A Bombshell for the Ages: Bettie Page

While on the subject of the pin-up, we certainly cannot forget the women whose name is synonymous with the art form - the inimitable Bettie Page.

Bettie Page was born in Nashville TN. on April 22, 1923, the second child of six in a family who wandered the United States in search of economic stability.  Bettie was often tasked with taking care of her younger siblings and performing household chores.  Once her parents divorced Bettie became the primary caretaker while her mother worked to make ends meet.  At the age of ten, the burden of family finances became too great and her mother was forced to leave Bettie and two of her sisters at an orphanage.

In spite of early hardships, Bettie was a bright, ambitious teenager who got good grades, volunteered with several school clubs including the school paper and student council.  She graduated at the top of her class, and as the class Salutatorian won a $100 scholarship from Peabody College, where she studied education and earned her Bachelor of Art degree in 1943.  That year, she also married her first husband, Billy Neal.  They soon moved to San Francisco, and over the next few years bounced around the country.   Bettie divorced Billy in 1947 and moved to New York where she dreamed of becoming an actress.

While walking the beaches of Coney Island in 1950 she met a cop/amateur photographer, Jerry Tibbs, who helped Bettie but together her first pin-up portfolio and introduced her to several other photographers, who all wanted to work with her.  Before long her pictures were appearing in all sorts of popular girlie magazines of the era.  Ms. Page won the title of "Miss Pinup Girl of the World" in 1955 and was the January centrefold of Playboy magazine that same year.

In addition to her pin-up photographs, the ever uninhibited Ms. Page modelled for fetish photographs wearing a wide array of bondage gear and posing in various scenes of dominance and submission.  She also appeared in several short fetish films that could be attained through mail order catalogues at the time.  It was her participation in such activities that led her to be named in a Senate investigation after a young man died during a bondage session.  The American Congress called Bettie to testify regarding the photographs that she appeared in.  As a result of these hearings, many of the pictures, and the negatives that produced them, featuring Bettie were destroyed.  Any negatives that remained were illegal to print for years after that.

Outside of her modelling career, Bettie made a few appearances as an actress in a couple of off Broadway productions and some television shows.  She decided to leave New York and modelling in 1957, moving to Florida where she eventually became a born-again Christian and faded into obscurity.  During the 80s and 90s she her photograph made a resurgence and she has since taken her rightful place as a pin-up legend.  Bettie Page passed away on December 8, 2008.

Here's a video of Bettie dancing:

The Pin-up: A Primer for the Unaquainted

A Typical Gil Elvgren Pin-up 

Being in the pin-up photography business, you sometimes forget that there are those who have only a vague notions of what pin-ups are.  Fear not gentle reader, this little piece is meant for you. 

The pin-up is a purely American creation, originating from the pen of Charles Dana Gibson.  Gibson was responsible for creating the first universally accepted image of female beauty, through his illustrations of curvaceous, gorgeous Victorian women that would appear in various publications.  His female ideal was dubbed the Gibson girl.  Because images of the Gibson girl would be published in magazines and other disposable media it became common practice for fans of the Gibson girl to rip the illustrations out of these publications and pin them up in various places.  Thus the term pin-up was born.

By the 1930s, the image of the idealized woman had greatly changed from the bodiced gown wearing Gibson girl.  Women's clothing had become much less restricting, and women had shown the first signs of sexual liberation during the rollicking 1920s.  The proliferation of Hollywood films with their dazzling array of beautiful young starlets, especially in the risque pre-Hays codes era, also did much to expose mass audiences to this evolving feminine ideal.  The two biggest factors that led to the explosion of the pin-up in the 1930s were the growing popularity of nudist magazines and pulp novels.  Nudist magazines, aside from the overt pictures of naked people, often would publish humorous stories that would be accompanied by similarly humorous, yet sexy pictures of women in various stages of undress.  Pulp novels would similarly contain illustrations that would accompany the descriptions of salacious crimes against women that would include bondage and nudity.  Famous pin-up artists like Alberto Vargas, George Petty, Gil Evgren all began their prolific careers during this decade.

