Jayne & Joan Take ‘The Wayward Bus’ 1957

Joan Collins & Jayne Mansfield, Fox' 'answer' to Elizabeth Taylor & 'threat' to Marilyn Monroe, 
team up for "The Wayward Bus."

I had never watched 1957’s The Wayward Bus because it looked tacky and tawdry, in a depressing way. Struggling starlets Joan Collins, Jayne Mansfield, and Rick Jason trying to “stretch” in a domestic drama just sounded like a dull downer. Recently, I found a good print and finally watched Wayward for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised. Though The Wayward Bus is a B+ picture, this adaptation of the John Steinbeck story is genuinely gritty. Wayward gives a real feel for how struggling working class folk lived in the 1950s. This is especially remarkable since Wayward is a 20^th Century Fox film, one of the glossiest of golden era studios. The locations, sets, costumes, and cinematography are all realistic, and there are only a few glamour “fibs” to appease viewers. Otherwise, the diner is dingy, the customers are not charming, the towns are desolate, and the bus is not just wayward, but a ramshackle wreck.

"The Wayward Bus" came and went on its release, but the Blu-ray release reveals
a beautifully shot, realistically staged, and over-all well-acted slice of life drama.

The 1947 Steinbeck novel was first a project for prestigious director George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Shane). Later Henry Hathaway was announced. Many stars—Gene Tierney, Joanne Woodward, Richard Widmark, and Robert Mitchum, to name a few—were attached to this piece over the years. By the time Wayward made its way to the big screen, the director was Victor Vicas (who schmoozed Fox mogul Darryl Zanuck for the gig at a party!) and finally, the trickle-down stars were Joan Collins, Jayne Mansfield, Dan Dailey, and Rick Jason.

Rick Jason and a surprisingly toned-down Joan Collins as an unhappy couple, the Chicoys.

The film of The Wayward Bus seems faithful to the source novel, despite the hurdle of internal monologues from the book’s characters.  A subtle change is the male lead, bus driver Johnny Chicoy, who’s described as half-Mexican, half –Irish, and was called Juan in the book. Johnny is married to Alice, who runs a diner that provides respite to his bus customers, but not the couple. Both are dissatisfied with their lot in life. Alice ups the ante by hitting the bottle regularly. Rick Jason is the beaten-down Johnny and Joan Collins is the drunken shrew Alice. 

Rick Jason was a '50s heart throb who had better luck in the '60s as a TV star in 'Combat!'

Jason’s Johnny reacts to their unhappy life in the typical ’50s leading man style, stoic and brooding, which today can look wooden. Rick Jason’s extremely handsome but slightly feral looks makes him look a bit like a brunette Jude Law or a young Ray Liotta, so he’s a bit menacing, added with his extremely low voice delivering his deadpan observations. Yet, there are a number of moments where he reacts to his tribulations and bad breaks with his expressive eyes. And Jason used that distinctive voice quite effectively.

Rick Jason, as bus driver Johnny Chicoy tells the passengers: "This isn't the champagne flight to Chicago!" 

Then there’s Joan Collins, whose Alice runs her restaurant with an iron fist and irate temper. Collins is deglamorized here—and I don’t mean the golden era version of toning down a star for dramatic purposes—where you can still see false eyelashes and pale lipstick. Joan Collins is wearing so little makeup, she’s nearly unrecognizable. Plus, her drunken character is truly disheveled, with her messy hair and cheap, ratty outfits. Collins’ Alice is forever chewing out the restaurant help, not to mention bickering with her exasperated husband. While Collins is game and deserves credit for doing away with her glamour mask, Joan’s performance is adequate, at best. A real trick for a star is to play a villain and retain audience sympathy. Bette Davis made a career of it, and Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor were quite adept at playing bad, while keeping audiences on their side. Collins doesn’t project any authenticity of yearning or rationale for her character’s actions. It doesn’t help that the script isn’t specific how Alice became so miserable, and has Collin’s character making hairpin emotional turns. Still, Joan is pretty over the top in her solo drunk scenes, all “acting” with no authentic emotion, and further marred by her unconvincing American accent, something that dogged her at her tenure at Fox. Joan’s Alice just comes off as a peevish pill.

Joan Collins as the drunken diner shrew Alice Chicoy. Joan looks genuinely unglamorous until the last reel!

The arriving bus’ characters provide some relief, though they are just as miserable as this roadside couple. Despite weather conditions and the crate of a bus’ condition, the passengers insist on staying the course, despite deluges of rain, a mudslide, a flooding bridge, and finally, the brakes giving out from the little bus that could!

The characters react to the latest tribulations of 'The Wayward Bus' that could!

