When Jayne Mansfield Met Alice the Brady Bunch’s Housekeeper! Let me put this forgotten fringe-of-show biz encounter in context. From Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn’t Help It (2021) by Eve Golden:
“In May 1964 Jayne signed (at $4,000 a week) to bring two of Marilyn Monroe’s movie roles to the stage: the pathetic nightclub singer Cherie in Bus Stop (first played onstage by Kim Stanley in 1955) and wide-eyed gold digger Lorelei Lee in the 1949 musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (originated on Broadway by Carol Channing). Bus Stop, written by William Inge, required heavy-duty acting and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes required heavy-duty singing (“A Little Girl from Little Rock” and the anthem “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” among other songs – most of which were cut from the 1953 movie version). Jayne needed a good director; her acting ranged from brilliant to amateurish depending on the script and director she was handed. Bus Stop and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had good scripts, so she set about interviewing potential directors. Finding a seasoned professional who was willing to do summer stock might not be easy. Jayne was lucky, finding twenty-eight-year-old New Yorker Matt Cimber in her first round of interviews.”
At the time, Mansfield was still married to Mickey Hargitay. Cimber would soon become Mansfield’s third and final husband. Her leading man (playing the part of Bo Decker) was Stephen Brooks. Hargitay was cast in a smaller role as the bus driver. Also in the cast: Ann B Davis (aka Alice the housekeeper from TV sitcom The Brady Bunch). “Jayne was not as advertised,” Davis would rage years later. “She was huge drunk. Bipolar. Unprofessional. And any claims that she was a genius - ha! She was about as bright as a chalkboard. Dumb as sin! She was not educated by any definition. She was a blowzy alcoholic. She could barely read lines and was awful to the rest of the cast and crew.” In case anyone missed the point, Davis continued, “She was vulgar, obscene and pathetic … that girl was a dark monster!” While touring Bus Stop, Mansfield told a reporter, “Right now we’re trying to arrange a 15-week tour with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” The mind reels imagining Mansfield interpreting Tennessee Williams’ “Maggie the Cat”!
