Pin-up icon Bettie Page died on December 11, 2008, at the ripe old age of 85. Although millions of fans recognize Bettie as Queen of the Pin-Ups since the mid-20th Century, few know the other facets of her life, from her many failed marriages to her time in a sanitarium to her love for the island of Haiti. Here, pop culture connoisseur and author Bruce Lewis details the fascinating story of America’s favorite pin-up.

Forever Bettie Page

By Bruce Lewis

Bondage queen. Sex goddess. Pin-up icon. All of these words could be used to describe Bettie Page, and all would be good choices, for she was all of those things. But she was much more, besides: a scholar, a Christian missionary, and the inspiration for a character in Star Wars. She was smart. She was notorious. She was scorching hot.

And she was 85 years of age when she slipped from this world on December 11, 2008, at Los Angeles’ Kindred Hospital.

Bettie Page was without doubt the face of American beauty during the second half of the 20th Century. Yes, there were others — Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn — but these were mostly movie stars, known worldwide from the films in which they appeared. Bettie Page didn’t need Hollywood to make her a goddess. All she needed were some black-and-white still photographs — more than 20,000 individual images, by some accounts — and a few crude film loops to make her a star. And while the Silver Screen starlets’ fame was pure product, cranked out in job lots by the global Hollywood hype machine, Bettie Page became famous with nothing but her charm, her will, and a few tiny advertisements in the back pages of a cheap magazine.

“We were lucky to get an orange in our Christmas stocking.”

It is 1933, and Bettie Page is walking barefoot to school. She is walking barefoot because her father has run away again — this time for good — leaving her mother to feed, clothe, and care for her and her five brothers and sisters. Bettie and one sister live in an orphanage now, but despite the cold and the lack of shoes and the bright pain of abandonment she feels every night, Bettie keeps walking, keeps putting one bare foot in front of the other, because she has made up her mind to graduate at the top of her class and go on to Vanderbilt. I’m not going to be barefoot forever, she says to herself. I’m going to college, and I’m going to get a job, and I’m going to be somebody.

Betty Mae Page was born into a family of eight in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 22, 1923. Her parents, Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle, never could get it together. Walter Roy Page molested her when she was 13; after he went to jail for stealing a car, Edna Mae Page took two jobs and sent Betty and two sisters to an orphanage. There, the young Betty Page taught herself to sew and do makeup. Her natural intelligence began to emerge during her years at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville, where she was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by her classmates and graduated salutatorian of her class in June 1940, earning a scholarship to George Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University). She gradated from Peabody four years later.

That’s right — Bettie Page had a degree: Bachelor of Arts, 1944. She also had a husband when she graduated, an old school flame named Billy Neal. But there was a war on, and Billy Neal found himself drafted into the Navy, so Betty Mae ended up following him around for a while, eventually landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which at the time was still a more-or-less civilized country. She loved the island, but couldn’t stay. Nor could she stay married to Billy Neal. They divorced in November 1947.

“From the first time I posed nude, I wasn’t embarrassed.”

It’s 1950, and Betty Mae Page is walking along the strand at Coney Island. She’s been all over and done a lot since her divorce: a little modeling of furs here, a little secretarial work in San Francisco there, even a screen test at Fox (which went nowhere due to her refusal to spend casting couch time with an older executive). Bill Neal had come home, and they’d tried to make it work, but after the miscarriage they had parted for good. Betty is working as a secretary now, typing all day in an office, spending her free time walking on the beach. Jerry Tibbs, a police officer and amateur photographer, is there, too. He raises his camera to capture the winsome 27-year-old’s image, and with a click of a shutter, the career of Betty Page ends, and the legendary Bettie Page is born.

“You ought to be a model”, he says, handing her his card. “I could make a portfolio for you.”

Bettie Page began her career as a glamour photography model, posing in lingerie for the various “camera clubs” that thrived in New York at the time. These clubs were less about f-stops and exposure timing and more about generating “pin-ups” — erotic but non-pornographic images of pretty girls in titillating garments and poses that were de rigueur among young, healthy male Americans in those pre-Playboy days. Bettie (as she was now known) was a pin-up natural, her combination of girl-next-door approachability and curvaceous sensuality tailor-made for the eyes of a worldly-wise but still essentially small-town male America.

