Bill Parcells: ‘This Is Why You Lift All Them Weights, This is Why You Do All That’

Source:AZ Quotes– Bill Parcells, when he was head coach of the New York Giants

Source:The Daily Review 

“Hey fellas! This is what you work all off season for. This is why you lift all them weights! This is why you do all that!”

From AZ Quotes

“Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach & front office executive Bill Parcells comes in at #7 on the list of Top 10 Mic’d Up Guys of All Time.”

From NFL Films

Source:NFL Films– Bill Parcells, being carried off the field at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, after leading the New York Giants to victory in Super Bowl 25.

As someone who grew up just outside Washington in Bethesda, Maryland and still live there, I grew up a Redskins fan and still am, ( even though Dan Snyder makes it harder for me to remain a Redskins and NFL fan each and everyday ) it gives me great pain to say anything nice about anyone who has ever worked for the New York Giants. Especially someone who not just had great success with the Giants, but had great success against the Redskins while with the Giants. The Redskins and Giants, are great rivals.

The only team that the Giants hate more than the Philadelphia Eagles, are the Redskins. And the only team that the Redskins hate more than the Dallas Cowboys, are the Giants. Welcome to the NFC which is just one small, but great family where everyone hates each other. Which might not be that untypical of the modern American family, especially with the current political situation and division. The NFC East is one of those places that’s not that different from the modern American family. For example ( pardon my language ) you can all your brother an asshole or even make fun of your father or mother, but if someone else does especially outside of your family does, you want to kick their ass to set them straight. We don’t actually hate each other, we even respect it each other which makes it easier to acknowledge greatness from another team in your division when you see it.

When a car company makes a great car, you bet your life that your competitors will see that and respect that. Perhaps even take notes of what makes that car great and why it’s so popular. And when another team in your division does something great, or produces someone who is great like a player, or in Bill Parcells case a great head coach, other teams take note of that to see what made that coach so success with that team.

You could argue that what made Bill Parcells a great head coach was his knowledge for football and the NFL. A great ability to see talent and get the most out of the players that he had and of course that’s all true. There are maybe 10 different NFL head coaches that knew enough about football and both sides of the ball that they could’ve been either a successful defensive coordinator or offensive coordinator: Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, perhaps Bill Cowher, maybe Bill Walsh who gets credit for being the great offensive mind that he was, but the man had a great football mind as well and the San Francisco 49ers played his defenses and defenders were his players, not the defensive coordinator’s. But one guy who really sticks out as a great football mind at least post-Tom Landry is Bill Parcells.

But as great a football mind that Bill Parcells was in the NFL and especially with the Giants where he won 2 Super Bowls in 5 years in New York ( or New Jersey, depending on your perspective ) and his knowledge of the game both defensively and offensively is an important factor, there’s one more factor that I believe is more important and a bigger reason for his success in the NFL and that’s his honesty. Like with the Giants ball control power offense where they almost told the defense what play they were going to run, because they only had a handful of both running and passing plays, there was no deception with the Bill Parcells Giants, they were either going to power run or perhaps pull a sweep outside with Joe Morris or someone else, or QB Phill Simms would go play action and hit a post to his TE Mark Bavaro or WR Lionel Manuel and there was also no deception or bullshit ( to be frank ) in how he treated his players. They always knew where they stood with him.

The classic Bill Parcells quote where he’s on the sidelines I believe talking to his offensive line during a game and he’s trying to motivate them and get them to play harder and he says, “this is why you lift all them weights, this is why you do all that shit!” Telling them the reason why Parcells makes his players work as hard as he possibly can, is not to punish them and to wear them down, but to make them as strong as they can and to make them as great as they.

It’s that old Chuck Knox quote when he was the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in the 1970s when they were at practice and he tells one of those players, “to be a champion, you have to pay the price.” Coach Knox, was also famous for working his players very hard. Bill Parcells, wasn’t interested in being popular even in New York, but wanted to build champions and he did that they only way he knew how to which was through blue-collar bluntness and hard work and he was very successful with his approach.

