Jayne Mansfield was an actress, singer, Playboy Playmate and stage show performer who had an enormous impact on popular culture of the late 1950s despite her limited success in Hollywood. She has remained a well-known subject in popular culture ever since. During a period between 1956 and 1957, there were about 122,000 lines of copy and 2,500 photographs that appeared in newspapers. In an article on her in the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (1999), Dennis Russel said that "Although many people have never seen her movies, Jayne Mansfield remains, long after her death, one of the most recognizable icons of 1950s celebrity culture." In the novel Child of My Heart (2004) by Alice McDermott, a National Book Award winning writer, the 1950s is referred to as "in those Marilyn Monroe/Jayne Mansfield days". R. L. RutskyR. L. Rutsky; High Techne: Art and Technology from the Machine Aesthetic to the Posthuman; page 19; University of Minnesota Press; 1999 and Bill OsgerbyBill Osgerby; Playboys in Paradise: Masculinity, Youth and Leisure-Style in Modern America; page 109; Berg Publishers; 2001 have claimed that it was Mansfield along with Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot who made the bikini popular.

M. Thomas Inge described Mansfield, Monroe and Jane Russell as personification of the bad girl in popular culture, as opposed to Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood personifying the good girl.M. Thomas Inge; Handbook of American Popular Culture; page 1432; Greenwood Pub Group; 1989 Mansfield, Monroe and Barbara Windsor have been described as representations of a historical juncture of sexuality in comedy and popular culture.Stephen Wagg; Because I Tell a Joke Or Two: Comedy, Politics, and Social Difference; page 73; Routledge; 1998 Evangelist Billy Graham once said, "This country knows more about Jayne Mansfield's statistics than the Second Commandment." As late as the mid-1980s, she remained one of the biggest television draws.Todd Gitlin; Inside Prime Time; page 196; Routledge; 1994 As an indication of her impact on popular culture today, there are numerous cultural references to the Hollywood sex symbol and Playboy Playmate in recent films, books, television and music. Numerous show business people were dubbed "Jayne Mansfield" over the time, including Italian actress Marisa Allasio and professional wrestler Missy Hyatt.Luis Canales, Imperial Gina: The Strictly Unauthorized Biography of Gina Lollobrigida, page 91, Branden Booksef, 1990, Mira Liehm, Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present, page 143, University of California Press, 1984Hyatt, Missy, Salzberg, Charles, Goldblatt, Mark; Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling; page 78

Life and career

Mansfield's public persona and career image became another subject in popular culture. Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat books often refer to Mansfield; their characters Dirk and Weetzie watch The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and the Witch Baby's mother is part of a sinister cult that masquerades as a Jayne Mansfield fan club. In Lynda Curnyn's novel Bombshell (2004), the character Grace is advised not to become a Jayne Mansfield when it is suspected that she is pregnant without a boyfriend or a husband.Lynda Curnyn; Bombshell; page 119; Red Dress Ink; 2004 Mansfield's films and events of her life also became subjects of inspiration in popular culture. In the movie The Stripper (1963), the aspiring stripper Lila Green, played by Joanne Woodward, is mistaken as Mansfield. In the novel Who Wrote the Book of Love? (2005) by Lee Siegel, Lucky Lee, an American boy in Southern California in the 1950s, becomes infatuated with Marilyn Monroe and Mansfield in his journey through sexual enlightenment. In the book, Lucky Lee uses famous quotes from films and literature - like "Wow! What a body!" and "Me Tarzan, you Jayne!" In the book, it is spelled Jayne instead of Jane, to make a pun to allude to Mansfield.Lee Siegel; Who Wrote the Book of Love?; page 151; University of Chicago Press; 2005 Dutch writer Jan Cremer wrote a large part of his autobiographical novel I, Jan Cremer – III about their relationship.Ik, Jan Cremer – Derde Boek, De Bezige Bij, 2007,

She remains a recurring character in works of fiction. In the eleventh episode of the second season of the sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart - titled Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1993) - Diana Kent plays the role of Mansfield in a time travel story. In the same episode, John Evans plays the role of Winston Churchill.Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea on Internet Movie Database; Retrieved: 2007-11-29 She also was a character in Underworld (1997), a novel by Don DeLillo. In Chicago Confidential (2002), a detective novel by Max Allan Collins, the series private investigator Nathan Heller falls in love with Mansfield, becomes friends with Frank Sinatra and is threatened by Joseph McCarthy.