As Ernest the travelling salesman, who smokes with a cigarette holder and carries hootch in his suitcase, Dan Dailey is surprisingly dissipated at only 42. The role is a perfect fit for comic charmer Dailey, but close-ups of his bleary face, eyebrow-less eyes, and nicotine-stained teeth, creeped the hell out of me—especially as he “charms” the females, namely Jayne Mansfield’s character. As Ernest gives away a compact from his wares, he shares this gem: “The platinum of today—plastic!”

Rough looking for 42, Dan Dailey plays the travelling salesman who smokes with a cigarette holder!

Betty Lou Kiem, who played Frank Sinatra’s niece the next year in Some Came Running, is sincere and natural here. I had to laugh at the movie mad waitress’ current crush, a then male starlet at Fox! She scolds a fellow teen crushing on her, nicknamed Pimples: “I bet Mr. Robert Wagner doesn’t start his day by eating cake.”

Dolores Michaels bonds with bus driver Rick Jason during a timeout in a dry barn!

Dolores Michaels is just as natural, but more intriguing as the “bad girl” who’s travelling with her wretched parents, who are trying to get her to toe the line. Naturally, she’s enamored of Rick Jason from the moment their eyes lock. Michaels had a short career, but she’s direct and not afflicted with all the starlet baggage that was typical of the era. Larry Keating plays her hypocritical father and Kathryn Givney is the uptight mother, both of whom would drive any offspring to act out! Will Wright, a prolific TV and film actor of the mid-20^th century, is the world’s most obnoxious bus passenger! 

Jayne Mansfield as Camille is eventually won over by travelling salesman Ernest, Dan Dailey.

The real surprise of The Wayward Bus is Jayne Mansfield as Camille Oaks, the stripper trying to hang up her g-string for good. I have only a passing knowledge of Mansfield and her work. Most of what I’ve seen was the dumb blonde persona that she created, with all the whispery double entendres, coos and squeals. A little bit of that Jayne goes a long way for me. Also, the visual image that Jayne presented was cartoonish, and gradually, looked cheap. I was not a fan.

Jayne Mansfield and Dan Dailey with "Sweetheart," the hardest working bus in show business!

Imagine me seeing Jane cast as the sex bomb, but playing the role as a melancholy, street-wise but sweet, tired of fighting off all the wolves, and getting bamboozled to be the good time bimbo. Jayne speaks in her own speaking voice. Mansfield plays the role as a normal human being, not playing into the sex bomb image at all. It’s there, but not only can the girl can’t help it, but she’s sick of everything that comes with it. I wonder if the role had resonance for Jayne.

This is no Bus Stop for Jayne, which Fox feebly tried to play up the comparison. This blonde is just part of an ensemble; this isn’t a vehicle for her. There’s no Technicolor or comedy relief. Yet Jayne’s really quite affecting her scenes, like when Camille spots herself in one of those ‘50s rags, and she’s palpably ashamed.  

Jayne as Camille finds herself in one of THOSE magazines.

Mansfield’s encounters with several of the male characters clearly demonstrate what she was constantly up against. Jayne definitely knows what she’s playing. She’s so good here that I’m surprised that Fox didn’t come up with some better stuff for her. She’s touching, displays moments of lightly sarcastic humor, especially likeable when the female characters are agog by her. Jayne had potential!

Creepy fellow passenger Larry Keating gets a load of Jayne in the magazine and some ideas of his own!

The only two eye-rolling moments are when Dailey’s salesman shows how serious he is about settling down with Mansfield, by instead of just offering a good time, but promises her a self-timing electric stove! And Jayne’s thrilled: “You know, he’s never asked me a thing about myself?!” How flattering!

Joan Collins is down, but not out, for the count, as alcoholic Alice!

The other is when Collins’ drunken wife comes to her senses and joins her husband with the rest of the bus passengers, who are being rescued. When she doesn’t see hubby Jason, she then snaps, “Where’s the blonde?!”

Also amusing is after spending the whole movie looking totally bedraggled, Collins’ hung over harpy has about five minutes to get a move on and join her hubby via rescue helicopter. Miraculously, Joan whips herself back into her ‘50s Fox answer to Elizabeth Taylor for the last reel.

Joan & Jayne, in the only scene with just the two together. Notice how Collins' boozy wife pulled herself together for the finale!

The Wayward Bus isn’t an epic or a classic, but this little film, aside the disaster movie thrills, is a window into a realistic slice-of-‘50s-life. Wayward is worthwhile for watching Jayne Mansfield give a touching dramatic performance.

The end! Can you imagine asking two actresses to pose like this today? On second thought...