Sony Pictures Entertainment: The Frontrunner (2018) Hugh Jackman as Senator Gary Hart

Source:Sony Pictures Entertainment– Hugh Jackman, as Senator Gary Hart 

Source:The Daily Review

I saw The Frontrunner not this Saturday, but the previous Saturday in Silver Spring, Maryland because I wanted to see it obviously, ( no, I was kidnapped and forced to watch it ) but because of the subject matter. I was 11 years old and in the 5th grade in Bethesda, Maryland in the spring and early summer of 1987. Gary Hart’s presidential campaign for 1988 was so short that I’m not sure it even made it to the summer of 87, at least officially. It made Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign look like a Breaking Bad marathon on AMC. You would have to be familiar with her very brief presidential campaign, as well as Breaking Bad and AMC to get that reference, but it was very short.

Source:We Got This Covered– Hugh Jackman, as Senator Gary Hart 

So, when Senator Gary Hart was running for president in 1984 and 88, I was a very young kid and don’t remember much about his two campaigns. Both were fairly short, but at least for 84 Senator Hart made to January before falling out after finishing third, ( I believe in Iowa ) but going into 87 Democrats knew that they weren’t going to have to run against President Ronald Reagan again and the Reagan Administration had the Iran Contra scandal hanging over his head with a Democratic Congress in charge of it since they now controlled both the House and Senate and that those investigations could hurt both President Reagan and then Vice President George H.W. Bush, especially since George Bush was not only the Vice President, but was considered the Republican frontrunner for the 1988 campaign.

Gary Hart, was as very talented politician, as well as a very intelligent man both in foreign affairs and national security policy, but domestic policy as well. He was compared with John F. Kennedy for good reasons. He was very bright, good looking, and also had a tendency to tell people what he believed and what was on his mind. Very similar to Senator Joe Biden who also ran for President that year. He also had an ability to talk about serious and complicated issues, but do it in a way where you didn’t believe you needed a Russian or Chinese translator to translate what he was saying. He had a very common touch not that different from Bill Clinton, Ron Reagan, or even George W. Bush. And if his 1987-88 presidential campaign was about what he wanted to be about which was new ideas and time for a new generation, instead of what it became about, maybe he not only wins the 1988 Democratic nomination for President, but defeats Vice President Bush as well.

Which is my lead in to what The Frontrunner is about with actor Hugh Jackman playing Senator Gary Hart. It wasn’t the media, it wasn’t The Miami or The Washington Post, or NBC News that brought down Gary Hart. Only Gary Hart with his extra marital affair and his political suicidal mistake of daring the media to follow him around to see that he wasn’t having an affair. There were rumors going into 1987 that Senator Hart was a bit of playboy who cheated on his wife which was before he even meet Donna Rice the woman he had a brief affair with in the late spring or early summer of 87. And Hart was tired of getting those questions and truly believed that they were none of the media’s or the American people’s business what kind of relationship that he had with his wife and other women.

Gary Hart, perhaps in a split moment lost his cool at a local diner on one of his campaign stops having lunch with a Washington Post reporter and dared the media to follow him around to see if he was having an affair or not and that’s exactly what they did. That’s how they got pictures of him with Donna Rice on a boat together in Miami. As well as pictures of them together at his Georgetown townhouse in Washington. Because he invited the media to follow him around and didn’t just shoot himself in the foot politically, but shot his whole foot off and perhaps his brain and heart as well. Thanks to 1987, Gary Hart has never ran for political again and has never even served a Democratic President again.

As far as the movie, other than not looking much if at all like Senator Gary Hart, I believe Hugh Jackman did a great job of playing him. But I believe the people who played the reporters and the media officials were the real stars of the movie. As well as Senator Hart’s campaign staff including J.K. Simmons especially. Gary Hart, comes as naive when it comes to how the media reports on these stories about politicians and candidates and their relationships with women. Which is how Hart should’ve been portrayed because in real-life he wasn’t expecting the media to cover his affairs, just the substance of his campaign. Which of course is not how the real world in politics works.

Sony Pictures Entertainment: The Frontrunner 2018- Official Trailer

Marmar: The South Bank Show- Elizabeth Taylor: 1981 Interview

Source:Marmar– Hollywood Babydoll Elizabeth Taylor, being interviewed in 1981.

