Pregnant at 15, married at 16, at 18 the spectacularly endowed Vera Palmer left Dallas for Hollywood, determined to become famous. She became Jayne Mansfield, a curious blend of homespun innocence and outstanding sexuality. With her 40-inch bust, perfect teeth and a lust for publicity, she was made for the camera. And she had a personality to match - she was as brazen and sexy as the image she created for herself.
Crazy as it sounds, Jayne's achievement in Hollywood was a feminist victory. No man created Jayne Mansfield - she did it herself. She understood instinctively the power of her sexuality and she exploited it shamelessly to get what she wanted. One writer described her as 'all bust, bum and broken promise'. More significantly her first agent said, 'She thought she knew it all... She wanted to do it all herself'. Jayne's shining moment was brief. She died, not a movie star, but a second-rate nightclub entertainer, decapitated in a car crash. There were stories of occult curses and wild drinking sprees and even in death she was at the centre of a blaze of publicity. Michael Feeney Callan's lavishly illustrated portrait of the Pink Goddess provides a fitting memento of a brief but sensational career.
Crazy as it sounds, Jayne's achievement in Hollywood was a feminist victory. No man created Jayne Mansfield - she did it herself. She understood instinctively the power of her sexuality and she exploited it shamelessly to get what she wanted. One writer described her as 'all bust, bum and broken promise'. More significantly her first agent said, 'She thought she knew it all... She wanted to do it all herself'. Jayne's shining moment was brief. She died, not a movie star, but a second-rate nightclub entertainer, decapitated in a car crash. There were stories of occult curses and wild drinking sprees and even in death she was at the centre of a blaze of publicity. Michael Feeney Callan's lavishly illustrated portrait of the Pink Goddess provides a fitting memento of a brief but sensational career.
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