Guest
Jayne Mansfield played violin ’Concerto No. 6 in A Minor’ (Vivaldi), live on the national television program, The Ed Sullivan Show, on May 26, 1957. Mansfield was an internationally popular movie star. Her public persona was a blond bimbo sex symbol. In real life she was a member of Mensa, she spoke several languages besides her native English, and she played the piano in addition to the violin. Mansfield was 34 when she died from injuries she suffered from an automobile crash on a highway near New Orleans, on June 29, 1967. The two other adults in the car were also killed. Mansfield’s daughter, Mariska Hargitay, is an actress who has played on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for 25 years. Mariska was 3-1/2 when she and her two brothers who were asleep in the back seat, survived the car crash that killed their mother. I happened to come across a black and white video of Mansfield’s violin performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It is a more positive way to think of her, than some of her low budget poorly produced film roles.