Source:The Daily Review

“Elizabeth Taylor interview [1981]”

From Marmar

The term genius gets thrown out a lot and generally thrown badly and for a lot of incomplete passes ( to use a football analogy ) and gets thrown around by a lot of people who certainly aren’t geniuses and if anything are lazy mentally. And they use it to talk about people who impress them and these people tend to get impressed easily. The word is misused a lot similar to how the word awesome is misused today and done for pop culture reasons. But Elizabeth Taylor’s case, I believe genius fits her perfectly and not just because she’s a great actress, but because of every other characteristic that comes with being a genius.

According to Cambridge Dictionary

a genius is someone who is very great and possesses rare natural ability or skill especially in a particular area such as science or art. That’s a paraphrase but it’s pretty close. But we all know or know of people that could be accurately labeled as geniuses who are different and standout in other areas and perhaps not as well as they do with their craft.

Anyone who is familiar with the filmmaker and aviator Howard Hughes knows that he was great at his business, but struggled to get close to anyone emotionally and preferred to be left alone. Richard Nixon, in a lot of ways was a brilliant man when it came to public policy especially as it related to foreign affairs and national security, but struggled to socialize with people and didn’t like even shaking hands with other people.

Liz Taylor, was a genius in another way as an actress. Someone who was great at playing her parts so well that she made you believe that she was exactly the person that she was playing, but struggled in other areas of her personal life and could even come off as an idiot as far as how she lived her personal life. All the marriages and the different men in her life, the obesity, followed by alcoholism.

Liz, was great at doing the things that made her famous in life which was her ability to act and had a very sharp intelligent wit and could sum up things very well and accurately and do it in a humorous way, but struggled to make deep connections with people and relate to them positively and keep relationships with people she cared about and loved. Things that normal people, ( not to be insulting ) but people who aren’t geniuses, but otherwise intelligent and talented do well in their everyday lives everyday.

 

Barbara Walters Special: Burt Reynolds: 12/02/1980

Source:ABC– Actor/comedian Burt Reynolds, being interviewed by ABC News’s Barbara Walters, in 1980.

Source: The Daily Review 

“ABC Barbara Walters Special – Dec.2,1980 – Burt Reynolds Interview.”

From ABC

Source:ABC– ABC News’s Barbara Walters, interviewing actor/comedian Burt Reynolds, in 1980.

Burt Reynolds, sharing a great story about fame and what the movie executive he was talking to about the kind of money that he could make for his movies. And this meeting must have happened in the 1970s perhaps even before Smokey and The Bandit which came out in 1977. With the movie executive telling Burt that he could make a million dollars for each movie that he does.

If you go back to 1970 and what million dollars was then it would be 6.5 million dollars today. Today a million dollars for a movie would be a great living for most people who aren’t shopaholics, or alcoholics, addicted to illegal narcotics, don’t have multiple wives and families, aren’t gambling or adrenaline junkies, and are fairly responsible with their income.

But back then that would be an insane amount of money. It would mean you would only have to do one movie a year and not even have to do any work for the rest of the year and maybe just appear on TV shows and do interviews with the rest of your time.

And this guy telling Burt that he could make all of this money simply for acting in movies and Burt reacting like he just won a 100 million dollar lottery or something, perhaps without even playing the lottery and has all of this money that’s now coming to him and he simply can’t believe it and doesn’t know how to respond to it. So he does what any other normal person would or perhaps just Burt Reynolds and he hyperventilates over it.

As crazy as this may sound, actors are also humans and not everything they do is acting. They have the same emotions and reactions that everyone else does and perhaps they just hide them better or in Burt Reynolds case perhaps not as well. Telling someone who came from a humble beginning that Burt came from and that they could make so much money simply from acting, would catch a lot of people off guard even the best actors like Burt Reynolds.

Angela Mary: Dallas- E True Hollywood Story

Source:Angela Mary– Victoria Principal, Linda Gray, and Charlene Tilton on Dallas.

Source:The Daily Review

“Dallas E True Hollywood Story.”

