About Jayne Mansfield

Vera Jayne Palmer visited Hollywood for the first time when she was thirteen. After a tour of Twentieth Century Fox Studios, she and her mother went to the Brown Derby for lunch. Jayne spotted The Great Gildersleeve radio stars Dennis Day and Harold Peary, and asked for their autographs. “You know Mama,” she said when she returned, “one day some other young girl is going to make her way across this room and ask for my autograph.”

Jayne’s desire to become a star was not ignited that day; the trip only fanned flames that had always burned within her. Her parents, Herbert and Vera, were witness to her enthusiastic performances at an early age. When she was five Jayne was singing for anyone who would listen, including her gigantic collection of stuffed animals. At seven, she would stand in her driveway and play the violin for passers-by…