Defending Jayne - The Marilyn Monroe Dilemma

There has not been an article pertaining to this subject on this site to date, and with good reason... Us Jayne Mansfield fans simply do not see Jayne and Marilyn as being similar. The only similarities between the two was the fact that they were both blonde bombshells. You might be thinking why this subject is being brought up, and the reason for that being, we are sick of seeing Marilyn Monroe fans always bringing Jayne up in subject and talking about her like all she was was a Monroe clone. They obviously do not know anything about Jayne, or the other blonde bombshells from that era for that matter. So here goes.

In the 1950's one of the most popular subjects to come from Hollywood was the blonde bombshell. She was always glamorous and curvaceous. And more often than not she was softly spoken and told to play dumb. It wasn't only Hollywood, film industries around the world had their own blonde bombshells. There were hundreds of them, there were starlets starting out in the industry, bit players and leading ladies. The blonde bombshell often played the same roles each time especially when starting out in the industry before making their mark and that was the part of a dumb blonde often a mistress, secretary, waitress, floozy, etc. Out of all the blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe is the most well known, because of this, many Marilyn fans love to go on and on about Jayne (or anyone else who came after her) as being a clone or wannabe. We could not picture anything more ludicrous. Marilyn Monroe did not create the blonde bombshell. The studios did. The studio's came up with the idea and publicity for blonde bombshell long before Marilyn came on the scene. One of the earliest was of course Jean Harlow, most of the blonde bombshells from the 50's era looked up and admired Harlow, mostly because she played thrilling and tantalizing parts and got the chance to portray her acting skills in interesting roles. By the 50's all the studio's wanted the blondes to play was the ditzy bimbo roles. Besides Jayne and Marilyn some of the most well know blonde bombshells were Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Marilyn Maxwell, Anita Ekberg, Mamie Van Doren, Diana Dors, Barbara Nichols, Joi Lansing, Kim Novak, Mae West, Cleo Moore, the list could go on and on. One thing I noticed about Jayne Mansfield fans is that they tend to love all the blonde bombshells, Marilyn fans tend to only like the blondes who came before Marilyn, all the ones who came after her were just wannabes. Kind of a sad perspective as the blonde bombshell phenomenon really thrived in the 40's, 50's and 60's and Marilyn Monroe was only one small part of the whole group.

Majority of the blondes actually only went blonde at the advice of an executive or someone else in the industry who knew what they were talking about. They would see their full figure in all its glory and tell the ladies some story about how they could really sell themselves in the industry if the went the way of the blonde bombshell. Marilyn was advised to change her hair to blonde during her modelling days and in the early stages of her career. Jayne was told the same thing, but here is something I bet Marilyn fans don't care to know before accusing Jayne of being a Marilyn wannabe, when Jayne was at the start of the pursuit of her career (yes at the very same time Marilyn was big and had created a name for herself) Jayne dyed her hair black and hoped for parts of ethnic beauties like Native Americans. That is what Jayne wanted for her career. Jayne was advised to go blonde and project the image of the blonde bombshell so she did just that. Perhaps if Jayne had have stuck with the way she wanted things, she might not have been given a chance and she might not have found her fame. I'm sure that would have been going through her head when she finally decided to go blonde. At the time Jayne was seeking fame as a movie star she was young, married and had a little daughter to care for. Jayne took on paying, respectable jobs like selling door to door and a job as a photographers assistant at Ciro's. Jayne was always a very busy woman. She finished high school and went on to college, she married young and became a mother at 17. She would even take her baby Jayne Marie to class with her when she went to college. She was the queen of multi-tasking. And if wanted something she worked damned hard to get it. Jayne never went the way of the casting couch to find her fame, she wanted to work hard and achieve her dreams by working hard. Jayne discovered that befriending photographers (Frank Worth was a very good friend of Jayne's during her quest to stardom) and newsmen and getting her photo printed in papers as often as she could was her starting ticket. So essentially Jayne went the way of the press and publicity. Marilyn dated people like Joe Schenck and Johnny Hide to help boost her career. Just quickly while we are on that subject I would also like to add that Jayne Mansfield fans love and accept Jayne with all her flaws and inconsistencies, we don't see her as being perfect because she wasn't but we still love her. Marilyn fans tend to overlook Marilyn's flaws, she had many flaws, but instead of accepting Marilyn for all her flaws they pretend she was perfect and never did wrong. I am actually a Marilyn fan as well as a Jayne fan and both women did wrong in their lives. They were not perfect, they were human beings and that is what I love so much about the both of them. So yes I don't judge Marilyn for dating people like Johnny Hyde to further her career, she did what she felt she had to do but I think Jayne was a little wiser in her quest for stardom.

