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Jayne Mansfield’s Bold Breakthrough

The film Promises! Promises! (1963) received few plaudits from critics, but is noteworthy for the first mainstream and well-known American actress, Jayne Mansfield, appearing topless in a motion picture. She had previously been a Playmate for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine, and he once again arranged for nude photographs to be taken of Mansfield while on the set of Promises! Promises! and then published them in his June issue of the magazine. This resulted in obscenity charges being filed against Hefner in a Chicago court. But the film was successful and propelled Mansfield into the Top 10 box-office attractions for the year.