By 1951, Bettie’s image graced the pages of men’s magazines everywhere; by 1952 she was the best-known pin-up in the world, thanks in large part to her partnership with bookstore owner and pin-up photographer Irving Klaw. Klaw specialized in cheesecake — saucy but essentially harmless turn-on photography featuring smiling cutie-pies in skimpy outfits, images of a type common in men’s magazines (and even in some mainstream press) of the day. Klaw’s photos and “specialty” films often showed Bettie and other women clad in kinky outfits, pretending to participate in bondage, spanking, and other acts of outlaw sexuality — yet, all were curiously chaste by modern standards. Irving Klaw catered to his clients’ tastes, but he was not a pornographer; his all-female films and stills might have been designed to thrill, but they never depicted nudity or contained explicit sexual content. Bettie would not have consented to appear nude or engaging in sexual activity in any case; beneath the curves and the silk dominatrix gear she remained the same small-town Tennessee girl she’d always been.

But she was becoming so much more. In 1953, Page resumed her dream of becoming an actress, taking classes at the renowned Herbert Berghoff Studios and making her first stage and television appearances, including some off-Broadway work and a memorable one-shot on the top-rated Jackie Gleason Show. Her first speaking part in a feature-length film came in the burlesque Striporama (the only time Page is known to have spoken on camera); two burlesque films by Irving Klaw (Teaserama and Varietease, followed. It is from these latter two films that Page is best known by her later generations of fans.

In 1954 Page met photographer and former fashion model Bunny Yeager.  Yeager’s subsequent photographs of Bettie in a home-made jungle girl getup — the now-famous “Jungle Bettie” set — catapulted Page to the big leagues. Based on these images, Hugh Hefner himself picked Page to be Playmate of the Month for January 1955. The photo shows a beautiful and buxom Bettie Page, kneeling topless in front of a small Christmas tree, a wink beneath her bangs and Santa hat. She was 31 years old, and at the pinnacle of her career.

“All of a sudden I felt a hand in mine, leading me across the street to a small church…”

It is Christmas 1957, and Bettie Page is sitting in a southbound train car, headed for Florida. Her career as a pin-up model is over. Irving Klaw has been destroyed, dragged before the Congressional obscenity hearings convened by crusading Senator Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn.) in the Senator’s crusade to smash the pin-up business as he had the comic book industry several years before. Klaw is still around, of course (he won’t die for another ten years yet), but the business he created has been reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory, and Klaw has fed the negatives of Bettie’s catalog of images into the fire.

And Bettie has gotten the message as well. The FBI boys were never rude or threatening, of course — Mr. Hoover would never have permitted such unprofessional behavior from his men — but the subpoena with her name on it, and the 16 hours she’d spent in claustrophobic room in the Capitol of the United States waiting to testify, were clear enough. She’d never been called before the committee, as it turned out, but Bettie Page was no fool. She got out. Her career as a pin-up idol is over.

Two years pass, and Bettie walks into a small church in Key West. Soon after, she severs all contact with her prior life, and disappears.

“I wish I could erase the years from 1979 to 1992…”

It is June, 1982, and Bettie Page is sitting in a California courtroom. She has 22 years, three marriages, and one trial for assault with a deadly weapon (1980, not guilty by reason of acute schizophrenia) behind her. Now, Bettie is on trial once again, this time for attempted murder. The victim, Leonie Haddad, is an elderly woman. Bettie had been her tenant when, for no reason anyone could see, Bettie had attacked her with a knife, severing Haddad’s finger. The judge is speaking now: “This court finds the defendant to be not guilty by reason of insanity. Due to the danger she poses to others, she is hereby sentenced to ten years at Patton State Hospital, sentence to begin forthwith.”

The gavel bangs. Chairs honk against the waxed floor as the Court stands adjourned. Bettie Page is carried away kicking and screaming to her second stint in the nuthouse.

But this is not the end of the Bettie Page story, because time, therapy, and a very good God smiled on her. Ten years later, Bettie emerged from Patton State well and healthy, her insanity in remission thanks to conscientious care, her own iron will, and many hours of prayer. At 70, she moved into a Los Angeles group home to live out her remaining years in obscurity — “penniless and infamous,” as she put it.

Penniless she was — although not for much longer; infamous she most definitely was not. For during her 30 years of divorce and despair, madness and mystery, Bettie Page’s images — the very images that had made her a pariah so long before — had transformed her into a superstar. And she had no idea.

