In a city that's ga-ga about any sighting of Johnny Depp, it's a wonder more of us didn't know about Jayne Mansfield's dog.

      The Journal/Sentinel's Jim Stingl did a story years ago about Franklin's Thistlerose Pet Cemetary at 68th and Loomis (I'd bike past it all the time on the Oak Leaf Trail, wondering what was up with the farm that had the tiny headstones).     Stingl told the story of Mansfield's pet dog who died while she was appearing in Milwaukee in 1964.          The pup got planted at Thistlerose and remains there to this day.

      It's now an issue, because Thistlerose got sold.    Other pet owners are having their animals exhumed, but Stingl says there's no word on the fate of the Mansfield pooch--the owner wrote Mansfield's daughter, "Law and Order" star Mariska Hargitay, but has yet to hear back.

      In a town where people are taking off of work to see Depp as he films part of his gangster movie in Wisconsin, I would've figured there'd be lines at Thistlerose, full of fans waiting to see the dead canine's headstone.      In this era of celebrity, no tie to a big name (no matter how small or long-since dead) should be overlooked.

      I don't know much about the body of Jayne Mansfield's work, but I do have passing knowledge of her body.     Wow.     When I hear the name "Mansfield" I see Sophia Loren, caught in this famous photo scoping out the tableside competition.

         That's the kind of thing I usually get caught doing.     And remember, this picture happened well before Al Gore invented the Internets.         Makes it an even bigger "get".

           Mansfield had the body of Anna Nicole Smith, but had a much more extensive film career.    And, like Anna Nicole, she died young--in a traffic accident in Biloxi, Mississippi.

           She was not buried with her dog at Thistlerose.