From Angela Mary

There have been a lot of great soap operas both in the movies and on TV. The big ones of course today are The Young And The Restless, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, but back in the day you had great prime time soap operas like Melrose Place, Dynasty, One Life To Live, Guiding Light, and movies that were soaps like Where Love Has Gone with Susan Hayward and Mike Connors, Love Has Many Faces with Lana Turner and Cliff Robertson, Strangers When We Meet with Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak.

But if I had to choose one over every other I have to choose Dallas because it represents soap opera at its best, which is what I’m going to explain.

When I think of great soaps I think of dramatic comedy at it’s best where you have really serious scenes and situations, but people and characters who are exactly that who do crazy things and seem somewhat out of control and yet always seem to know what they’re doing.

Like the JR Ewing character ( played by Larry Hagman ) on Dallas. Where you have serious situations with serious people, but doing crazy funny things. Like two adult women getting into cat fights and throwing pillows at each other. Happened multiple times between Linda Evans and Joan Collins on Dynasty.

Or two grown men getting into a fist fight at a restaurant because they’re interested in the same woman, with one of them saying: “look, we’re both adults here no need to fight for her.” Even though that’s exactly what happens two guys getting into a fist fight over a girl the kind of thing that happens in high school, but on Dallas or on another great soap opera it happens between two middle age men in public at a popular restaurant.

Dallas, wasn’t a drama or a comedy, it was both because it was a soap opera. You had a lot of serious situations and serious people, but with crazy immature people doing a lot and saying a lot of funny crazy things. Like with Larry Hagman on the show, who was like an evil bastard, except he was so good at it and funny at it you almost had to like him or at least respect him because he was so good at being a bastard.

The 1980s was a decade of excess where Americans had a lot of money and seemed to be in a hurry to spend as much of it as they possibly could as if they’re was a national money going out of business sale and you have to spend all of your money before it becomes worthless. And Dallas perfectly represented the 1980s with the actors and characters that they had, as well as the writers. Similar to how Easy Rider perfectly represented the 1960s.

It also represented a time when network TV was not only great, but relevant as well and where people wanted to watch CBS, ABC, and NBC every night and not just for sports and movies, but for programs as well. And almost 30 years later after Dallas finally went off the air after 13 seasons Dallas is still the best soap opera ever.

 

Alan Eichler: Good Morning America- David Hartman Interviewing Lana Turner (1983)

Source:Alan Eichler– Hollywood Babydoll Lana Turner, on ABC’s Good Morning America in 1983.

Source:The Daily Review

“Lana Turner chats with David Hartman in this rare TV interview from 1983.”

From Alan Eichler

This might sound harsh but I believe Lana Turner’s life represents a Hollywood character and actress who struggled to get out of character when she was off stage.

Actresses and actors when they make it in Hollywood and even become popular to the point where everyone interested in movies and TV knows who they are pick up an image. And believe they have to live up to that image to keep their popularity and stay hot in the business. Even if that image is not positive.

Like with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield being known as blond bimbos and living up to that on and off camera. Even though in real life where actually pretty intelligent. Or James Dean being known as a teen rebel who is always taking on society and never quite settles down personally and is always fighting.

I believe in Lana Turner’s case she picked up the image as a soap actress character on some show where she has all the money any person could have and could have any man at anytime and ends up with every man and even marrying every man. Has kids with every man she gets involved with. (At least practically) Sounds like at least two female characters on General Hospital and if you’re familiar with the show and are a fan, you probably know who I’m talking about.

Lana Turner was perfect for soap operas because she was perfect for dramatic comedy. Both in her personal life as far as how she lived both intentionally and unintentionally, but she was also a great actress and a very funny woman as well. Which made her perfect for dramatic comedy which is what most good soap operas are like General Hospital, Dallas, Melrose Place, to use as examples, Days of Our Lives.

To me at least Lana Turner’s life was the story of a great soap opera. A lot of ups and downs, falls, and dramatic comebacks and she was one of the best soap actresses, as well as characters that we’ve ever had.

 

Jerry Skinner: What Happened To Jayne Mansfield?