When TV host Robin Leach came calling in 1993 to interview her for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Page was utterly unaware of the resurgence of her popularity. Entertainment Tonight arrived next to shoot a segment. When it aired, Page watched dumbfounded from her chair at the group home. It was only then that Page superfan Greg Theakston, whose fanzine The Betty Pages had kickstarted the Bettie craze of the 1980s, became aware that his longtime idol was yet alive. With glee, Theakston introduced a stunned Bettie Page to the universe of comic books, illustration portfolios, fine art prints, and film characters based upon her image.

And happy days were here again for Bettie Page. Newfound fame, fortune and fans followed as Bettie emerged from three decades of obscurity. The money began to flow to Bettie again, courtesy of a professional public relations firm whose owner was a longtime Bettie fan with a genuine concern for her welfare. An authorized biography was published in the late 1990s; two films about her life came next. Even the Klaw family and Bunny Yeager came to benefit from Bettiemania.

And she is not ashamed. “I never thought it was shameful,” she told “The Playboy Interview” in 1998.  I felt normal. It’s just that it [modeling] was much better than pounding a typewriter eight hours a day, which gets monotonous.”

At last, Bettie Page’s childhood dream had come true. The barefoot Tennessee schoolgirl had come a long way, but she’d made it. At last, Betty Mae Page was the one, the only, Bettie Page: Queen of the Pin-ups, icon, goddess. She was, as she had promised herself so long ago, somebody.

“Unforgettable…”

It is 2003. Bettie Page is 80 years old — and here she is again, posing for the August 2003 edition of Playboy. This time, however, there are no whips, no gags, no silky lingerie. Bettie will no more stand for such things now than she would have stood for full nudity in 1953. Today, she wears a simple plaid shirt and ordinary street dress. She is, in many ways, a very ordinary elderly woman. Yet make no mistake: Bettie Page is far from ordinary, even in her golden years. She remains eminently photographable. The beauty is still there — the same bangs, the same pageboy (now silver gray), the same naughty eyes, and the same heart-melting smile. Hef does not make mistakes in this area; his onetime Playmate of the Month is still very much a scorching hot babe — the kind of older woman that earns sheepish second glances from the teenage boys at the mall. Yes, she’s put on some weight. Yes, it’s hard for her to get up and down these days. But, Bettie Page is still the Queen of the Pin-Ups.

And it is the Queen of the Pin-Ups that the world mourns today, 85 years and eight months after Betty Mae Page came into this world. She leaves us as she came to us: forever smart, forever notorious, forever scorching hot — forever the incomparable, unforgettable Bettie Page.

Bruce Lewis is an American voice actor, writer, artist, and author. He has worked in the U.S. manga and anime industry since 1993, and his book Draw Manga: How To Draw Manga In Your Own Unique Style, is an Amazon.com Bestseller.

Love the look of classic pin-ups from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s? Ever wondered what makeup tricks they use to get that perfectly flawless finish, those sultry bedroom eyes and those ruby red lips? Learn to do it yourself in this quick video tutorial from ItsJudyTime, and you can look like a retro pin-up model, too!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxwvGeZsWNA]

Love vintage pin-ups? Have a taste for classic cheesecake? Dig the glamour gals of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s? Well then, you’re in the right place! Or…well, you will be. Just as soon as we’re done with these pesky renovations.

We’re in the process of moving four years’ worth of accumulated pin-up pictures (both classic celebs and modern retro vixens) from our old server into our nifty new digs. We need a couple of weeks, because those pictures are too precious and must be handled with care. So, in the meantime, here are a few recommended distractions…

The Vintage Pin-Up Archive
The Pin-Up Files
The Pin-Up Portal
The Art of Art Frahm
Alberto Vargas
Gil Elvgren
Pin-Up Girls of America
Cheesecake & Pin-up Model Bernie Dexter
Pin-Up Model Lana Landis
The Pin-Up Page
Shannanigan’s Rockin’ Art

Pin-Up Contest Winner
Janet – Palm Bay, FL

The vote tallies were neck-and-neck (and neck) between three of our lovely contestants for our August 2006 pinup contest, as we closed out the summer in true bombshell fashion. (Always leave them wanting more, dahlings.) The battle between Danni, Janet and Mia continued down to the very end, calling for a near tie-breaker. The vote from the Fedora Lounge went to Mia, while the staff of RetroRadar was partial to Danni. But in the polls, the majority ruled, and the delicious Miss Janet took the crown. Congratulations to this hot tamale from the sunny Florida shores, whose alluring curves are sure to bring any sailor to attention! (Missed this month’s action? You can still see any girls’ photos and profile by clicking on the thumbnails below.)

