The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Ed Harvey & Jayne Mansfield
WCAU Radio Studios
circa 1966

In 1966, only a year before her death, WCAU's Ed Harvey talked with movie actress Jayne Mansfield on his radio program, "The Talk of Philadelphia." Jayne was in Philadelphia working on a new movie she was acting in.

She was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. By three she was living in Phillipsburg, NJ. She was the only child of Herbert and Vera Palmer. Herbert was a successful Philadelphia lawyer. However, he passed away when Jayne was only three and her mother remarried Harry Peers within a year of Herbert's death. At that time, they moved to Dallas, Texas where Harry lived. On May 6, 1950, she married Paul Mansfield. Her first show business performance was on the Lux Video Theater on October 21, 1954. The next year would begin her film career.

By the way, Mansfield always claimed that she had an IQ of 163, although these claims were never backed up. On June 29, 1967, the automobile she was riding in was involved in a crash. All in the front seat, including Jayne were killed instantly.

Broadcast Pioneers' Vice-President Ed Harvey tells us that after this photo was taken, he was talking to Jayne in California. Being an animal lover, she mentioned that her cat just had kittens, but that the mother cat had died. That left these little kittens with no mom. Ed mentioned this on his show and a woman called him saying that her cat just had kittens, but that all the little ones had died. The woman was willing to send Jayne the mother cat filled with mother's milk for Jayne's little kittens. Ed said that he arranged with TWA to fly the cat to California and Jayne picked the mother cat up at the airport. Ed Harvey said that mother cat and adopted kittens did well and all survived.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com