The Beatles & Jayne

I posted pictures of The Beatles & Jayne Mansfield recently, but I wrote up two Jayne stories that I have found in my The Beatles' books.

Ticket to Ride: Inside The Beatles’ 1964 &1965 Tours that Changed the World
By Larry Kane

(Larry Kane, a journalist, was traveling with The Beatles during their 1964 North American Tour, their second visit; they were in Los Angeles, California. The Beatles were fans of Jayne Mansfield’s film, The Girl Can’t Help It, released in 1956)

After a brief retreat to the bathroom, I returned as a spectator to the parade of arrivals…I tried to be nonchalant about the visitors, but it was difficult not to notice, especially when Jayne Mansfield walked in. Mansfield was a recognized star, a bona fide Sixties’ sex symbol who was greeted warmly and with some fanfare. She was also, to my surprise, a fanatic Beatles fan and an even bigger devotee of John Lennon
While Mansfield circulated, Lennon was in an anteroom near the big living room sitting on a sofa bed with a young lady…

Shortly after Lennon slugged Long John Wade (after misunderstanding a joke), he was introduced to Jayne Mansfield. It was lust at first sight. Lennon winked at me as he walked Mansfield through the room. He was pleased with himself, showing off a true American sex symbol. For her part, Mansfield was a charming, almost sweet person, whose cheesecake image may have belied a thoughtful human being. The two seemed to click, and as the party progressed late into the night, one thing was becoming clear: Mansfield wanted to see Lennon again. (She did, in grand and outrageous style, forty-eight hours later.)

(The next night)
I reached the Owen mansion just in time to make the excursion. Jayne Mansfield was already at the house when I arrived. Lennon and Mansfield jumped into a police car, and John Wade, hardly shy, got in the car with them. George, Ringo, [Mal] Evans, [Neil] Aspinall jumped into another car. Paul stayed behind with his new friend, actress Peggy Lipton. The British reporters joined me in a cab. The driver was given the destination address- 8901 Sunset Boulevard.
The Whisky A Go-Go (now known as the Whisky) is a small Hollywood nightclub that has created big lore over the years…
The arrival of the small Beatles party was no surprise. Management had been tipped off, along with local radio stations. The place was packed. Jayne Mansfield and John Lennon, according to deejay Wade, arrived first after an interesting ride over. “They were making out like kids,” says Wade, who was riding with them, without his tape recorder. It seemed ironic that John, who had punched Wade earlier in the Hollywood visit, had had no qualms about his presence in the car.

(During the night, George threw his drink at a photographer but it landed on Mamie Van Doren. The photographer took the picture which appeared in the papers the next day)
But the print press missed the real story: the budding friendship of Jayne Mansfield and John Lennon. After all, it was Jayne who had invited the band to the Whisky A Go-Go, and she sat with them most of the evening. What’s more, as the Beatles exited the club, Lennon and Mansfield were hand in hand. Near the rear door, a private security guard got between them, but Mansfield raced to rejoin John in the midst of the crush. In surging forward, the actress plowed into me, forcing my body into John’s, who was being pressed back into me by a zealous guard whose hands were wrapped around all of us. The surge to get out resembled a British soccer riot. But once we cleared the madness of the emergency door, we could breathe again, and I could only hope for no more freelance excursions by the Beatles.

Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles
By Tony Bramwell

…Don [Arden] also looked after Jayne Mansfield. I was at the Savoy having a drink with Don and some of his lads when I glanced up and there she was in one of those famous crocheted dresses and big wigs. Evan in that sophisticated establishment, full of international stars, people were turning and staring and she smiled and glowed, doing a Monroe number. I think she was over to do the Batley Variety Club and Caeser’s Palace. I couldn’t imagine what she did onstage, but I presumed it was some kind of Marilyn Monroe, sex bomb “I wanna be loved by you” –type performance.
Jayne and Mickey Hargitay had already split up, so when she took a shine to me and came on over, I smiled back at her, all kinds of fantasies happening, when she suddenly produced a baby from almost thin air. She handed it to me and said sweetly, “You look a kind young man. Would you mind holding Mariska for me while I do a photo shoot?”
There I was, suave old me, sitting at the bar in the Savoy Hotel, a foggy day in London Town, raincoat over my shoulder, drinking a martini- and bouncing Jayne’s cute eighteen-month-old baby girl up and down and making goo-goo noises at her. Afterward, we all went off by taxi to Carnaby Street for a bit of shopping and some more drinks. A few months later Jayne was killed in a car crash. Her children, asleep in the back, survived. Mariska Hargitay grew up to become the beautiful detective from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.