Danni Lakewood, CA	Janet Palm Bay, FL	Kimberly San Diego, CA
Lola Melbourne, Australia	Diana Toronto, Canada	Mia Los Angeles, CA

Want to see more lovely pin-up beauties?
Click the photo below to view last month’s contest!

Although she originally started as a glamour model, 24-year-old Mia found it boring and unfulfilling–until she stumbled across some photos of a modern-day model emulating the popular pinup styles of the past. “I realized my body was something that, in that era, would have been appreciated–like Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe,” says Mia, adding, “I love cheesecake!” A recent transplant to LA from the Big Apple, Mia has guest starred on shows such as The Sopranos and As the World Turns. We look forward to seeing more of this little vixen on the small screen!

Proof that the Aussies have far more to offer than shrimp on the barbie, the lovely Miss Lola delivers curves in all the right places. (Okay, she’s originally from New Zealand, but for many of us, “Down Under” just means the other half of the planet.) “I’m obsessed with cheesecake photography–the cheesier the better,” says Lola of her passion for retro pop culture. She adds, “Other loves of mine include music, cowboys, leopard print everything, polka dot dresses, bangs, bellys, british bulldogs, travelling, and neo-pinups.” In her spare time, Lola likes to hang out with her pooch, Sharpie, her fat british blue cat, Buick, and her beautiful boyfriend, Guy Le Guy. Hmmm, maybe we can ween her off that last one…

This 24-year-old fun-loving artistic girl is a bartender by day, and aspiring pinup model by night. (Or maybe it’s the other way around…) “I was just charmed by the innocent sexiness of the ’40s and ’50s pinups,” says Danni. “They were some of the most beautiful women that I’d ever seen, without really showing anthing.” In addition to posing for the camera, this California cutie loves to draw, sing, dance, and make costumes. Adds the delicious Danni, “I also love to model ice cream, and anything shiny.” Anyone care for a scoop, fellas?

This 27-year-old aspiring performer and pinup model counts two classic blonde bombshells among her idols: “May West for her insatiable appetite for men and Marilyn Monroe for her classic, sex-kitten beauty with a touch of innocence,” explains Kimberly. “I try to portray a combination of both women and add my own personality in my pictures and on stage,” she says. When not posing for the camera or shimmying her way through a steamy dance routine, Kimberly enjoys horror flicks and consuming men. We love a woman with a healthy appetite!

Originally from New Jersey, this 23-year-old bombshell was actually raised in South Florida. Janet is not only new to pinup modeling, but is also working on starting a rockabilly band. “Growing up with a mother that was completely in love with anything from the 1940s and ’50s has taught me to walk in mommy’s footsteps,” says Janet. “She taught me how to sew, which got me to get into fashion design. I guess I’m kinda a momma’s girl, but don’t let that fool you. I’m a tough broad if need be.” Watch out, fellas, this little dame’s a firecracker!

Since she was a little girl, 29-year-old Lady Di has loved the historic past, including the Medieval, Victorian, and mid-20th Century time periods. Says Diana, “As a younger girl, I traveled to many historic smaller towns here in Ontario, where I visited many antique and vintage shops. I was always amazed with the stories that came along with the historic pieces and adored viewing various old pin-up postcards and memorabilia.” She also enjoys classic films featuring such iconic bombshells as Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe. “I was enamored watching these vixens and from that moment on, I knew I’d always strive to be a classy dame.” She feeds her passion for the past with stockings, high heels, corsets, elegant jewelry, and red lipstick. This sizzling pinup import is all girl through and through!

