I don't know why my brain went to this theme but it did. There were quite a few "stars" back in the day that would have made it big today in the reality TV throw-ups. I have, thankfully, never seen the Kardashiasses show and never care to, but they made it big for being ultra fake. I believe the stars, I have chosen, would have been a lot better than many of the tv hookers of today. These 3 gals made movies but are more known for their publicity than their acting.
1. THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT-1956
This film stars the bodacious ta-tas belonging to Jayne Mansfield who milks it( pun intended) for all its worth. She is one, of many, to be another Marilyn Monroe. This film stars Tom Ewall( who starred with MM in the 7 Year Itch) as a boozy promoter forced by a mobster to make the mobster's moll a singing sensation even though she has no talent. What none count on is that the moll and the boozer fall in love. It's actually quite funny with some good songs from early rock & roll icons in this movie. This Dame doesn't seem all that bothered by how much the studio played her as a dumb blonde built like curvy Mount Rushmore. Jayne apparently had a figure of 40-21-35. Her IQ was supposed to be 163 and she knew several languages. She was most known for her pink palace with thick pink rugs in the bathroom ( ewww) and pink everywhere..my nightmare. She had 5 kids ( one is Mariska Hargitay), 5 husbands, many lovers and wanting to be in every photo shoot possible. Sadly, she died in a tragic car accident when only 34.
2. QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE-1958
This is a flick that’s so bad to fun! It’s even more fun because it stars Zsa Zsa Gabor famous for being…Zsa Zsa. She is the epitome of over excess in the Hungarian accent, furs, feather boas, husbands, lovers and 2 other famous sisters, Eva and Magda. I think Eva was more of the decent Gabor sisters famous for her tv role in Green Acres whereas Magda was the lone Redhead, least known, but just as crazy. She married George Sanders (a great actor) after Zsa Zsa was married to him. Darling, they would have loved to be in a reality series but they came from a different era. This is one film where Zsa Zsa was the lead as a beautiful woman on Venus trying to save the male astronauts who crash landed on the planet Venus. The Queen has a major hang up when it comes to men much to the chagrin of the female Venetian gals, no they are not from Venice but they all live on Venus who really miss a man’s …er. Moving on, the Queen hides her face behind a mask but is slowly losing her grip on power and reality. This is one of many outer space films from this decade and it’s fun…very stupid but so much fun. Apparently, Zsa Zsa was not happy being surrounded by very beautiful women who were younger and became quite the diva (big surprise) to the point where the director got an ulcer.
3. GIRLSTOWN-1959
Another Monroe wannabe was, well, she is not dead yet, Mamie Van Doren who had ample bazongas and paraded around in many a tight sweater in Grade Z flicks. This movie actually has some famous faces, kinda sad, since this flick is …bad but, again, in a fun way but not as fun a Queen Venus. It seems Mamie causes the death of a bastard kid who tried to rape her but falls to his death. She is sent to a nunnery…yup, a nunnery…ok, ok…it’s a delinquent home for girls run by nuns but close enough, where Mamie causes quite the stir in her double D cup. What are the nuns to do? The other girls like or hate Mamie but, in the meantime, the head of the motorcycle gang, Mel Torme…yes! Mel Torme was a witness to what really happened on that cliff side. Paul Anka also appears in this flick. The title song is sung by Paul Anka with a blood curdling scream placed in the middle…quite jarring actually. Mamie is the only one still alive of these 3 divas at 92 and looks…scary, to be honest. She has also had multiple marriages but the last one stayed strong. She claimed to have had affairs with both John and Robert Kennedy plus many others and loved to be the centre of attention.
What older stars can you think of that would have loved to be in a reality show? What movies were they in?
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thursday movie fest day, dear friend!
This week's theme is an Oscar Mayer Wiener, because I have watched all three films and know all three of the featured vixens. (I was thrice (3 times) married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and swooned every time she called me "darlink.")
In college, I drove my rock loving roommate nutty by playing my Little Richard album recorded live in Hollywood. It contained a rendition of the song featured here, "The Girl Can't Help It." I never considered Jayne Mansfield to be very attractive, but I admired her for putting herself out there in the assigned roles. It takes a smart actress to play a dumb blonde.
I have watched Queen Of Outer Space a dozen times over the years beginning when it was first released. It's a hoot. Zsa Zsa is so wooden, such a terrible actress, that it adds to the fun. Here again, I did not care for Zsa Zsa, nor did I understand what all the fuss was about. I preferred Eva because she was much less of a diva.
Mamie Van Doren is another blonde bombshell that I was supposed to get excited about but didn't, but I did see Girls Town and have posted Paul Anka's performance of "It's Time To Cry" in a scene from the film. "Cry" became a top 5 hit single for the famed singer/songwriter.
As you well know, many old school stars of stage and screen landed their own self titled TV series in the 1950s and 60s, but it's not easy to imagine them having a reality show. I think it would have been interesting to have a reality series starring The Marx Brothers or The Three Stooges, or one with blonde bombshell Mae West, just for the purpose of finding out what they were supposedly like IRL.
Thank you for the morning entertainment, dear friend BB. Take good care of yourself and my buddy Harley and enjoy the rest of your week!
All these gals look very fake and ...cheap which is probably why you never thought of them as attractive. Zsa Zsa looked every inch the bitchy Diva . I'm glad you enjoyed my picks and knew you have seen the Gabor pick.
DeleteThat would be very interesting to see the Marx Brothers or the Stooges in a reality show
Good choices. I've only seen the first movie. But I can totally see your stars in reality shows. It's too bad such things weren't around then. Or maybe not...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they were not around to be honest.
DeleteI really liked "The Girl Can't Help It," especially with Julie London appearing to Tom Ewell and singing "Cry Me A River."
ReplyDeleteThe first movie is actually quite good with some great singers and bands. Julie London was great and much better looking than Jayne.
DeleteLots of info I didn't know about Mamie Van Doren. Always find your bio posts fascinating.
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
Thanks as ot makes me happy you enjoy it.
DeleteHmmmm... Phylis Diller would've been an interesting candidate. Or how about Ann-Margret? And Brigitte Bardot falls in nicely with your blonde-bombshell theme.
ReplyDeleteAnn B. Davis?
Hahaaaaa...Ann B Davis..now there's a wd gal...hahahaaa.
DeleteThis took some thinking to come up with three though my first came to me as soon as I saw the theme.
ReplyDeletePola Negri did have quite a career in silents (and Billy Wilder approached her for Sunset Boulevard before casting Gloria Swanson) but no matter how famous she became she was a publicity seeker nonpareil! She made a complete and utter fool of herself at Valentino’s funeral all but throwing herself on his casket. Her best-known film is probably the 1921 picture “The Wildcat”, she more or less retired in 1928 before sound came in though she did dabble here and there finishing her career in the Hayley Mills Disney film “The Moonspinners”.
The next would be “The Caribbean Cyclone” Maria Montez one of the queens of Technicolor. Known as a keen self-promoter and her own biggest fan, she would have thrived on the charge of reality TV. Obsessed with her looks and fearful of any weight gain she became addicted to steam baths and the like and died in an early form of a jacuzzi at 39 after suffering a heart attack while alone and drowning. Her best-known films are 1942’s “Arabian Knights” and 1944’s “Cobra Woman”.
My last would be the English star Belinda Lee who was huge internationally but not as well known in the States. She had quite the crowded off-screen life and crammed many lifetimes of drama including a torrid romance with a prince (and a lot of work, for someone whose career only spanned seven years she made 33 films!) into her brief 25 years. She died when a tire blew out in the speeding car she was traveling in, and she was thrown from the vehicle. Her best-known films include “The Secret Place” and “Dangerous Exile” both in 1957 and “The Nights of Lucretia Borgia” from 1959.
You chose excellently and I almost went with Pola and Mae Murray. Didn't they share a husband..that Marquis of no note? Do you know I once witnessed a woman in a cape, fling herself o to the open casket. She then took out a combination and combed the dead man's hair! They were estranged at the time..it was very strange. Pola loved publicity.
DeleteYou picked a great one in Maria Montez. She was not as crazy as Lupe Valez..another choice, but just as much a Mexican Spitfire. It's a shame she died so young in a quest to remain young.
I know about Brenda Lee and read about her but I don't think I have seenany of her f.s. she did pack a lot of life in her short time here.
I wanted to mention that I loved you choice of Olivia DeHavilland last week who happened to be a good friend of Betty Davis. The Heiress is a great movie as are dthe others. She did so many period dramas actally.
Great choices, BIRGIT!
ReplyDeleteI don't believe I could improve on any of that.
I liked 'THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT', because I have always been a fan of Eddie Cochran's music.
Jayne Mansfield had a high IQ, eh?
Yeah, the same has been said about Marilyn Monroe.
And I ain't buying it. Not fer neither of 'em.
~ D-FensDogG
Just testing
DeleteI was testing on my new phone Stephen. Ok…you know, I agree with you. I don’t quite believe Mansfield had that high IQ. I think she was smart but not genius. As for Monroe, they are now making her out to be highly intelligent and her lateness on the set was her way of getting what she wanted from the execs. No…she just had mental health issues and truly needed the help. She knew what she had to do to get ahead and ..um …gave it. Sadly, she was ready to talk or just could not be trusted and was killed. I do believe she was murdered.
DeleteI really believe the Gabor Sisters would have done a reality show but Eva would have been in it sparingly. The Mansfid movie is quite a good film. Actually a d agree with what you said. I do t believe Mansfid had su h a high IQ. It certainly didn't help her when she decided that any publicity was good publicity. She would have have been on her own show in a heart neat.
ReplyDeleteOh Mamie is a hot mess and looking like some freak show. She was never a good actress and it always showed..along with her boobs.
Oh yes! Zsa Zsa is a fabulous pick for a reality TV star. I'd much rather watch her than any of the Karasses or the other reality TV "stars." (I just hate that they get a star title - those talentless asses.
ReplyDeleteLove ya. Great to see you in the photo below.
Keep smiling.
Yes, I think they would have been fun to watch. It is a shame these morons are famous but mainly for their fake butts and, well, everything on their face and body. Hedonistic a holes. Thank you for visiting
DeleteMansfield had 5 kids, 5 husbands and died at 34? Had no idea.
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
These are all actresses my mom never let me go see when their movies came to town. She highly disapproved! Being a young girl, I never saw the appeal either. I liked Hayley Mills!
ReplyDelete