Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties [Hardcover]

Martha Saxton (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395202892
• ISBN-13: 978-0395202890
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only book to buy on Jayne Mansfield!, December 31, 2002

By 

Ralph Schiller (Winfield, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties (Hardcover)

Martha Saxton's 'Jayne Mansfield And The American Fifties' is a fascinating, deeply probing biography on the short, tragic life of a Hollywood ... symbol. Ms.Saxton does extensive research and interviews with all the surviving key players in Jayne Mansfield's life and career,and is able to fit all the pieces of this puzzle together for a well rounded portrait of the star. The author illuminates the tail end of Hollywood's golden age, and how a brunette girl from Texas became a Hollywood blonde bombshell and star! Martha Saxton points out that unlike Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield could speak three languages and showed real acting talent!
This is the book to buy on Jayne Mansfield.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feminism and Jayne, March 14, 2007

By 

John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties (Hardcover)

You would not ordinarily expect Jayne Mansfield to be held up as a feminist model, but that's what Martha Saxton does in this unusual book.

Martha takes the view that Jayne was a cluster of paradoxes - very intelligent yet "played dumb," very down-to-earth yet adaptive to an extreme degree of glamour, very ambitious yet reticent in a strange way.

I learned a lot about who we were in the American 50s because of this book, and enjoyed the ride - except for the very end of Jayne's life in the tragic auto accident.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Leaves the serious Mansfield fan still wanting to know more!, November 23, 2000

By 

Lynn Ramage' (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties (Hardcover)

Martha Saxton does a fairly good job for a simple basic chronological biography on Jayne. Saxton sticks to the point in the picture she has painted of Jayne. From Jayne's simple basic middle class upbringing to her zealous tinsel-town lifestyle once star struck in Hollywood. Many details of Jayne's personality and behavior I feel were left out or just indeed forgotten. My only argument is the argument many have had on the real fact whether Mansfield was really literally decapitated. Terrible rumors have flown around over the years that her head even ended up in the backseat of the car! The book said she was decapitated, however I have actually seen the death picture and the head was still attached from what I could tell. The ending of the book provided rather interesting information though about the settlement of the estate. Many of the more serious fans or collectors though may still be left somewhat hungry after reading this book. However I would still recommend reading it for those wanting to know whatever they can possibly find out about Mansfield as she was indeed a true Hollywood legend.