This is a confection of a book, but that is not to say it is without substance. The same could be said about its subject. With humor and a keen eye for separating fact from the multitude of fiction surrounding Mansfield, Golden provides the first definitive (and positively page-turning!) work on an underrated actress and cult icon. Readers will fall in love with the multi-talented Mansfield who refused to accept failure. Through turbulent romances and career hiccups, Jayne's first love was truly being a celebrity. She embraced her over the top persona with a wildly eccentric home (called the pink palace) to complete her image. She was a fine comedienne and able to laugh at herself. Still, it is a shame few are aware of the depth of emotion and subtlety this bombshell could bring to her performances. Golden's endlessly entertaining, cute yet intelligent, exhaustively researched book is a must for Mansfield devotees and film scholars alike.
~Cynthia Brideson, author of He's Got Rhythm: The Life and Career of Gene Kelly and Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer
There have been other Jayne Mansfield books—but none like this one. Eve Golden's even-handed, clear-eyed approach to Jayne's often convoluted life pegs Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It as one of the best star bios ever.
~Laura Wagner, book reviewer for Classic Images and author of Hollywood's Hard-Luck Ladies
Eve Golden has given us an impeccably researched, fast-paced, unvarnished but loving tribute to one of Hollywood's great 1950s blonde bombshells.
~Robert Dance, author of Glamour of the Gods and Hollywood Icons
Pop the pink champagne for Eve Golden's breezily written tribute to the phenomenon known as Jayne Mansfield, which quite notably includes an appreciation of her undervalued talent and sadly unfulfilled potential. Immersed in the giddy pleasures of mid-century pop culture, this book is consistently entertaining while always respectful. Even when it's funny, it never treats Mansfield as a joke.
~John DiLeo, author of Ten Movies at a Time: A 350-Film Journey Through Hollywood and America 1930-1970
Eve Golden brings impeccable research and stylish writing to this mid-century American icon. Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It dispels the myths about Jayne Mansfield and examines her continuing popularity.
~Larry Harnisch, retired L.A. Times editor, writer, columnist and blogger
As Eve Golden reveals in this ferociously readable biography, there were always two Jayne Mansfields: a dramatic actress who dressed like a stripper, an avowed Christian and serial adulteress, an animal-lover swathed in mink. Ms. Golden takes on the daunting task of reconciling these contradictions and succeeds admirably, giving us a vivid, well-rounded (no pun intended) account of a unique life.
~Stage and Cinema
Exemplary in its research and detail, Golden's book may well become the definitive word—if not the last word—on the Mansfield story.
~Library Journal
An engrossing picture of a woman who was both a throwback to classic Hollywood glamour and a harbinger of modern, "famous for being famous" reality stars.
~Foreword Reviews
Golden treats Mansfield with respect and sympathy. [Golden] delves deep into her life, past the gossip and (increasingly desperate) publicity stunts that so dominated her career, to reveal the insecurities that truly dominated, and eventually decimated, her life.
~YES! Weekly
In this eye-opening, intriguing and oft-times laugh-out-loud biography of the busty blonde bombshell, Eve Golden has managed to bring to three dimensional life the facts and fantasies surrounding the ubiquitous sex symbol of the 50's and 60's.
~oscaremoore.com
In Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It, Golden tells the story of a 1960's American icon who made a name for herself in the entertainment industry and also in pop culture – and this was before the evolution of social media and more modern-day methods of self-promotion. She was a reality show unto herself. Golden's book delves into the world of that self-promotion and also how relevant it is today.
~Newsnotes Dance Blog
In Golden's capable hands, Mansfield becomes a multi-dimensional person—never just a joke with a big bosom. The research is scrupulous and meticulous, showing us Jayne's complex nature in startling detail. She's not perfect, of course, and Golden describes her affairs and mistakes, while also making her sympathetic.... This is a definitive, stylish biography, separating fact from fiction, presenting the good with the bad. There has been quite a lot of fiction attached to Mansfield, and Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It is here to sort it all out.
~Laura Wagner, Classic Images
As with any person we encounter on screen or in the pages of a magazine, Jayne Mansfield was more than just what the media portrayed. These other facets of her life as well as what the public saw is what author Eve Golden has chronicled in her new biography, Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It. Golden takes her reader through a very detailed account of Mansfield's entire life bringing forth a more holistic picture of the Hollywood legend as a celebrity, actress, mother, woman, and person.
~Cinema Sentries
In Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It, Eve Golden offers a joyful account of the star Andy Warhol called 'the poet of publicity,' revealing the smart, determined woman behind the persona. This funny, engaging biography offers a nuanced portrait of a fascinating woman who loved every minute of life and lived each one to the fullest.
~Carmen Gómez-Galisteo, New Books Network