Source:Jerry Skinner– Hollywood Babydoll and Bombshell Jayne Mansfield.

Source:The Daily Review  

“Jayne Mansfield: A Tragic Ending (Jerry Skinner Documentary)”

From Jerry Skinner

“How Jayne Mansfield’s Death Car Changed The Trucking Industry. Great New segment about The Mansfield Bar on the REAR of Truck’s and how her death changed Federal regulations.”

Source:Jayne Mansfield Diamonds To Dust– The car crash that killed Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield in 1967.

From Jayne Mansfield Diamonds To Dust 

“Die Jayne Mansfield Story (1980)”

Source: Filme – wahre Begebenheiten– Loni Anderson as Jayne Mansfield, in the last scene from The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980)

From Filme – wahre Begebenheiten   

This is a scene from CBS’s The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) where Jayne Mansfield (played by Loni Anderson) just wrapped up her latest nightclub act in Biloxi, Mississippi. And she calls her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to tell him that she has a big business meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. If you are familiar with this story, you know that Jayne and her crew, including her kids, never make it to New Orleans on this tip.

Source:Make a GIF– Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield.

From Make a GIF

This is a scene from CBS’s The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) where Jayne Mansfield (played by Loni Anderson) just wrapped up her latest nightclub act in Biloxi, Mississippi. And she calls her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) to tell him that she has a big business meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. If you are familiar with this story, you know that Jayne and her crew, including her kids, never make it to New Orleans on this tip.

Source:Streamer Clips– Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson, as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield.

From Streamer Clips

“Jayne Mansfield: A Tragic Ending (Jerry Skinner Documentary)”

Source:Jerry Skinner– Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield, I believe appearing in a British documentary about her.

What happened to Jayne Mansfield? Well as far as her death, she died in a car accident in June, 1967. She was a passenger and not driving and was headed to New Orleans from Biloxi, Mississippi just after midnight because Jayne had an interview that next day on a local New Orleans news show. They probably should have waited until the next morning to leave because as we know now the driver of the car was working and driving literally on no sleep.

And to make things worst, they were trying to make an 87 mile trip in about an hour or so and were in a real rush. So you got a tired driver driving past midnight and in a hurry to get from Biloxi to Mississippi and you also had a lot of traffic on the road as well and two men who died in the accident in front of Jayne’s car who were real impatient.

But I believe the better question as far as what really happened to Jayne Mansfield is not so much about how she died in the end, but why was she performing in nightclubs in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1967 when she was still only 34 years old. Instead of New York or Los Angeles making movies, or doing TV shows, performing comedy, perhaps putting her own music album together. Because she had real talent to do all these things as a versatile entertainer, but wasn’t doing them by 1967.

One thing that I agree with the narrator in this video is that Jayne Mansfield wasn’t a dumb blonde. The woman had a college degree and came from a successful family in Pennsylvania and later Texas. The daughter of a layer and teacher. She could act, she had a comedic wit, and a singer’s voice. But she played the dumb sexy blonde as a career move in order to make money and bring publicity to herself.

But to go back to the fact that she was actually a good actress who could act: she played the dumb sexy blonde so well that people took her seriously as the dumb sexy blonde and didn’t see her as anything else. Both her fans and studios, movie and TV executives. She voluntarily left Hollywood in the 1960s because she was tired of playing the dumb sexy blonde and wanted serious roles as an actress. She could have stayed in Hollywood and continued to play the dumb sexy blonde and had very successful career as a comedic actress and comedian in general.

But Jayne was no longer interested in playing the dumb blonde. I believe she would have made a great soap actress in the 1970s and 80s even on prime time had she lived a normal life in years, because of a great comedic timing and wit and she had real dramatic affect as well. But of course we’ll never know that. I believe Saturday Night Live in the 1970s and 80s would have been a great place for her too, but we’ll never know that either. By the early and mid 1960s Jayne’s Hollywood career was basically over.

Jayne’s Hollywood career wasn’t over because she was tired of working in it, but because she was tired of the roles that she was getting as the comedy relief in movies and TV appearances and wanted to go further as an actress. And was left to doing b-movies and and even some pornographic film and even films of her simply traveling around the country and going to Europe simply to stay busy as an actress.

