Can you feel the unspoken story in this photo? The obvious tension between these two? This is a pivotal moment in Jayne Mansfield’s career: after a tentative start with Warner Brothers, who signed her for a seven year contract in 1955, Mansfield had changed her mind when her two initial projects proved to be less than ideal. Jayne had the contract rescinded and fled for Broadway, where she starred alongside Walter Matthau in a successful production of George Axelrod’s comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
On the night of the 13th Golden Globes, February 23, 1956, Jayne was starting anew. Estranged from first husband (and high school sweetheart) Paul Mansfield –whom she would divorce later in the year – Jayne had just met a new love interest on Broadway, body builder Mickey Hargitay – the handsome fella next to her, and her soon-to-be second husband. That night at the Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove, Mansfield was telling Hollywood she was back in town and ready to be a star.
Soon after 20^th Century Fox would sign her for what became the most successful stretch of her career.