No discussion of the history of the pin-up can discount the impact that the second world war had on the explosion of pin-up art and photography in mainstream popular culture.  Men who had been sent half way around the world needed reminders of home.  Pin-ups, with their slightly naughty portrayal of all-American girls next door offered enlisted men comfort on long lonely months on the front.  As a part of their contribution to the war effort.  Starlets, under contract to the studios, would often pose for suggestive photographs (by 1940s standards) that would then be distributed overseas to GIs who would then hang the photographs in their lockers and bunks.  The most famous Hollywood pin-up was Betty Grable who built her popularity as GIs favourite pin-up into a viable film career.  Other famous actresses, like Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, and Dorothy Lamour were all popular with the uniformed men.  Pin-ups began popping up on airplane fuselages and on other military vehicles.

Once the war was over, the popularity of pin-ups continued, becoming increasingly risque with the growing popularity of girlie magazines and the gradual rise of adult-only publications.  While the charmingly innocent images of girls having their panty covered nether-regions revealed through various devices were still popular, pictures of women in bondage gear and engaging in various acts of S&M also found favour among certain audiences.  Iconic pin-up model Bettie Page, participated in the creation of such images.

By the sixties, many of the great pin-up artists of the thirties, forties, and fifties began winding down their careers.  Publications like Playboy and later boundary pushing magazines like Hustler which featured photographs which literally left nothing to the imagination in their depictions of the feminine form made early pin-up photographs seem quaint by comparison.  Many artists continued the tradition of the pin-up, evolving the image to a more blatantly sexual one (ie. more nudity).

In more recent times, the classic image popularized by Elvgren, Vargas, and others has made its way back into public consciousness.  Illustrators and photographers (myself included) have resurrected this style of celebrating female sexuality.  The next chapter is still being written.

A Bevy of Gibson Girls

Suggestive Pulp Novel Cover

GIs Favorite Betty Grable

Bettie Page and Her Whip

RIP - Rosie the Riveter Model

Just today, I read that the woman who modelled for the iconic Rosie the Riveter propaganda poster, Geraldine Doyle, passed on from complications due to arthritis on December 26, 2010.  The story of her likeness being used as inspiration for Rosie is a fascinating one.

Ms. Doyle, worked less than two weeks in a metal fabrication plant in Lansing Michigan and was never assigned riveting as part of her duties while at the factory.During this brief time some U.S. government commissioned photographers snapped a photograph of her leaning over a piece machinery in a polka-dot bandana.  A classically trained cellist, Ms. Doyle, quit her job at the factory after concerns about the damage factory work was having on  her hands.  She later sought employment in soda fountains and bookshops and eventually married and had a family.   In life, Ms. Doyle did not possess the muscular physique that her illustrated counterpart did.

The photograph that was taken on that fateful day took on a life of it own, originally as an illustration (painted by  J. Howard Miller) to inspire women to support the war effort by working in factories with the motto "We can do it," and eventually inspiring a hit song Rosie the Riveter, by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, becoming a symbol of the feminist movement, and adorning various pieces of apparel  and merchandise in the post-modern era.

Although many have profited from the image of Rosie the Riveter, Geraldine Doyle never received compensation for her lasting impact on the War Effort and popular culture.   Rest in Peace Geraldine Doyle.  We salute you.

Bombs Away!- Vintage Nose Art

Paramount to pin-up culture is the phenomena of pin-up flavoured nose-art.  For those unfamiliar with nose art, it is a form of graffiti art whose canvas is the nose and fuselage of military aircraft.  Nose art originated in 1913 and became a standard amongst several squadrons during the first world war.  Although the nose art of that era usually took the form of troop insignias and various graphic representations of death from above mantras.


The practice of painting babes on planes really took off (like the pun?) during the second world war, corresponding with the explosion of pin-up photographs being used to rouse the morale of military men.  And rouse them they certainly did.  Soon, thousands of planes were emblazoned with the hypersexualized images of pin-up girls in revealing fatigues, patriotically waving a flag wearing next to nothing, or (as in the final image displayed in this post) nothing at all.  Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

We're already a couple of days into 2011- where does the time go?  Now that the holidays are over and we're all back to real life again, our commitment to providing Edmonton with a fresh alternative to average, boring photography is stronger than ever.

Whether it's a gift for that special someone (Valentine's Day is a little more than a month away, ladies), a fun way to commemorate a special event, or just as a treat for oneself, Bombshell Photography Inc. is here to blow all expectations out of the water.  For more detailed information about our photography services please visit our main site at www.photobombshell.com.

To all those who follow the blog, we will continue to write about the various topics that fascinate and inspire us.

At any rate, 2011 looks to be another exciting year!