“The Girl Can’t Help It” — Jayne Mansfield & Divine
Who did it better — Jayne Mansfield or Divine?
The Girl Can’t Help It was a 1956 movie starring Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, and Edmund O’Brien, and the movie was jam-packed with mid-’50s rock and roll and jazz from a number of artists including The Platters, Teddy Rendazzo & the Three Chuckles, Julie London, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, Nino Tempo, and Abbey Lincoln.
The soundtrack was composed by Bobby Troup, the man famous for his composition “Route 66.” He penned the title track, given to Little Richard to perform; it would not appear on a Little Richard album until 1958, his eponymous sophomore release. It is the title of the movie and precisely what the movie is about: the fact that Mansfield’s character Jerri Jordan wants to be a mother, but men regard her as a sexpot. To that point, here is the video of Little Richard’s recording, all clips taken from the movie.
Obviously, Mansfield’s Jerri simply cannot help it.
Fast forward to 1972 and John Waters’ first full-length masterpiece (well, the faithful certainly think so) Pink Flamingos. It too is stuffed to the gills with fabulous rock and roll from Link Ray and His Ray-Men, LaVern Baker, The Trashmen, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Bill Haley & His Comets, The Robins, and… Little Richard.
Just as Mansfield did in the 1956 movie, Divine struts her stuff… in Baltimore (the home of all of Waters’ classics), including walking down a busy sidewalk turning dozens and dozens of heads.
Who did it better? Tough call, huh?
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