Exploitation Nation

Bettie Page 1923-2008

Cult Icon Bettie Page passed away last night after being on life support since December 2nd from a heart attack. She was 85 yeast old.

Page has become an iconic personality in our culture. She’s beyond just a persona, she is an image that resonates with people everywhere. Here we are over 50 years after she exploded into the world modeling scene with her unique look and charisma and people are still enamored with her. Both men and woman alike are Bettie obsessed and will continue to be.  She is one of the rare people of the 20th century that really honesty can be called a legend.

After a divorce in the later 40’s a young Bettie moved to New York city in 1950. She supported herself as a secretary before falling into the world of modeling. First she did some pin up shots for a New York cop named Jerry Tibbs who was basically a hobbiest. But it was these shots that landed her the attention of the now famous Irving Klaw, bondage photographer extraordinaire. It was with Klaw that Bettie made her first big splash in the underground world of Bondage films and fetish photography. She made many 16mm and 8mm shorts playing both the dominant and victim in the scenarios. But what always stayed the same was Bettie’s look of the dark hair with the straight bangs, the bright red lipstick, and curvaceous body, showed off even more so in the bondage styled outfits. She was decked out in corsets, high heels, stockings, and shoulder length gloves all that naturally highlighted her very feminine look. She was already creating the Bettie Page brand.

She took some acting courses and did some small parts on live TV that never amounted to much.  Her name was still attached as a pin up girl and that is where here future lie. She did a feature film about pin ups and burlesque shows called Striporama that is the only film in which her real voice can be heard. She then did two films with Irving Klaw called Varietease and Teaserama that co featured her with the likes Lili St. Cyr and Tempest Storm. There is a segment with Tempest Storm and Bettie that is particularly well known that is particularly steamy. Though neither film has any nudity or sex, hence the titles.

Bettie would meet Bunny Yeager one of the world’s most renowned pin up photographers and together they would make the magic that we know and love today. Bunny sent the first pictures of Bettie to Playboy which got her the Playmate of the Month centerfold in 1955, and she was subsequently named Miss Pin up Girl of The World. Her startling good looks made her known as The Dark Angel. She was in hot demand for several more years, shooting with many photographers, and with Yeager. Most of the famous photos that people know of Bettie like the ones of her by the beach, or the leopard skin bikini one are from these shoots.

The Senate Subcomittee on Juvenile Delinqency called her in to their hearings due to a young man dying during a bondage shoot. Though neither of them had anything to do with the shoot, both Bettie and Irving Klaw became embroiled in the court dealings and let it basically put a stop to their careers. Klaw would take up the camera again later. Bettie, on the other, hand found God.

Bettie would devote her life to her Christian beliefs and try to whole heartedly change the world. She stopped being a model altogether, leaving that behind completely. She would go on to remarry several times over and do missionary work in Africa and work with Billy Graham. Her pin up days would just become a distant memory.

That is until the mid 70’s when Pop Art, Pin Ups and Porn would become all the rage. Sexual freedom was on the tips of everyone’s tongue and this raging beauty from the 50’s was all over the place again. Her old photo’s were popping up in bondage magazines that were being sold in newly minted porno shops all over the country. Then a book called A Nostalgic Look At Bettie Page came out in 1976 from Eros Publishing. This helped spark renewed interest in her. Another series of magazines devoted to her S+M and Catfight photos appeared between 1978 and 80. But this was still under the counter material. Bettie was bubbling back to the surface, but not quite the iconic queen we know today. Yet.

That would take Comic Artist Dave Stevens and his book The Rocketeer and painter Olivia. Dave Steven’s modeled his female lead in the comic after Bettie and was very open about it. In interviews he made it very clear who this sexy, spunky heroine was and people caught one. Readers wanted to know who this knock out was. Olivia did several paintings of Bettie that were printed in several magazines that also sent the zeitgeist flowing. And finally a fanzine called The Bettie Pages by Greg Theakston tried to conical everything Bettie. This was early to mid 80’s and suddenly Bettie Page was back. Seemingly everywhere in fact. A whole new generation of people were falling in love with the dark haired vixen who seemed to always have a smile and a wink for the camera. An explosion of merchandising happened practically overnight. Posters, prints, stickers, photos, you name it and it was out there. The problem being that none of the money was filtering back to Bettie who at this point was unaware that she was back on the scene.

During this time away she had continued to do her Christian missionary work, and according to some reports had bouts with depression and mental illness. When she saw that her old self was back in the limelight she refused to do any interviews but did manage to pursue legal avenues to get back the copyright to her unique image so she would be secure for the rest of her life. When asked why she didn’t want to do interviews, she said she wanted people to remember her like she was, for that image to stay alive.

What Bettie Page has come to symbolize to millions is a positive role model for sexual liberation. No matter what position she is in in her photos or films, she is seemingly in control in some way. She ALWAYS seems to be having fun. She is beautiful, spunky and tenacious, controlling every situation easily, or so it seems. But most of all she demystified many avenues of sexuality that had been forbidden before and made them okay. She made it okay to be “The Dark Angel“. You didn’t have to be a blond with a stick figure. You could be interested in a little bondage. And sex could and should be fun. People everywhere connected with that. That smile and wink exuded strength and charisma that said “yep and I’m in control of this room Buster, but I’ll let you play too“.

There have been countless imitations, knock offs, and legions of goth girls who who idolize Bettie and have adopted her look. A few have gotten her attitude as well. Those who seem to have “got it” seem effortlessly sexy, those who don’t seem like they are trying too hard.

There have been several films and DVD’s about Bettie’s Life including the Hollywood attempt
The Notorious Bettie Page from 2005 and the semi underground feature from Nico B. Bettie Page The Dark Angel from 2004 .  Both have some interest to the Page-a-holic but don’t hold a candle to the real thing.

So the divine Bettie Page has finally left this mortal coil, but she did so leaving behind a legacy that rocks our culture. She will continue to bring men to their knees and empower women with her image for many years to come. She made an impact that few can compare to.

Bettie Page Interview- In Her Own Words

2008-12-12
19:52:58
Andy Copp

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