Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
CAMP: This week in CAMP: Post 5: Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay's Beefcake/cheesecake Act (Mariska Hargitay's parents)
1950's Hollywood Sex Goddess Jayne Mansfield saw her future husband Mickey Hargitay (Mr. Universe) at Mae West's Muscleman Revue at the Latin Quarter, and stole him away from Mae. As well as making movies, Jayne and Mickey did a balancing act and also incorporated it into Jayne's Night Club shows. The fabulous 'The Wild Wild Wild World of Jayne Mansfield' was an early variation on today's reality shows. (see Youtube or DVD) A forerunner to the Anna Nicole Show it showed Jayne touring the erotic night clubs and underground gay bars of Europe, appearing in a bikini on the beach at Cannes, and going to a nudist colony. Wherever she went..the men followed. This delicious film has to be seen to be believed. It is of course an exploitation film, but who is exploiting who? Jayne would do anything for publicity, just to keep herself in the headlines. Hilarious from start to finish... a camp dream...so see it. Just after filming ended Jayne was killed in a car accident in 1967, she was 34. The children, in the back seat survived. So typically scenes of her car accident are tacked on the end of the film. She was not decapitated which was rumored at the time...but her hairpiece was lodged in the windshield. They also tack on the love of her life, by then ex-husband Mickey Hargitay, giving us one sad last look inside their fabulous kitsch Pink Mansion. Sadly the Pink Mansion, with the heart shaped pool is no more... but Jayne and Mickey live on as one of Hollywood's greatest couples. Robbie.
