The Naughty Girl Next Door.

Bettie Page (1923 - 2008)

Saucy, vivacious, spirited, free. The naughty girl next door. None of these quite capture the whole woman. Ms. Page remains a pin-up legend in the hearts and minds of many. In her later years she refused to be photographed lest her 80 year old self take away from her iconic image--coal black hair cut into her signature bangs, spectacular smile, and killer curves.

Richard Foster, one of her two biographers, called her “the trendsetter in American sexuality.” Writer Harlan Ellison said, “There are certain women, even certain men, in whose look there is a certain aesthetic that hits a golden mean. Bettie is that. Marilyn is that.”Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner put it another way in an interview 2 1/2 years ago:

“Exactly what captures the imagination of people in terms of pop culture is something hard to define,” Hefner said. “But in Bettie’s case, I’d say it’s a combination of wholesome innocence and fetish-oriented poses that is at once retro and very modern.”

In the early fifties, the brother-sister photographers Irving and Paula Klaw, who ran a mail-order business in cheesecake, were promoting the Bettie Page image with spike heels and whips, while Bunny Yeager’s pictures featured her in jungle shots, with and without leopards skins. These are some of the most famous image;, though, I discovered a wealth of images on a fan site. And many of them are almost wholesome. It's clear she was also a playful, fun-loving, girl with a sense of humor.

Her provocative cheesecake photographs during the period of 1950 through 1957 violated all manner of sexual taboos and finally invoked a United States Senate Committee investigation. Perhaps it was not surprising, then, that at the height of her fame, she disappeared for 30 years. Then when the spotlight turned her way again in the 80s, she'd become a born-again Christian and even worked for the Billy Graham Crusade for a time. From what I can tell, though, she never apologized for or regreted her pin up days--she was just mystified as to why so many people were so fascinated by those pictures.

Her signature look has been imitated by film stars in the 80s and 90s after she was "rediscovered" by Hollywood. And in recent years films like Bettie Page: Dark Angel and The Notorious Bettie Page brought her legend to new audiences. Though she's gone, Bettie lives on.

Follow the link to read her obit in the NY Times. And this one in the Chicago Tribune.

I also like what Sheila wrote about her here.

-Kate