Marilyn Monroe is famous for saying that it takes a smart woman to play the dumb blonde. Jayne played the dumb blonde so well that she had too many people fooled. Which is why she’s always been known as the dumb sexy blonde and not much else even though she had so much else going for her as an entertainer and person.

Alan Eichler: Hour Magazine- Gary Collins Interviewing Lana Turner (1982)

Source:Alan Eichler– Hollywood Babydoll Lana Turner, in 1982.

Source:The Daily Review

“Lana Turner chats with Gary Collins in this rare TV interview from 1982.”

From Alan Eichler

There’s a reason why America has a 50 percent divorce rate. That reason is called Hollywood and broader Los Angeles and the LA area where probably 7-8 out of 10 marriages don’t last. Entertainers in Hollywood tend to look at marriage as business opportunities. “If I marry that person, I’ll be seen with that person which will lead to other opportunities, plus it will help my image.” Especially if they have a reputation as a playboy or playgirl who goes from romance to romance and not seeming very serious about anyone that they get involved with.

The best soap operas in Hollywood don’t come from the studios, at least as far as the shows that come from there. They come from real-life in Hollywood and the personal lives that a lot of actresses and actors live. Some if not a lot or perhaps most great comedians in Hollywood, aren’t actually standup comedians. But very funny people who are supposed to be serious actors and actresses, but who live very amusing personal lives. Who live crazy lives and do crazy things. Burt Reynolds is a great example of that, but only one example. Ava Gardner with her famous outbursts and temper tantrums, would be another great example of that.

Lana Turner’s last big role in Hollywood was on the 1980s hit prime time soap opera Falcon Crest. She was perfect for soaps not just because of her ability as an actress and she’s certainly one of the best ever, but also because she lived the life of a soap star and soap personality. She was married a total of nine times and married to one man (Steve Crane) twice. She was the girlfriend of Italian mobster Johnny Stompanato who her daughter Cheryl shot and killed at their home in self-defense. That would be a pretty good episode of General Hospital right there.

Lana Turner lived the real-life of a soap opera character which is why I at least believe she was perfect for soaps like Falcon Crest and could probably could have done other shows as well. Like Dynasty or Dallas, because she had the great dramatic appeal and comedic wit and timing that you need to be a great soap actress. But also because she lived the life of a great soap character. Lana Turner sort of lived the life of Jayne Mansfield, but lived well into seventies and manage to get her wildness and drinking under control to allow for her to live a long life. And Hollywood and the public are in debt to her for that.

 

 

Alan Eichler: Robert Osborne Interviewing Lana Turner- 1982 TV Interview

Source:Alan Eichler– Film historian Robert Osborne, interviewing Hollywood Babydoll Lana Turner in 1982.

Source:The Daily Review

“Lana Turner chats with Robert Osborne in this rare TV interview from 1982, which aired on a local station in Los Angeles.”

From Alan Eichler

Just to be a little personal when you’re talking about cute Hollywood blondes, Lana Turner is at the top of the list. Even in her late forties and fifties she was still as cute as a little girl and not just because she was really short. Love Has Many Faces from 1964 I believe is Lana’s best movie and one of the best soap operas of all-time (at least in my opinion) Lana worked with the gorgeous baby-face adorable Stefanie Powers in that movie. And Stefanie is maybe 20 at that point and as cute as can be and Lana is in her early forties and Lana is the cutest women in that movie. That movie also had a beautiful adorable brunette in Ruth Roman in it. Peyton Place from the 1950s, she’s cuter than her daughter in that movie.

Lana Turner was always an adorable gorgeous baby blonde with a keen honest intelligence and quick wit. Which made her perfect for soap movies in the 50s and 60s like The Big Cube in 1969 which is more of a cult favorite than anything else, but still a very entertaining and funny movie. And made her perfect for TV soaps like Falcon Crest in the 1980s. The Bad and The Beautiful where she plays a brand new soon to be the next hot star in Hollywood and she works with Kirk Douglas, Barry Sullivan and Dick Powell in that movie. She was like a little girl in that movie as far as physical stature but that little baby face and how she spoke and came off in that movie. The Bad and The Beautiful is the prefect title for that movie. Because there were no angels in that movie. But ordinary people simply trying to survive working for a selfish producer who was user of talent.

