A look back at Jayne Mansfield's weekend in Santa Rosa

She was a blonde bombshell, a Hollywood starlet with a knack for self-promotion who loved press attention, diamonds, furs and pink Cadillacs.

When Jayne Mansfield came to Sonoma County in 1960, she was still a hot commodity, a platinum blonde with a little girl voice, a perpetual giggle and a distracting figure.

At 27 years old, the ever-smiling and golden-tanned Mansfield was happy to pose for photographers in her bikini, poolside at Santa Rosa’s Flamingo Hotel, on the same weekend she came to reign as Queen of the Cotati Sports Car Races.

She blew into town like a character in a Fellini movie, clutching her pet Chihuahua in one arm, a long, white mink stole over her shoulder and accompanied by her former Mr. Universe husband, Mickey Hargitay.

Her visit that late September weekend was front page news in The Press Democrat.

Top drivers and machines were on hand at the Cotati race track, a former World War II Navy airstrip where she sat in a car ringed by a dozen members of the Northern California Corvette Association, sponsors of the two days of racing.

“She postured in the hot sun for cameramen and climbed in and out of an airplane and a sports car and smiled and smiled,” said the article, which highlighted the diamonds Mansfield was wearing- a glittering, 13-carat stone on a light silver chain around her neck; a 10-carat diamond ring; diamond earrings; and other diamonds nestled in a bracelet of gold charms.

In all, she had 30 carats with her, she told reporters, including her husband’s diamond cuff links. She insisted the gems were real, and she didn’t require a bodyguard.

“Mickey’s the only bodyguard I need,” she cooed, referring to her muscle-bound husband, who had once been a part of the bevy of hunks who accompanied Mae West.

Back at the Flamingo there was a meet and greet at a private cocktail reception. Over the course of the weekend she posed for photographers near the front entrance to the Flamingo and by the pool of what was then Santa Rosa’s new trendy spot.

John Burton, a bartender at the time, recalled Mansfield being paraded through the hotel for publicity shots. “As with all movie stars of that stature, she did create quite a frenzy, especially when she was being photographed in a bathing suit by the pool,” he said.

In her budding 1960 newspaper column, Press Democrat writer Gaye LeBaron noted the Flamingo beauty shop manager was asked by the hotel to keep his appointment book clear for the entire length of Jayne’s stay, in case she wanted her hair combed professionally. She didn’t.

LeBaron’s column referred to the “buxom Miss Mansfield” a frequent descriptor for the star who had been known to have suspicious malfunctions with her bikini top while diving into a pool, in full view of photographers. There apparently were no such mishaps at the Flamingo pool.

Looking back at Mansfield’s visit of 58 years ago, LeBaron said “It was the last of the big cheesecake era. It ended in the early ’60s.”

At the county fair, for example, “if there was a promotional photo, Miss Sonoma County would be in the picture, or pretty girls with a cow, “ LeBaron said. “That sort of went away.”

In the 1950s, busty blondes were the order of the day in Hollywood, with Marilyn Monroe and the even more flamboyant Jayne Mansfield.

“Her entire career was based on spoofing Marilyn Monroe. She didn’t take herself too seriously. She was out for laughs,” said Tony Randall, Mansfield’s co-star in the 1957 movie “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”

Actor Orson Bean described Mansfield as “a mixture of wild sexuality, bimbo enthusiasm and total naivete,” when she auditioned for the role in the Broadway play of the same name. Although she loved playing the dumb blonde, Mansfield boasted an IQ of 163.

Born Vera Jayne Palmer, she was an only child whose attorney father died when she was 3 years old.

Growing up, her idol was Shirley Temple. She was star-struck at an early age, covering her bedroom wall with fan magazine covers and glamour shots of movie stars.

She modeled, became interested in theater and moved to Los Angeles in 1954 to break into movies. She landed roles with Cary Grant and Walter Matthau and even won a Golden Globe for best new star in 1957.

Her movie career was spotty, but she thrived on promotional appearances like the one in Sonoma County. She averaged one a week, whether cutting ribbons or opening supermarkets for $5,000 cash and merchandise, according to an A&E biography.

The only photo op she ever turned down was “Miss Roquefort Cheese.” She said it just didn’t sound right.

She was a mainstay on TV game and variety shows, sometimes playing the violin.

Mansfield married three times and had five children, claiming that motherhood was her favorite role. When she came to Santa Rosa, it was only two months after giving birth to her fourth child.

Other notable things about Mansfield:

She and Hargitay bought a 10,000-square-foot mansion off Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. It was painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink fur in the bathrooms, a pink, heart-shaped bathtub and a fountain spurting pink champagne.

Mansfield was one of the first stars in Las Vegas to make as much as $25,000 a week for her nightclub act.

A promotional tour of Europe culminated with her meeting Queen Elizabeth II at a Royal Command performance.

If nothing else, Mansfield is credited with being a genius at getting into the public eye and using her talents as a pin-up to get more and more publicity. She was Playboy Playmate of the Month in 1955 and appeared more than 30 times in the magazine.

Her nude and semi-nude photos even led to the 1963 arrest and trial of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner on obscenity charges.

Mansfield was also on the cover of Life Magazine twice in 1958.

Her body measurements - she claimed 40-25-34 - were often printed in newspapers, to the point that evangelist Billy Graham proclaimed “This country knows more about Jayne Mansfield’s statistics than the Second Commandment.”

Mansfield’s campy image and cartoon-like character eventually wore thin, and her act deteriorated with boozy nightclub appearances and a string of affairs.

Her well-publicized death came in 1967, following a nightclub show in Biloxi, Mississippi, as she traveled to New Orleans for a promotional appearance the next day.

The car she was riding in hit the back of a semi-truck and trailer and went completely underneath it, shearing the top of the car off. Although she and two others in the front seat were killed instantly, Mansfield’s three children, sleeping in the back, survived.

One of them, Mariska Hargitay, would go on to become star of the TV series “Law and Order.” The tragic accident led to mandatory changes for all semi-truck trailers to be fitted with a steel guard, also known as a Mansfield bar, designed to stop a car from rolling underneath the trailer.

Mansfield was 34 when she died.