Hollywood Heat

Joe Shere Moves to Hollywood

After working in the U.S. Army Signal Corp as Chief of Photo Division in Newport News, Virginia, the photographer of this iconic photo, Joe Shere, was sent to Hollywood by Hillman Publications as west coast manager and photojournalist when World War II ended. In Hollywood, he continued to photograph for many different publications, like Movieland, Pageant, and TV Magazine. He photographed many big names in Hollywood at the time such as Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Debbie Reynolds, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Sandra Dee, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Fisher, and many many more. Shere hadn’t had too much publicity from any photographs before the photograph of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield was taken, but his work still mattered a lot, and showed great representation of the stars of the time. Photographing these celebrities gave some insight on how they really were. He often captured the beauty of the stars, as seen in the photograph he took of Marilyn Monroe in 1952. But, he also captured the reality, as seen in the photograph he took of Loren and Mansfield. Having these great representations of the Hollywood stars of the time made Shere’s work very significant to that time period. 

Photography, Monroe Gallery of. “Joe Shere: 1917 - 2008.” JOE SHERE: 1917 - 2008, 1 Jan. 1970, https://monroegallery.blogspot.com/2009/03/joe-shere-1917-2008.html. 

Sophia Loren at 1955 Cannes Festival

Sophia Loren, the woman on the left of the photograph of her and Mansfield, was a famous Italian actress who had been the most photographed actor at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. In Europe, Loren had starred in many different films, which ultimately made her a huge success. She had starred in Town of the Bells (1954), A Day in Court (1954), Two Nights with Cleopatra (1954), The Anatomy of Love (1954), Neapolitan Carousel (1954), Pilgrim of Love (1954), The Gold of Naples (1954), Attila (1954), Too Bad She’s Bad (1954), The River Girl (1954), The Sign of Venus (1955), The Miller’s Beautiful Wife (1955), Scandal in Sorrento (1955), What a Woman! (1956), all of which were only a small part of her whole acting career. She also had the beauty to her that made her quite famous, which can be shown from her being the most photographed at the famous Cannes Film Festival. Because of her huge success in Europe, she had decided to go to Hollywood, for even bigger opportunities. Loren was welcomed to Hollywood by Paramount Pictures at a dinner party at Romanoff’s restaurant in Beverly Hills, which is where the iconic photograph had been taken. Since Loren was known for her beauty, and was considered THE sex symbol of Hollywood, you could only imagine how many photographers and journalists would want to come to photograph her and welcome her to Hollywood. 

“Jayne Mansfield–Sophia Loren Photo.” Wikiwand, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Jayne_Mansfield%E2%80%93Sophia_Loren_photo#:~:text=Mansfield%2C%20herself%20a%20successful%20actress,pool%20while%20surrounded%20by%20journalists.

“Sophia Loren.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000047/. 

“The Picture: The Story.” Fahey Klein Gallery, http://www.faheykleingallery.com/picture-story/the-picture-the-story20. 

Jayne Mansfield in The Girl Can’t Help It

In 1956, The Girl Can’t Help It, starring American actress Jayne Mansfield, had come out, and turned into a huge success. Mansfield had some success in the earlier years, starring in many different films and shows such as Lux Video Theatre (1954), Female Jungle (1955), Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), Illegal (1955), Sunday Spectacular: The Bachelor (1956) but, her claim to fame was definitely The Girl Can’t Help It (1956). After this success, 20th Century Fox then marketed Mansfield as the studio’s ‘blonde-bombshell’ successor to Marilyn Monrore, which ultimately made her a big sex symbol at the time. She had also appeared in Playboy as the Playmate of the Month, which only proves this further. Mansfield was also widely known for staging publicity stunts which gave her nationwide attention. One example of this was when her top fell off in a pool while surrounded by journalists. So again, you can only imagine how many photographers and journalists would want to come to this dinner at Romanoff’s to get the chance to capture these two significant sex symbols of Hollywood, Loren and Mansfield. One could even question if Mansfield had attended this dinner to gain even more media attention, knowing just how many journalists would be there.

The reason that I offered that background concerning those three events is because it helps me to explain what the photograph of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield was doing socially when Joe Shere took it. This photograph was famous for a reason. It ran in numerous magazines and newspapers in 1958, and still continues to appear in publications even today. And, at the time, the word ‘censored’ had actually hid Mansfield’s exposed breasts. Shere had worked as a photographer in Hollywood for over 50 years, and he took countless behind-the-scenes photos during his career, but this image of Loren and Mansfield will always be the image everyone will remember. So why is it so popular? Shere was able to capture the perfect moment of Loren eyeing up Mansfield’s breasts that were ‘about to come onto my plate’ according to Loren herself. Mansfield was the last one to arrive at this dinner, and came right for Loren’s table to sit next to her, showing off her breasts and smile. Photographers started to shoot wildly when this happened, and Shere managed to get the perfect shot, that many people have tried to duplicate since. It is important to add that these photographers and journalists were there because Mike Romanoff, the owner of the restaurant who catered at the time to all the top Hollywood stars, put the word out to the studios and all photographers in Hollywood that Loren and Mansfield had a reservation for lunch that day. He knew to let everyone know because Loren and Mansfield were both considered huge sex symbols of Hollywood, as I previously discussed. Because they were so popular at the time, the media loved to show this image off. The fact that Loren seemed to be staring at Mansfield’s breasts adds another aspect that made this image so eye-catching to see, because no one really saw that happening much in photos of celebrities. It was rare to see and relatable, and that is what made everyone love it. 

“Jayne Mansfield–Sophia Loren Photo.” Wikiwand, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Jayne_Mansfield%E2%80%93Sophia_Loren_photo#:~:text=Mansfield%2C%20herself%20a%20successful%20actress,pool%20while%20surrounded%20by%20journalists.

“Jayne Mansfield.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543790/. 

“The Picture: The Story.” Fahey Klein Gallery, http://www.faheykleingallery.com/picture-story/the-picture-the-story20. 

All Sources:

Farabola, Archivio. Photograph of Sophia Loren. 1955. https://www.artphotolimited.com/us-en/fine-art-photography/movie/actress/italian-actress/sophia-loren/photo/archivio-farabola/sophia-loren-at-the-1955-cannes-film-festival 

“Jayne Mansfield–Sophia Loren Photo.” Wikiwand, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Jayne_Mansfield%E2%80%93Sophia_Loren_photo#:~:text=Mansfield%2C%20herself%20a%20successful%20actress,pool%20while%20surrounded%20by%20journalists.

“Jayne Mansfield.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543790/. 

Photography, Monroe Gallery of. “Joe Shere: 1917 - 2008.” JOE SHERE: 1917 - 2008, 1 Jan. 1970, https://monroegallery.blogspot.com/2009/03/joe-shere-1917-2008.html. 

“Sophia Loren.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000047/. 

Shere, Joe. Photograph of Marilyn Monroe. 1952. https://www.mptvimages.com/images?order=uploaded_at&sort=desc&max=25&trashed=0&restricted=0&premium=any&hidden=0&search_notes=0&photographers=Joe+Shere&page=4 

The Criterion Collection. The Girl Can’t Help It Cover. 1956. https://www.criterion.com/films/29605-the-girl-can-t-help-it 

“The Picture: The Story.” Fahey Klein Gallery, http://www.faheykleingallery.com/picture-story/the-picture-the-story20.