Mansfield is also featured in numerous works of art and entertainment in general. She is mentioned in the third sketch of the 48th show of the second season of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (also featuring Wailing Whale episodes 5 and 6), which was first released on May 13, 1961. Mansfield also helped unveil a Rocky and Bullwinkle statue on Sunset Boulevard. On the Married... with Children season 3 episode "A Dump of My Own", Al Bundy says that when he was young he had two dreams and one of them was to become an astronaut and land on the planet Jayne Mansfield. On the Frasier episode "The Impossible Dream", Mansfield is mentioned by Marty, stating that an example of a fun dream would be in the jungle with Jayne Mansfield and her getting bit by a snake. In the film Vixen Highway (2001), Ann Tait plays the role of a Dr. Jayne Mansfield.Vixen Highway on Internet Movie Database; Retrieved: 2007-11-29 Writer-artist Jack Kirby of Marvel Comics drew inspiration from the strong-woman image of Jayne Mansfield in designing the character Susan Storm of the Fantastic Four.Mike Gartland, The Collected Jack Kirby Collector (ed. Jack Kirby and John Morrow), page 41, TwoMorrows Publishing, 2006

Publicity stunts Mansfield's publicity antics are another recurring theme in popular culture. On the season 32 episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Alec Baldwin (with musical guest Christina Aguilera), one of the commercial bumpers has Alec Baldwin photoshopped into the famous picture of Sophia Loren staring at Mansfield's chest at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills. It was a direct reference to a publicity stunt of Mansfield in April 1957 intended to deflect attention from Loren during a dinner party in the Italian star's honor. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image showed Loren raising a contemptuous eyebrow at the American actress who, sitting between Loren and her dinner companion, Clifton Webb, had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple.Shelley Winters; Shelley II: The Middle of My Century; page 286; Simon and Schuster; 1989 The photo of Sophia Loren sitting next to Jayne Mansfield and regarding her cleavage also inspired other photographers. In 1993, Daniela Federici created an homage with Anna Nicole Smith as Mansfield and New York City DJ Sky Nellor as Loren for a Guess Jeans campaign. Later, Mark Seliger took a picture named Heidi Klum at Romanoff's with Heidi Klum in a reproduction of the restaurant set. The meeting between Mansfield and Anton LaVey, the founder and high priest of the Church of Satan, was a much publicized and oft quoted event of her life, as well as the history of the Church.James R. Lewis; Legitimating New Religions; page 108; Rutgers University Press; 2003James R. Lewis; Satanism Today: An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture; page 146; ABC-CLIO; 2001

Death

The fatal motor vehicle accident that claimed Mansfield's life and spread the rumors of her decapitation had been the subject of many plots and scenes. In the film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), Miss Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) remarked while trying out a vintage yellow convertible, "I feel like Miss Jayne Mansfield in this car!" Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) replied "Uh oh, Jayne Mansfield, not a good auto reference." In Severance: Stories (2006), the story book containing 62 postmortem monologues, each 240-words long, by Robert Olen Butler, a Pulitzer Award winning writer, Mansfield's death is included along with James Dean, John the Baptist, Maximilien Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, Cicero and others. The underride guard, a strong bar made of steel tubing fitted underneath the rear portion of a semi-trailer, is also known as a Mansfield bar, commemorating her accident that occurred before the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act required underride guards on semi-trailers.Underride Guard on Everything2; Retrieved: 2007-11-29 Reauthorization of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; page 39; United States, Congress Committee on Commerce; 1997

In the film Leprechaun 2 (1994), directed by Rodman Flender, a character degrades the leprechaun by saying, "If hearing the actual sound of Jayne Mansfield's head being severed from her body is too intense for you, well then, you know, more power to ya." The accident is also referred to in the film One of Them (1998). In Money, Love: A Novel by Brad Barkley, the character Roman organizes a show of Celebrity Death Cars, including that of Dean and Mansfield, to win back his love interest Gladys. In the song Movie Star by the rock band Cracker sang, "Well the movie star, well she crashed her car, but everyone said she was beautiful even without her head, everyone said she was dangerous", making an allusion to the accident. In the 2003 single "Overdrive", Katy Rose sang, "I'm sitting in Jayne Mansfield's car." The Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where her cenotaph is located, is described as one of the sights to see in California by the regional tourist guide by Lonely Planet.Andrea Schulte-Peevers; California; page 512; Lonely Planet; 2006 In the episode "In Escrow" of the television series Dead Like Me, George orders a "Jayne Mansfield" for breakfast. When Kiffany the waitress gives George her order it is a pastry in the shape of breasts with blueberries as nipples. Daisy refers to the breakfast as "...blueberry muffins with their tops cut off," making reference to the urban legend of how Mansfield died.

In David Cronenberg's film Crash (1996) (based on J. G. Ballard's 1973 novel of the same name), a male stunt driver dressed as Mansfield recreates her fatal accident, killing himself in the process. His partner, a fellow celebrity-crash aficionado, comes across the scene of the wreck and says, "You did the Jayne Mansfield crash without me?"Botting, Fred & Wilson, Scott. Automatic lover. Screen, Vol 39, 1998. (Oxford U. Press) Differing from the book, the storyline of the film revolves around these two partners recreating fatal celebrity disasters, in the name of a project they call retrospectives, including those of James Dean, Grace Kelly, Albert Camus and John F. Kennedy.James E. Swearingen and Joanne Cutting-Gray, Extreme Beauty: Aesthetics, Politics, Death, pages 85-86, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002 The film was nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival; it instead won the Special Jury Prize for daring, audacity, and originality.

Anatomy