If you were going to put together a list of the top 5-10 Hollywood actresses of all-time I believe Lana Turner would have to be on it. Of course it would also have to have The Love Goddess Rita Hayworth on it. Slim Lauren Bacall would have to be on it. Elizabeth Taylor would have to be on it. Ava Gardner would have to be on it and if you left Ava off she might sue you for that. Susan Hayward would have to be on it. I believe Lauren Bacall is the best perhaps Liz Taylor is just right behind her.

But Lana Turner is in that group as well because she was so convincing and a great dramatic comedic actress who combined great dramatic affect with quick wit as well. And self-deprecating humor as well and not afraid to make fun of herself. Maybe that had something to do with the alcohol or maybe just because she was so honest. But I believe the best actresses and actors are the most honest which allows for them to be the most convincing because they look like they’re playing themselves. Which is why Lana Turner is so high up the Hollywood best ever list.

 

CBS: ‘The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) Wednesday Night Movie’

Source:CBS– Loni Anderson as Jayne Mansfield.

Source:The Daily Review 

“Not from Chicago, but aired via another CBS affiliate, WJBK Channel 2 in Detroit, MI, here’s The CBS Wednesday Night Movies’ “television premiere” presentation of “The Jayne Mansfield Story,” with Loni Anderson as the ultimately doomed blonde bombshell, and Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger as her husband, Hungarian-born Mickey Hargitay. Followed by the first three minutes of Eyewitness News, with Norm Wagy, Jill Geisler, Bill Fouch and Joanne Williams, and a report from Tom Fenton.”

Source:Chicago Classic Television– Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson, as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield, in The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980)

From Chicago Classic Television

“Made-for-TV** – WJBK 2 Detroit – The Jayne Mansfield Story (Made-for-TV) – This is the Original Oct.29,1980 broadcast with Commercials followed by a few minutes of Local News.

“The Jayne Mansfield Story” (Made-for-TV) CBS Wednesday Night Movie (Oct.29,1980)

Promo for the rerun of the 1980 made for TV movie “The Jayne Mansfield Story” starring Loni Anderson and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the April 27, 1982 CBS Tuesday Night Movies.

Opening to the world premiere of “The Jayne Mansfield Story” from 10/29/80.”

From From Danijel Ostojic 

“Loni Anderson in 1980 film “The Jayne Mansfield Story” wears a lovely mermaid dress to die for, dances and gets a lift from the future governor of California.”

Source:M Doli Vetti– Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson, as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield, in The Jayne Mansfield Story. If there is one actress who is adorable and funny enough to play Jayne Mansfield, it’s Loni Anderson. I think she does a great job in this TV film.

From M Doli Vetti

“The movie tells the story of Hollywood movie star Jayne Mansfield. Like Marilyn Monroe, Mansfield was a sex symbol of the 1950s. She was able to succeed in Hollywood, became the owner of several theater awards. She also appeared several times in Playboy magazine. Her tragic death in a road accident ended her life at age 34.”

Source:IMDB– CBS Wednesday Night Movie.

From IMDB

“Martha Saxton’s ‘Jayne Mansfield And The American Fifties’ is a fascinating, deeply probing biography on the short, tragic life of a Hollywood … symbol. ”

Source:Good Reads– Martha Saxton’s book.

From Good Reads

“Thanks to social media, it’s now easier than ever to become “famous,” often for doing as little as Tweeting a joke (or someone else’s joke, if you’re Josh Ostrowsky). Sometimes you don’t even need to try–merely saying something funny in a “man on the street” interview will turn you into someone’s “spirit animal.” Back in Hollywood’s golden age, however, you had to work hard to get publicity, let alone keep it, and no one worked harder than Jayne Mansfield.”

