The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield
Encyclopedia
The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield is a 1968
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...
X-Rated documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
based on the life of the late 1950s sex-bomb
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
.
Background
Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933) rose to fame on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
playing Rita Marlowe in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes that opened on Broadway October 13, 1955, starring Orson Bean , Martin Gabel , Jayne Mansfield , Harry Clark , Carol Grace , Lou Gallo , William Thourlby and Walter Matthau .It...
, which started its run in October 1955. In May 1956, 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
bought Mansfield out of her Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? contract and signed her to a six-year contract. Mansfield was groomed as a replacement for Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and was quickly cast in movies like The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 comedy musical film starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay adapted by Tashlin and Herbert Baker from an uncredited novel Do Re Me by Garson Kanin...
(1956), the film version of John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's The Wayward Bus
The Wayward Bus (film)
The Wayward Bus is a 1957 drama film released by 20th Century Fox that starred Jayne Mansfield, Joan Collins, Dan Dailey and Rick Jason. The film was based on the novel of the same name by John Steinbeck.-Production background:...
(1957), the film version of her Broadway hit Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a 1957 American satiric comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, with Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Lili Gentle, Mickey Hargitay, and a cameo by Groucho Marx...
(1957); and the film version of the Broadway play, Kiss Them for Me
Kiss Them for Me (film)
Kiss Them for Me is a 1957 comedy film starring Cary Grant and Jayne Mansfield, directed by Stanley Donen. Co-stars included Suzy Parker, Leif Erickson, Ray Walston, and Werner Klemperer....
(1957).
The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield, focuses mainly on Mansfield's last tour of the world, in 1967 (before her death at age 34, in June 1967). Another main plot of The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield is clips of Mansfield's films in which she appears either nude or in sexy revealing clothing. One of the most famous clippings is Jayne appearing nude in the 1963 film, Promises! Promises!
Promises! Promises!
Promises! Promises! is a 1963 unrated sex comedy film, released after the demise of the Hays code and before the MPAA film rating system became effective, produced by Tommy Noonan . It was the first Hollywood motion picture release of the sound era to feature a mainstream star—Jayne Mansfield—in...
. She appeared nude in three scenes of the film that co-starred, Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan was a comedy genre film performer, screenwriter and producer. He acted in a number of 'A' and 'B' pictures from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best known for his supporting performances as Gus Esmond, Marilyn Monroe's wealthy boyfriend, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , and as the...
, Marie McDonald
Marie McDonald
Marie McDonald was an American singer and actress known as "The Body Beautiful" and later nicknamed "The Body".- Early life :...
, and Mickey Hargitay
Mickey Hargitay
Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay was an actor and Mr. Universe 1955. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was married to Jayne Mansfield, and the father of actress Mariska Hargitay...
. Other clippings are of Mansfield either sexy or nude in Too Hot to Handle
Too Hot to Handle (1960 film)
Too Hot to Handle is a low-budget neo-noir British gangster thriller, directed by Terence Young. Christopher Lee has a small role in the film....
(1960); The Loves of Hercules
The Loves of Hercules
The Loves of Hercules is a 1960 Italian-epic fantasy-feature film starring Jayne Mansfield and husband Mickey Hargitay.-Alternative titles:*Hercules vs...
(1960); L'Amore Primitivo
L'Amore Primitivo
L'Amore Primitivo is a 1964 Italian comedy film that starred Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay, Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, and Carlo Kechler.-Release dates:*Italy ... August 17, 1964...
(1964); and, Single Room Furnished
Single Room Furnished
Single Room Furnished is a 1968 drama film featuring Jayne Mansfield in her final "filmed" starring role. In it she plays three different and complex characters and over time many have considered this film to contain one of Mansfield's finest performances as she demonstrates her dramatic acting...
(1968). The film was a hit with the "forever" Jayne Mansfield fans.
Releases
The film is been put out on both DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
. In the DVD copy of the film, it is somewhat of a double feature with the X-Rated movie, The Labyrinth of Sex. The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield, was also X-Rated; meaning it contains some serious adult footage not suitable for viewers of the "mature" age of 17.