Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/756468
30 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2016 black musical Cabin in the Sky (1943). Even more telling is that, apart from the musicians, only two other roles in the entire film are played by African Americans: an uncredited attendant in the ladies' room of a nightclub, and Mansfield's maid, played by Juanita Moore, who would be nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a housekeeper in Imitation of Life (1959). Whether Tashlin was conscious of this disparity or not, he pointedly draws attention to both servant characters. The ladies' room attendant crosses the wide screen in the foreground in long shot to speak with Mansfield, who tips her a quarter with an exaggerated gesture. Later, Moore stands next to Mansfield and Ewell, watching Cochran shaking his hips and playing an energetic "20 Flight Rock" on television. Naturally and spontaneously, the maid starts swinging her hips and breaks into a graceful and equally energetic dance. In a 1962 interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Tashlin said that what he likes to talk about in his pictures is "the nonsense of what we call civilization." He doesn't mention racial issues but he singles out "the immaturity of the American male — this breast fetish...we make an idol of a woman because she has outsized breasts." During the decade that saw Playboy expand the accepted legitimacy of objectifying women's bodies, Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It uses Mansfield to undercut it. After a hilarious series of surreal gags of men's reactions observing her walk into an apartment building, ending with her picking up two bottles of milk and clasping them to her bosom, the film proceeds to reverse our initial impression and humanize her. In fact, Mansfield's performance shows an intelligence and depth that she never was given the chance to reveal in any other role. In the film's final script, Mansfield's character is described as "just a wonderful, sweet, naïve girl who, unfortunately, has sex appeal." About 40 minutes into the movie, composed almost entirely of artificial stylized settings, comes a scene in a completely natural environment: Mansfield and Ewell having a picnic on a beach. The scene begins with her voice sounding like an imitation of Monroe's breathlessness. Soon, she loosens up and talks like a human being, responding directly with awareness. She remains natural throughout the rest of the picture. The only drawback is that, as a product of the 1950s, her character aspires to the era's accepted role for women: "I just want to be a wife and have kids, but everybody figures me for a sexpot. No one thinks I'm equipped for motherhood." Production wrapped on November 5 and post was rushed to completion in two weeks so the picture could open for the Christmas season. Fox had already assigned Tashlin to adapt, produce and direct the screen version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, the Axelrod play it had bought, with Mansfield as the celebrity sex symbol she played on Broadway. On December 28, Tashlin delivered his first draft. Meanwhile, The Girl Can't Help It earned over $6 million during its initial release. Soon, Girl also contributed to one of the great turning points in Rock 'n' Roll. Thrilled to see his American Rock 'n' Roll and rhythm-and-blues idols on the screen, a 16-year old John Lennon took in the movie when it opened in Liverpool. A few weeks later, on July 7, 1957, performing with his band, the Quarrymen, Lennon was introduced to the 15-year-old Paul McCartney, who had also rushed to see the film. Impressed with how McCartney played "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and "20 Flight Rock" on his guitar, and knew all the lyrics, Lennon later invited him to join his band. The rest is history. f THIS QUARTER IN FILM HISTORY The Girl Can't Help It. 20th Century-Fox/ Photofest