Once Jayne had created her image as the blonde bombshell, she stuck with it for the rest of her life. Even in the late 60's when the trend of the blonde bombshell was fading down, Jayne still felt she owed it to her fans to remain blonde, as they knew her, and as they loved her. Jayne often wore brown wigs to events and for photoshoots, a sure sign that she really did miss being a brunette, but by this stage she had already created a name for herself as the blonde bombshell and did not want to ruin what the world perceived her as. So she made do with temporary outings as a brunette.

Fox obtained Jayne under contract at a time when Marilyn was giving them problems, yes that is true but that does not mean that Jayne ever intended to be Marilyn's replacement. Jayne saw nothing wrong with the studio having two leading blonde bombshells under contract just as Betty Grable saw nothing wrong with it when Marilyn joined the pay role. Marilyn never made a comment about Jayne so it is impossible to know how she felt about her, of course though many Marilyn fans think they know Marilyn personally and that Marilyn would have disliked her. The only known photographs of Marilyn and Jayne (there are 3) were taken before Jayne had made it in Hollywood and before she had signed with Fox. It was during her rein as Broadway queen in New York and the two are at at a Rose Tattoo event, Jayne is shown walking past and popping down to Marilyn's table while she is engaged in conversation with someone else and the third image shows Marilyn posing for the camera with Jayne in the background. What the photos do not show you is what happened next. It doesn't show the two greeting each other or exchanging words which is no doubt what would have happened. The two could have been quite friendly towards one another that night for all we know but the only three images that have ever surfaced from that night shows what looks Marilyn snubbing Jayne. And that is probably the reason why only those three images were printed in the papers and magazines. The press would have loved posting those photos and writing about a rift between the two. Making Jayne look like an avid admirer being snubbed. But I bet you that wasn't the case. Marilyn would have remembered all too well what it was like to be the newbie and I bet you she would have been warm and friendly but of course again, something we will never know, unless more photos from that night surface someday. I remember reading that Marilyn wanted to go and see Jayne's play "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter". And also that Marilyn laughed throughout Jayne and Mickey Rooney's skit at the Golden Globes. It baffles me how certain Monroe fans love to make out that Marilyn disliked Jayne when they couldn't possibly ever know how she felt about her.

Jayne disliked being compared to Marilyn all the time simply because she came after her, but every blonde bombshell had to deal with being compared to who ever came before them, Marilyn included. Marilyn was often spouted as being the next Lana Turner or Jean Harlow. When ever someone became famous they were always printed as being the 'next' somebody. It was a pretty stupid gimmick. Unless it said something like 'Jayne Mansfield is the next Jayne Mansfield' but it never was that way.

Well that was quite a bit lengthier than I thought it would be. My whole point of it though is that Marilyn fans need to stop hating on Jayne when they do not know anything about her. I know not all Marilyn fans treat Jayne that way. I have come across many people who are fans of both lovely ladies. But the ignorant ones who go out of their way to have a go at Jayne need to stop. Running numerous Jayne sites is great, but come on, don't come to our Jayne sites only to rip into her and say things like Marilyn was prettier. People who do that just love starting arguments and are looking for one. I always just delete their comments and don't respond to them directly. Well I guess this post is a response to all of those nasty comments that I have received about Jayne over the years.