Every generation is convinced that their icons are too colossal, too talented, too...well, iconic, to ever be replaced. For Baby Boomers, there's an dimension of, "Angelina who?"
Think of the original Bodacious Ta-Tas (of Jayne Mansfield), the violet eyes of Elizabeth Taylor, bronze siren Lena Horne, and the whispery Marilyn Monroe, whose every body part earned reverential respect that has lasted the test of time.
To us and those who will come after, Marilyn Monroe will always be 36 years old. That white dress will always be blowing up in the air. And, obviously, Marilyn will always be a NotMom. She married 3 times, but I haven't found much about her failure to conceive. Then again, does a man marry a woman like Marilyn Monroe to have children?
When I try to imagine what impact motherhood might have had on the superstar's career, my eyebrows link up in a knot. Even with supersize curves, Jayne Mansfield was not viewed quite the same after the arrival of a daughter in 1964 (AKA Law & Order's Mariska Hargitay). But, what do I know? I live in an age that cheers when re-bootylicious Beyonce slips back into a sparkly catsuit. Blue Ivy who?
This August is the 50th anniversary of Lady Marilyn's death. Who cares that there were no surviving children? Wasn't it always all about her? She is her own legacy.
Kate Pitrone
8:31 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Just as well she had no children, all things considered.
Jean Williams
11:50 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
lots of people left no kids behind
Karen Malone Wright
10:33 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
{smile} That's the point.
Lance
4:01 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
In your paragraph about JAYNE MANSFIELD, you added the phrase "What do I know?" Appaprently, not much!
JAYNE MANSFIELD had three OTHER children before before giving birth to daughter Mariska Hargitay, and one more child after! Actually, Jayne had a daughter by her first husband, Paul MANSFIELD, many years BEFORE she became famous as a sex symbol; therefore, motherhood was ALWAYS part of Jayne's mathematical equation (which usually measured 41 1/2 - 22 - 36, BTW)!
Karen Malone Wright
12:45 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Thanks for your research and correction, Lance. Although, I believe the point still holds that for Ms. Mansfield, while she never hid her motherhood, it wasn't very compatible in that era with a career that took off after nude photos appeared in a 1955 Playboy.