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(Mariska's Mommy)
It was shortly after this when she replaced her endlessly inventive publicity agent Jim Byron with Bill Shiffrin, who was to help her carve out a more sophisticated image for herself. The New Jayne decided she wanted to study acting in New York, a la Marilyn Monroe.
Curiously enough, the same year they released Jayne Mansfield Busts Up Las Vegas they also dropped her contract. In true Mansfield form, she said she was pleased by the decision, as she did, when Warner's has dropped her seven years earlier. within a month of this announcement, Marilyn Monroe died, leaving Jayne even more in the public eye, as a possible successor. Jayne was under severe pressure, with the question of her status as s sex symbol, paired with surmounting marital problems. By 1963, Jayne decline was eminent. And she knew it too...but she also wondered if she could become a starlet again.
Jayne Mansfield was a step ahead of her time whe she decided to become one of the first big stars to take it all off for Playboy magazine. This coincided with her production of her film "Promises Promises." Playboy shot behind the scenes nude shots of Jayne by the urging of her producer Tommy Noonan, and she agreed to do the pictorial without compensation. The magazine would go on to become the biggest seller for the magazine at that point in history. "The Nudest Jayne Mansfield" flew off the newspaper stands, with many copies selling for the steep price of $10.00 a piece. Hugh Hefner was arrested for obscenity for publishing the pictures. Even with all this publicity, "Promises Promises" was not the box office hit that she had hoped for, and by mid 1963 she hit the nightclub circuit.
In her nightclub act she performed a burlesque which toured throughout the U.S. There were some show tunes, a little stand up comedy and then capped the evening with a striptease routine. This was an extremely successful act everywhere it went, and often brought a standing ovation finale. Also during this time she appeared on television quite frequently. She appeared on Follow The Sun, two Alfred Hitchcock presents, Jack Parr, Red Skelton and Jack Benny. In 1964 she did a guest appearance on Burke's Law.