May Mann was best friends with Jayne Mansfield for 12years. While many women never became close Friends with Jayne, May was the one and only exception. May saw the kind and gentle spirit that was Jayne Mansfield and was never jealous nor calculating towards her. She was only there to be the female friend that Jayne so desperately needed. May first meet Jayne in New York while Jayne was performing in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. May, a journalist, wanted to do a story on Jayne being a good mother. And she did just that, the story "Jayne is a Good Mother" was published in the NY Herald Tribune. At first Jayne was a little worried that the story would hurt her sex symbol image, however it did nothing of the sort, congratulation wires, reaffirmed friends and sympathy poured in for Jayne. May and Jayne found that they had so much in common, they became friends for the rest of Jayne's life. The last contact May had with Jayne was a letter that Jayne had posted to May an hour before her death, of course this letter arrived to May after the terrible accident. This book on Jayne Mansfield is one of the best you will find. Unlike many other books written by researchers and biographers this book was written by her best friend. Some parts of the book are written from Jayne's point of view as the two had collaborated on this book for many years before Jayne's death. This was the book Jayne wanted to release to set the record straight. So people could know the real Jayne. While May states in the book that after Jayne's death she put the book away never wanting to release it until Jayne came to her, beyond the grave, telling her to print the book. This is written in the preface and is something I recommend you do not bother with. I honestly could not care for the physic babble that May rambles on about. She would have been better off not printing it. I think she did it so Jayne's family wouldn't be mad at her for releasing the truth. But honestly, printing the crap about the physic's made her seem a little pathetic. Moving on from the terrible preface, the rest of the book is quite decent. It gives a great insight into the life of the bright and wonderful Jayne Mansfield.
The book starts off with Jayne's early life. It tells of Jayne always wanting to please people. Her father adored Jaynie more than anything else in the world, while she worked hard to earn her mothers approval, she never really fully got it. When Jayne was three years old her father died and from then on she went to visit his grave alot. Jayne felt sorry for her Mother for having a narrow out look and lack of compassion. When Jayne was 12 she grew curves and began to attract attention from alot of young boys. The book explains a story of how Jayne went to a party, not telling her mother there was to be boys there. Jayne was given what she thought to be lemonade but turned out to be vodka. Eventually someone was pouring coffee down Jayne's throat as she was throwing up. She fell unconscious and a boy put her in his car and drove her to a parking lot where he rapped her. When Jayne got home, she could not bare to tell her mother. When Jayne did not get her period she knew she was pregnant. She couldn't face the fact of having an abortion so she decided to rope a boy in and get married. Paul Mansfield was her choice, she got him to notice her and soon became acquainted. Two months later they were married. In the book it says Jayne was 14 and lied and said she was 18 when they first got married. However when you do the math this story does not seem plausible. Jayne was born in April 1933, she married Paul for the first time in January 1950. Jayne would have been 16 going on 17. Their second 'official' wedding in May 1950 means Jayne would have been seventeen. Their daughter together, Jayne Marie, was born in December 1950 meaning Jayne was 16 when she fell pregnant and 17 when she gave birth. This also means, she did not fall pregnant until after her first secret marriage to Paul. I believe the story is completely factious. I believe Jayne and Paul, fell for each other, they got secretly married and then quickly became pregnant. When her mother was informed, she insisted that that have an official wedding. So this is one aspect of the book that seems ill researched to me. Many stars lied about certain things in their past, and this could very well have been another one of those moments.
Moving on, the rest of the book is pretty out there in telling the life of Jayne Mansfield. Nothing is left out. Everything from Jayne's arrival in Hollywood, her attempts at making the big time, her glamorous life once she did hit the big time, her publicity gimmicks, her children, her marriages and affairs. Not to mention her satirical acts she preformed live on stage and the sad decline in her life after meeting Sam Brody, her one big downfall. And then of course, her sad, untimely death.
May Manns book is a must have in any Jayne Mansfield collection. And while not everything in the book is plausible, most I believe to be true. May was her friend, she had no reason to make something up about Jayne's life. There are lots of May's recounts of Jayne's life, you won't read about in any other book. These are real tales from her friend who knew the true Jayne.
So what are you waiting for, get on Amazon and order yourself a copy today
http://www.amazon.com/Jayne-Mansfield-May-mann/dp/0671787047/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321331024&sr=8-2
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May consoling Jayne after a huge ordeal. Jayne's son
Zoltan was mauled by a Lion. From which he pulled
through and made a triumphant recovery |
