Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress and Playboy Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s, Mansfield was known for her numerous publicity stunts and open personal life. Although her film career was short-lived, she had several box-office successes, and won a Theatre World Award and Golden Globe Award, and soon gained the nickname of Hollywood’s “smartest dumb blonde.”
Mansfield had classical training in piano and violin. She sang in film soundtracks, on stage for her theatrical and nightclub performances, and had singles and albums released. After her death, Mansfield became an inspiration for punk rock musicians. Mansfield sang in English and German for a number of her films, including The Girl Can’t Help It (“Ev’rytime” and “Rock Around the Rock Pile”), Illegal (“Too Marvellous for Words”), The Las Vegas Hillbillys (“That Makes It”), Too Hot To Handle (“Too Hot To Handle”, “You Were Made For Me”, “Monsoon” and “Midnight”), Homesick for St. Pauli (“Wo Ist Der Mann” and “Snicksnack Snuckelchen”), The Challenge (“The Challenge of Love”), The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (“Strolling Down The Lane With Billy” and “If The San Francisco Hills Could Only Talk”), and Promises! Promises! (“I’m in Love”, alternative title “Lullaby of Love”).
In 1958, an orchestra was recorded for the 31st Academy Awards ceremony with Jack Benny on first violin, Mansfield on violin, Dick Powell on trumpet, Robert Mitchum on woodwind, Fred Astaire on drums and Jerry Lewis as conductor; however, the performance was cancelled. She sang “Too Marvellous for Words” for The Jack Benny Programme (“Jack Takes Boat to Hawaii”; Episode 9, Season 14; November 1963). Her club performances regularly featured songs like Call Me, A Little Brains, A Little Talent (“This Queen has her aces in all the right places”), Plain Jane, Quando-Quando, Bésame Mucho, and the song made famous by Marilyn Monroe – Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.
In 1962, 20th Century Fox Records released the album Jayne Mansfield Busts Up in Vegas, a recording of her Las Vegas revue The House of Love. In 1964 MGM Records released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me, in which Mansfield recited Shakespeare’s sonnets and poems by Marlowe, Browning, Wordsworth, and others against a background of Tchaikovsky’s music. The album cover depicted a bouffant-coiffed Mansfield with lips pursed and breasts barely covered by a fur stole, posing between busts of Tchaikovsky and Shakespeare. The New York Times described the album as a reading of “30-odd poems in a husky, urban, baby voice”. The reviewer went on to remark that “Miss Mansfield is a lady with apparent charms, but reading poetry is not one of them.”
In 1965, Jimi Hendrix played bass and added lead in his session musician days for Mansfield on two songs – “As The Clouds Drift By” and “Suey” – released as a single by London Records in 1966. Ed Chalpin, the record producer, claimed that Mansfield played all the instruments on the singles. According to Hendrix historian Steven Roby (Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix, Billboard Books), this collaboration occurred because they shared the same manager. “Wo ist der Mann” sung in German and released by Polydor Records in Austria was much in demand immediately after its release in August 1963. The A-side featured Hans Last’s “Snicksnack-Snuckelchen”. The Original Sound label released two original songs from the soundtrack of The Las Vegas Hillbillys – “That Makes It” (an answer to The Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace”) on the A-side, and “Little Things Mean a Lot” on the B-side – in 1964.
