Jayne Mansfield, popular sex symbol of the 50s met future husband, Mickey Hargitay, a bodybuilder on stage one evening at Mae West’s popular Las Vegas revue featuring musclemen. Mansfield and Hargitay enjoyed a whirlwind romance, married, then later divorced yet the couple remained close friends throughout the remainder of Mansfield’s short life, which ended on a lonely Louisiana highway the night of June 29, 1967.
In video footage posted on YouTube, Mickey Hargitay wistfully recalled his visit to a mortuary containing the remains of his ex-wife, Jayne Mansfield, shortly after her tragic automobile accident which killed three people. Hargitay was visibly disturbed when reliving the moment, was overcome with emotion, and struggling for the words to explain what he’d found, “I saw her the last time…it wasn’t really her anymore, you know, soul was gone, spirit was gone…it was just a machine, it wasn’t her…”
Hargitay had met Jayne Mansfield while performing at Mae West’s renowned 1950’s nightclub revue which broke Las Vegas box office records. In Mae’s typical Westian style, a collection of musclemen would cavort about the sexagenarian star, while flexing their biceps and chest muscles. It was all carefully orchestrated by the aging West to create the illusion that she was just as luscious and desirable as ever, as the men dutifully paid her homage by lustfully ogling her. West would then sing a few songs, knock off a few of her double-entendre one-liners and sashay about the stage, looking as voluptuous as a sex symbol in her mid-60s could.
While the bodybuilders were little more than props for West’s increasingly inflated ego, Mae’s exaggerated sense-of-self unwisely entertained the notion that Mickey Hargitay was perhaps interested in something more, namely the incomparable Mae West. Yet Hargitay happened to be looking in another direction that evening, and the object of his attention was Miss Jayne Mansfield.
In West’s inimitable egomaniacal and narcissistic manner, Mae quickly turned the page by arranging publicity about a few musclemen in her show that were battling for the elderly star’s affections, reportedly coming to blows in the process.
West was then left with her successful show minus Mickey Hargitay, and had only to reap the enormous financial rewards, not to mention several choice musclemen, in particular a bodybuilder named Chester Rybinski (aka Paul Novak). Novak, smitten with Mae West, doted on the aging star for over 26 years until her death in 1980.
Sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, some 40 years younger than West, and Hungarian bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay were soon christened “couple of the hour” by the American press, quickly married, and left the aging Mae West far, far behind. The two likely never looked back…
