Blonde Ambition

"She's a legend in her own mind." - Jayne Mansfield on Mae West

Bitch in Repose

We were referring to Cliquot, of course, darlings!

J.C. vs. J.C.

"A middle-aged, regal, but not terribly attractive woman in a sea-green silk dress embroidered with sequins in the fashionable ‘short in front and long in back’ style. With eyebrows as thick and dark as Groucho’s, lipstick and matching nail varnish obviously ‘Jungle Red’, and hair done in a curiously old-fashioned forties’ style, which was echoed in her ankle-strapped, platform-soled stilettos, she was a formidable sight. When each guest was brought over to greet her, she extended her hand graciously, giving a more than passable imitation of our own dear queen. When Jimmy introduced me as ‘one of England’s newest and brightest young stars’, Miss Crawford didn’t take my outstretched hand. Her eyes swept me dismissively from top to toe, her lip curling disdainfully at my low-cut white organza top and full black and white tulle skirt. She obviously didn’t like what she saw so she didn’t deign to speak to me, but chatted animatedly to Jimmy. I wanted to tell her that my mother, a great Crawford fan, had named me after her, but I didn’t think she would have the stomach for such trivia." - Joan Collins

Battle of the Bouffants

"I recall a specific evening, not long after [President Kennedy] was assasinated in Dallas, when Jayne and I were sharing a bottle of champagne. Depressed, she wanted to talk about the late President. He had once told her, she recalled, that her voice was very much like that of his wife Jackie. The idea seemed to deepen her depression. She'd felt insulted.

"'Can you imagine that?' she asked. I could, because she did. 'I don't sound like her,' Jayne complained. 'She doesn't sound like anything.'" - Jayne Mansfield's former press secretary, Raymond Strait

Winter Wonderland

Do the Right Thing

Geometry Lessons

Miss Stanwyck appears courtesy of MATTADORE!

When Bombshells Meet...

Jayne Mansfield and Cleo Moore

Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell

Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe

Jayne Mansfield and Eva Gabor

Jayne Mansfield and Diana Dors

Jayne Mansfield and Joan Collins

Jayne Mansfield and Sophia Loren

...it's usually a bust.

As Thombeau Would Say...

...a girl and her poodle, pigeons, and pet monkey will soon be parted.

From the RETROZONE archives

If You Want That Quelque Chose

Bitches in Repose

Rapelle (marche dans le sablé)

If everyone automatically looks better on a French beach, we're booking our flight tout d'abord.

TGIF!!!!

Have a relaxing weekend, darlings!

Foxy Ladies

Here we have a quartet of boudoir babes from the 20th Century Fox stable of fillies. It's interesting to note the differences between these four, and the decor they were photographed in (either their own, or studio-created). Indisputably the biggest star was Marilyn Monroe, who was captured by Douglas Kirkland in her near-minimalist, almost spartan Brentwood bedroom.


Joan Collins was imported by Fox from Britain in 1955, as their answer to Metro's Elizabeth Taylor, another exquisite British rose who became the quintessential Hollywood superstar. Collins never quite rose above her also-ran status (until a little thing called Dynasty came along in the 1980's), and this photograph points up the studio's nonchalant attitude toward her: despite the glamorous flourishes (pink poodle, pink pillows, pink phone), there's a bizarrely "unfinished" feel to it all, as if the decorator were fired midway through the job.


The ultimate symbol of 1950's excess and extravagance, Jayne Mansfield's infamous Pink Palace was the ideal expression of Mansfield's uniquely, operatically bad (yet fabulous) taste, a shrine to rhinestone luxury totally befitting the Queen of Kitsch.


She never once played a villain; was a devout Roman Catholic who had seven children with her husband of over 50 years; and was the model of chaste, wholesome beauty in such films as State Fair (1945) and Cheaper By the Dozen (1950). Yet someone at Fox thought it fitting to photograph Jeanne Crain in a boudoir setting that made Jayne Mansfield's seem sedate.

Well, those seven kids had to come from somewhere.

Have a Fabulous Week!

We're sure you're making your entrance again, with your usual flair!

(Updates will be light this week, darlings, due to this blasted holiday season.)

A Lady Must Accessorize!

With pearls, a poodle, and a poof.

Touch Her in the Morning

And her little dogs, too.

Weiner Dog

Buster Keaton is happy to see you.

Putting on the Dog

Gloria Grahame: she's just a girl who cain't say no to one more accessory.