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: