Welcome

This site aims to chronicle Jayne Mansfield’s tour of England which took place between March and May 1967. This was the last significant collection of appearances by Jayne before her untimely death in June of that year, just weeks after she’d left England, yet very little has been written about it. This site aims to correct that.

By this point in Jayne’s career the prestigious bookings were over, and she sought work wherever she could find it. When a lucrative tour of the nightclubs of northern England was offered, Jayne signed a contract with Contemporary Records to perform in a number of clubs. However, the tour was off almost before it had begun and Jayne was sacked. Some hastily re-arranged dates put Jayne back on the road but controversy, rumour, contractual fallouts, and an underwhelming audience response continued to follow her. Coupled with this were Jayne’s ongoing marital issues and an escalating drink problem.

Bemused locals look on as Jayne wows the press at Newcastle Train Station
Bemused locals look on as Jayne wows the press at Newcastle Train Station

Despite this the tour managed to encompass a number of venues, cities, and towns and never one to be shy of publicity, Jayne made the most of any opportunity to promote both herself and her tour. This included bizarre appearances at car dealerships, prisons, fish and chip shops, village fetes, and markets. It’s little wonder that locals stood open mouthed when a Hollywood star wandered down their high street.

On the following pages you will find a chronological record of Jayne’s UK tour, plus details of cancelled appearances in Ireland and Liverpool. Each page starts with the dates of her appearance and the venues she appeared in, or should have appeared in. There is then a brief summary of the story of that particular leg of the tour, followed by as many contemporary newspaper clippings as I can find.

I have pieced all of this information together from a variety of sources and have tried to either acknowledge them, or link to the original. However it must be noted that newspapers and the internet get things wrong, and particularly in the case of Jayne, their reporting of events may have been exaggerated. Consequently I have tried to keep a balanced view on what may have happened and where possible have always tried to report Jayne’s side of the story. A big thanks must go to those YouTube users who have uploaded original footage and interviews from this period of Jayne’s life.

This site was first published in March 2019, exactly 52 years since Jayne was touring England. I wasn’t lucky enough to witness Jayne appearances myself, having been born six years later, but I would love to hear from anybody who has any memories of her time here in the UK. I also welcome corrections so if I have got anything wrong please tell me!

For further reading I also thoroughly recommend Jennifer Lee O’Brien’s article which gives a very interesting contemporary perspective on Jayne’s life and her time in England.

I hope you find the site useful and please get in touch with any comments or memories.

James, Leeds, UK.

Next – Jayne’s Arrival

43 thoughts on “Welcome”

  1. This is fascinating, I always wanted to know all the details of Jayne’s time in England, also my mother dated Alan Wells in the early 70’s, I have a photo of them sipping champagne at the Webbington just like the one of Alan with Jayne, so sad she died, she was a grafter, back in the states she was already doing club dates and then we know what happened, would love to have seen her but I was barely born then.

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    1. Thank you so much for sending your memories Vivienne. A really great story about your mother and Alan Wells. This is just the sort of information I hoped would emerge when I put the site together.

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      1. I can’t believe we had Jayne in the North of England, must have been such a treat for everyone, really appreciate all the information on her time here, thanks!

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      2. Hi James, I’d you’re interested I can email a copy of the photo of my mum with Alen Wells
        Vivienne

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  2. I was Jayne’s chauffuer, whilst she was touring the UK> During that time I got to know her quite well. I have a lot of personal information i can share, which I have not shared with anyone else out of respect for her.

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    1. Hello George. Thank you so much for getting in touch and what an amazing story.

      I have emailed you with some more information and we can hopefully arrange to talk in more detail.

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      1. Thanks for your leaving your comment David.

        Unfortunately I only managed to have a brief email conversation with George before my messages went unanswered, George, if you are still a visitor to this site please feel free post some more information about your time with Jayne.

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  4. Hello James — not sure if my comment posted. I discovered your site yesterday and would love to chat with you about it in an interview for my newsletter. Do get in touch if you’re interested!

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  6. Hiya James only just found this site. I am a huge Jayne Mansfield fan also living in the North of England, not too far from the old Greasbrough Club in Rotherham. I have been trying to get more info about her performance there.

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    1. Hi Heather,

      I’m glad you’ve found the site. If you do come across any more information about Jayne’s performances at the Greasbrough I’d be happy to add it to the site with full credit.

      Many thanks for leaving a comment.

      James

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  7. Great site, which I think I can add a couple of snippets to. I met Jayne at the new Newcastle airport when my family was visting from W. Yorkshire. We were staying at my Uncle John’s and I can verify the exact date as he had taken us to the Newcastle v Leicester game the day before. So, it was Sunday morning April 2nd, It was really quiet and then my Mum recognized Jayne and small entorage as she came down an escalator. She had the chihuahuas with her and looked stunning with a massive air of charisma. I plucked up the courage to aske her for an autograph, which she gave me complete with the trademark heart dotting the “i”. What really stood out for me though was that her demeanor changed to a loving aunty or godmother mode. She had a lot of time for me. It was aagreat and, obviously, memorable experience for me.

