Photograph by Aaron M. Conway
If there were an award for the most audacious product to come out of Cincinnati, the Jayne Mansfield Hot Water Bottle would be a heavy favorite—and in a city home to P&G and Kenner Toys, this is no small feat. Humorous yet wink-wink sexy, the bottle hit the market in 1957 just as the busty Mansfield was establishing herself as America’s No. 1 Blonde Bombshell. Created by Don Poynter for his Poynter Products company, the designer, who turns 91 this month, is still in town and pitching new ideas.
Photograph by Aaron M. Conway
The Mansfield figure—in a pin-up pose with hands behind her neck and wearing a painted-on black bikini—is made of “blushing” pink–colored plastic with a screw-on “hat” cap and measures close to two feet head-to-foot. Poynter’s copyright is on the bottom of the left foot. He initially made a plaster model based on photos sent by Mansfield, but eventually traveled to her L.A. home to re-sculpt, where she modeled for it. “I did it for a week,” Poynter says. “I could have done it in two days, but why rush?” Priced at just under $10, Poynter says about 400,000 were sold before Mansfield died in a 1967 auto accident. Today, it’s a collector’s item. “People write me letters because my name is on it and ask, ‘My grandfather died and we found this doll. What is it?’ ”
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