Source:Tune In Tonight– Hollywood Babydoll Loni Anderson, as Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield, in The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980)

From Tune In Tonight

At risk of sounding old here: when I was growing up in the 1980s and even when I was in high school in the early 1990s. network original movies that were made and produced by the networks, were actually worth watching.

CBS, NBC, and ABC, all had their own movie companies that were part of their entertainment divisions and had one night a week and sometimes multiple nights if they were showing a mini-series where they should show two-hour movie and sometimes longer than that.

The networks would produce their own movies and of course would show movies that were from Hollywood and perhaps had been out for a year or so, or longer. Very similar to what HBO, Showtime and others do on cable.

Probably watched 5-6 of James Bond series of movies in the summer of 1992 alone on ABC. The networks did this because they were good at it and knew what movies to pick and how to promote them and what kind of cast they could put together and so-forth. But also because cable wasn’t as dominant in the 1980s as it became in the 1990s. CBS, NBC, and ABC, were worried about each other. And not so much what HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, TNT, USA, etc, were doing on cable.

The cable networks simply didn’t have the resources that the broadcast networks had back then and to certain extent today as well, but cable networks are much powerful and influential today than they were back then.

I only mention all of this because I’m trying to bore you into a coma. Especially if you weren’t even born yet in the 1980s. Actually, I have other reasons as well. Because the Jayne Mansfield Story was a TV network movie that CBS put together with the producers, directors, creators, and writers of the movie.

And The Jayne Mansfield Story and I’m only 4 years old when it came out in October, 1980 so I didn’t see it and only finally heard about it a year or so ago and saw a video for it on YouTube and the finally got to see the whole movie on cable (of course) on Get-TV last February and saw it again a few months after that.

And this was a network movie where you have Loni Anderson as the lead actress playing Jayne Mansfield and Arnold Schwarzenegger playing her husband and long time lover Mickey Hargitay. (The father of Mariska Hargitay) If there is just one woman who is adorable and funny enough to play Jayne Mansfield, as well as being a good enough actress and comedian, it’s Loni Anderson. I think she plays Jayne perfectly in this movie.

Loni was already a star at this point with her guest appearances on Threes Company in the late 1970s playing Jack Tripper’s love interest. And then she lands WKRP in Cincinnati in 1978. (One of the best sitcoms of all-time) Arnold wasn’t a star as an actor yet, but he was a superstar professional bodybuilder and already well-known at this point. Mickey Hargitay was a superstar bodybuilder before become an actor as well.

This is a very good and funny movie and a lot of that has to do with Loni Anderson. Who has great comedic ability and one of the top comedic actresses of her generation, at least. And she happens to playing a very funny woman in Jayne Mansfield who was very funny in real-life both intentionally and unintentionally, because she was so adorable and very immature and then add her comedic timing and you had a very funny woman who might still be working today had it not had been for her tragic car accident in 1967.

The movie covers Jayne’s life from when she became star in the early 1950s looking for work and basically forcing herself on her future agent Bob Garrett (played by Ray Buktenica) and he tells her if he’s going to represent Jayne that she’s going to have to change her hair and a few other things. But sees potential in her as a comedian.

And the movie goes from Jayne being discovered in the early 1950s where Hollywood wasn’t ready for her alway up to her fall and struggling to find work in the early and mid 1960s, to her tragic death in 1967.

Loni Anderson is just plain hot, sexy, adorable and funny as Jayne Mansfield. She’s as cute as a little girl with personality to match, but with body of a goddess with those legs, curves, chest and everything else, as well as the face.

Arnold playing Jayne’s wife is also great as a very loving and caring husband of Jayne who tries to look out for her best interests and tries to manage her immatureness and irresponsible behavior, but fails at both and they split up in the movie.

I believe Jayne Mansfield in real-life would have been proud for how Loni played her and at least give her credit for doing such a great and accurate job. Because I think knew herself real well and didn’t try to be anyone other than herself even if she seemed overly adorable and even childish to even the people who loved and cared about her like Mickey Hargitay and her business people.

This is a very entertaining movie that covers the struggles as Jayne making it as a great comedic actress, but someone who also wanted to be taken seriously in Hollywood and get serious parts with more meaning.