Mansfield Craved Publicity
Mansfield’s appearance in Playboy mainly launched her profession, much as appearances in the magazine had done for the careers of fellow 50s sex symbols Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Paige, and Anita Ekberg. Combined with the interest in her Playboy appearance was a fascination with her publicity antics. From the start of her career, Mansfield ravenously sought out publicity and kept track of the number of lines of print she appeared in. Wardrobe malfunctions were a common tactic of creating headlines for the budding star, with “accidentally” exposing her large breasts being one of her preferred tricks.
Her publicity-seeking behavior, along with her notable hourglass figure, led 20th Century Fox to sign Mansfield to a six-year contract in 1956. The studio viewed her as their blonde bombshell insurance against the increasingly tricky behavior of their resident bombshell, the troubled Marilyn Monroe. Mansfield was often referred to as the “working man’s Monroe,” a rather uncharitable comparison. Mansfield had her first lead film role that same year, in the critically and financially successful The Girl Can’t Help It.
The next year saw Mansfield star in an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Wayward Bus, for which she won a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. This is widely considered the best acting performance of her short career, as her image hampered her as a real bombshell, but with limited acting range. The studio continued to compare Mansfield to Monroe, now in an attempt to goad Monroe into honoring the remainder of her contract and act in more films.
After 1959, the demand for blonde bombshells dropped dramatically. Fashion and film began to turn to waifish, mod women like Twiggy and Mia Farrow. Large-breasted bombshells were viewed as a relic of the 50s. Mansfield had few notable film roles after 1959, except the exploitation film Promises, Promises!, in which she was the first leading actress to appear nude. The film was a box office success despite the controversy it garnered, including being banned from showing in Cleveland, Ohio.
With the decreasing availability of film roles and Mansfield’s ongoing desire for publicity, it is perhaps not that surprising that she reached out to the unlikely figure of Anton LaVey as a means to garner the attention she so desperately craved. The public was beginning to tire of her planned wardrobe malfunctions and sexually-charged antics; thus associating with the Church of Satan was undoubtedly a different route to publicity. Anton LaVey was becoming well known in the mid-60s for his writings and church, with notable San Francisco residents attending his weekly Satanic religious performances. After Mansfield attended one of his weekly rituals, which garnered a great deal of press attention, she kept in contact with LaVey. After her son, Zoltan, was injured by a lion at a theme park, LaVey famously performed a mountaintop ritual to aid in his recovery. The boy made a recovery swiftly, which Mansfield publicly credited to LaVey’s Satanism. Ever the consummate celebrity, Mansfield famously invited LaVey and her personal photographer to her pink mansion to increase the public perception of their close relationship further. While they may have indeed been friends, the two also used each other very wisely to enhance their fame.