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    1. Thanks so much for this Phil, what a brilliant story. Memories like this are exactly the reason I made the site.

      I take it you still have the autograph? What a treasured item that must be.

      Many thanks for sharing your experience.

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      1. Hi James, yeah, she was definitely arriving in Newcastle, not leaving. When we left the airport, we caught up with her vehicle and, if the Chauffeur above was driving, he will remember two cars full of giddy schoolboys waving and shouting. So much fun.

        Unfortunately, I lost the autograph boog, or more likely my brother used it as a trade for something or other. He believed he had inherited all my possessions when I left for Uni!! Laugably, he probably ascribed more value to the footie players in there (Ray Wilson, Frank Worthinton and others)

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      2. It’s a shame the autograph has gone, but the memories certainly make up for it. Thanks for adding more details to the story – knowing that she was arriving in Newcastle rather than leaving is certainly a very useful piece of information. If you date her arrival as the 2nd April, it looks likely that there were events outside of Newcastle around this date which she flew to. I wonder what these were?

        She was certainly very busy as we know that she visited York on the 6th April.

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  8. PS Sorry for the typo and any American spelling (I live in california now). Also, I should have mentioned, I was twelve.

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  9. I’m so glad I could fill in a few blanks. She did have the Chihuahuas back and, if you need further confirmation of that (which I doubt), my Mum lives in Leeds – Kirkstall Lane. You can walk over there and ask her. She was the first to spot them.

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    1. The whereabouts of the chihuahuas is a story in itself which I’d love to get to the bottom of. Were they impounded after arriving from America and for how long? Who picked them up? Was a fine paid?

      Good to know your Mum lives locally!

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      2. She did indeed Vivienne, although she was caught. I wonder what happened after this because the chihuahuas were clearly around for the first leg of her tour. Maybe she sweet talked her way out of the customs paperwork and carried on her way with them tucked under her coat again.

        She also managed to aquire yet another chihuahua while in England which she then gave away before her departure.

        Maybe I need to start a new site dedicated just to her chihuahuas, as they seem to have just as much of a story as Jayne!

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      3. Thanks, there is a photo of Alan holding 2 of the dogs and one is in the pocket of Jayne’s dress so she had 3 at that time.

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      4. Thanks Vivienne. Your contributions to the Webbington part of Jayne’s story are so useful.

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  11. Absolutely think jayne Mansfield was a beautiful woman and brilliant actress . Watched lots of her movies the burglar will success spoil rock hunter single room furnished and many more. Five children and a beautiful pink palace.she was tragically killed so young at 34 years old .an absolute stunner xxxx

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  12. Hi James
    I am selling a signed photo of Jayne on ebay. Maybe you are interested.
    It is genuine, has an advert on the back for Oh! for a man! a film of Jaynes being shown at the Tower Leeds

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      1. Thanks for looking – let your other readers know about it please
        I would consider installments, and get the photo on completion
        How much would you like the photo ?
        All the best guy

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      1. Thanks James, pity it’s gone. I might’ve sprung for that one. This is a bit expensive but excellent and that heart over the i ….. YES. Still find it almost unbelievable that she did that for me.

        https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134696148432?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818143230%26meid%3D0d7513fc094e4d5d82224750c99e68f0%26pid%3D101224%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D305104006544%26itm%3D134696148432%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4429486%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebV9BertRefreshRanker&_trksid=p4429486.c101224.m-1

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  14. really enjoyed your site james I live in America but on YouTube this evening I was able to see footage of Jayne and Sam Brody visiting the Tower of Jayne was talking to an elderly beef eater and being thronged by the crowds for Autographs at one point she was yelled at by a middle-aged Cockney woman dragging her young son away from jayne and calling her a hussy saying come over here and I’ll sort you out! It didn’t faze Jaye she just kept chatting to the beef eater

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    1. This is great Stephen. Thanks so much for your comment. Would it be possible for you to post the link of the YouTube footage of Jayne at the Tower? I’ll then add it to the site (with a full acknowledgement that you brought the footage to my attention). Many thanks,
      James.

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      1. Go to youtube type in jayne mansfield tours London in1967 it’s really great its in colour too I don’t know how to send the link to this blog when I joined your blog a lotvof spam pops up and goes to my email address but If you type it in it should pull it up

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      2. Found it, thank you. I see the footage was only uploaded a few weeks ago which is why I’ve missed it. I’ll add this to the site next week.
        Much appreciated Stephen!

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      3. Hi Stephen. I found the YouTube vid easily but, for some reason, it wouldn’t paste here.

        I din’t watch it all, because hearing that cockney cretin shout that would have made me angry.

        Cheers, Phil

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