A set of rediscovered photographs show a Hollywood sex symbol at one of Blackpool’s most missed attractions. In September 1959, screen star Jayne Mansfield was invited to the seaside resort to switch on its world famous illuminations. The actress traveled to the resort with her husband Mickey Hartigay and her eight year old daughter from her first marriage, Jayne Marie, and eight month old son, Miklos.
During her time in the town, she posed for the cameras at Blackpool’s beautiful and much missed open air swimming pool. Thought at one time to be the largest pool in the world, the stunning swimmers paradise first opened at the edge of Blackpool’s golden sands in 1923. The pool’s oval shaped perimeter enclosed around a 376 foot long and 170 foot wide D shaped pool which was filled with 1.6 million gallons of treated sea water. Despite being a popular and stunning addition to Blackpool’s seafront for most of its 60-years, it closed in 1981 and was demolished two-years later with the Sandcastle Waterpark now standing in its place.
Tragically, Jayne Mansfield died just eight years later in a car crash in New Orleans aged just 34. Although her life and film career was short-lived, she had several box-office successes and won a Golden Globe Award in 1957.
The full set of photos showing Jayne Mansfield at the lost open air pool were recently discovered in the Mirrorpix archives, some of which are included in the gallery below.
