and limousine service came to $1780.43.
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