Bishop saves Tralee from Jayne

American film star Jayne Mansfield won a number of beauty contests in her early career. At different times she was Miss Photoflash and Miss Magnesium Lamp among others but one title she never won was Rose of Tralee. In spite of that omission from her CV she possibly created more worldwide publicity for the Kerry town than many who did win the title.

Jayne Mansfield was what was described at the time as a blonde bombshell. A film star from the 1950s and ’60s, she was blonde, good looking and generously proportioned. She was born Vera Jayne Palmer in New Jersey but the family moved to Texas when she was three. The name Mansfield came from her first marriage.
The marriage ended shortly after she moved to Hollywood in the early ’50s, where she began to work on stage and in film. She also performed in cabaret. She appeared in over 30 films, was never nominated for an Oscar but did win one Golden Globe award in 1957.
Many of her film roles were that of dumb blonde or sex symbol. Some of it was an act as she had attended both the University of Texas and UCLA. However, she never disguised the fact that she capitalised on her appearance and in a poll she was voted No. 2 in a list of Top Playboy Playmates of all time. The great Bette Davis dismissed her by saying that her idea of dramatic art was knowing how to fill a sweater. Even when her film career started to wane she was still a star in cabaret although she was once arrested for indecent exposure during her act in Vermont. She travelled all over the world in cabaret and it was those travels that brought her to Ireland.
She was booked to appear at the newly opened Brandon Hotel in Tralee. It might just have been a little too much for the time. This was the Ireland of no sex before the arrival of television. Kitchens displayed photographs of the Pope and John F Kennedy and local clergy knew what was good for their people.
The parish priest of Tralee was no different and he objected to Ms Mansfield appearing in his town. He called on the people of Tralee to have nothing to do with what he described as besmirching the name of the town for the sake of filthy gain.
The Bishop of Kerry had a letter read in all churches in the county calling on people not to attend the show. In those days, a call from a bishop was tantamount to an order and the organisers had no other option but cancel the show.
I presume they had to forfeit Ms Mansfield’s agreed fee – reputed to be £1,000. The bishop and parish priest got their way and the morals of Kerrymen were saved for another day. At a press conference before she left, Ms Mansfield denied that she had ever intended putting on a disrespectful act. Two months later, she died as a result of a car accident in Louisiana when she was travelling to do a show.
Jayne Mansfield’s only scheduled cabaret appearance in Ireland was cancelled following the intervention of the local clergy on April 23, 1967 – 43 years ago this week.