Pin-Up Contest Winner
Briana – Yorba Linda, CA

Congratulations to 25-year-old Briana (better known as Bee to her friends), who ended the year on a high note as she took the title of December 2005 Vector Vixen. A former dancer, hairdresser, secretary and model, Briana only recently started doing pinup pictures–but boy, is she a natural! Says our winning Vixen, “I love everything retro, vintage, and classic pin-up. I love how the sexuality plays on the innocence and everything is so beautiful and soft. The girls on Retro Radar are always so different and unique, never cut from the same mold, which is what makes us all so classic. The retro style today is amazing because it has so much class, the colors are always so vivid, and it makes any girl feel pretty.” Color or black-and-white, this pinup is pretty gorgeous in any era!

Donna Burbank, CA	Briana Yorba Linda, CA	Celina Ridgecrest, CA
Laura State College, PA	Katherine Orange County, CA	Samantha Edmonton, Canada

Want to see more lovely pin-up beauties?
Click the photo below to view last month’s contest!

Pin-Up Contest Winner
Lisa – United Kingdom

Congratulations to Lisa for taking the title in our November ‘05 Vector Vixen pinup contest! The voting was neck-and-neck between Lisa, Geraldine and Monique for the last part of the month, but in the end, this red-headed English rose captured the crown. It’s a very merry Christmas in the U.K. indeed!

Angie Rae Oklahoma	Florence France	Lauralai Washington
Monique Los Angeles	Geraldine Baldwin Park, CA	Lisa United Kingdom

Want to see more lovely pin-up beauties?
Click the photo below to view last month’s contest!

This 23-year-old Canadian cutie is a make-up artist and musician who sings for two local rockabilly groups. A fan of art and pop culture from the ’50s, classic pinups, old movies, and old cars, Samantha decided to express her passion for the past by doing a little pinup modeling herself. Without a doubt, she’s a born natural!

A barber’s apprentice and part-time barrista, this aspiring pinup model is also a full-time mom to her little boy, Nolan. “I think my love affair with nostalgia started because of my Dad,” Katherine recalls. “My two brothers were more interested with surfing, and didn’t want to go to the drag races or the car shows with Pops, so it was up to me.” She sure does rev our engines!

When she’s not breaking hearts, this Christmas vixen is busy mending them–as a writer covering love, sex and relationships for online and print publications. “The best part of the job? The ‘under-the-covers’ research, of course!” she says, jokingly. “Otherwise, I’m just your average farmer’s daughter, born and raised on six-hundred acres in rural Pennsylvania.” She admits that her inner bombshell was just waiting to wriggle out of her overalls from the moment her grandmother first painted Laura’s toenails fire-engine red and tucked a lace handkerchief into her little purse. We’re grateful to grandma, and sure hope Santa delivers a package like this under our Christmas tree!

This 29-year-old California girl is a stay-at-home mom to three little tykes and has been happily married for ten years. She expresses her creative spirit by sewing and painting, and most recently, pinup modeling. “My husband and I love the classic pinup look, and he wanted to take a picture of me looking like that. I finally gave in,” she admits, modestly. “We set up a little ’set’ in our room with an old sheet, our digital camera and some lights from the garage…I did my hair and makeup and put on a dress.” We sure think the finished product turned out swell!

25-year-old Briana has only recently begun pinup modeling and says she hopes to do more. “I was a print model a few years back. I was on the cover of Autosound…in a few ads for jeans, and in a calendar,” she explains. Briana eventually took some time off to get married and have a baby, but now, she’s back in front of the lens. (She later dumped the husband, so fellas, get in line!)

Born and bred in Los Angeles, CA, darling Donna has stayed put in the City of Angels, where she takes part in all the cheezy tourism she can handle. When not snapping photos along Hollywood’s Walk of Fame or asking Tinseltown celebs for their autograph, Donna can be seen in front of the camera–her acting career includes appearances in films and TV shows such as “Constantine”, “Charlie’s Angels II”, “Be Cool”, “8MM”, “Las Vegas”, “ER”, “Scrubs”, “Charmed”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, and “Alias”. This raven-haired retro pinup proves she also has heart by working with numerous charities, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She’s captured our hearts, too!

Pin-Up Contest Winner
Aiddee – Los Angeles, CA

Congratulations to our California cutie, little Miss Aiddee, for taking the crown in our October pin-up contest! With nearly a third of the vote from RetroRadar visitors, coupled with support from half the voters in the Fedora Lounge, this brunette beach bunny took the polls by storm. Still, Aiddee is a homebody at heart, and plans to celebrate her success with her husband and adorable two-year-old daughter. After all, pin-ups can’t always be in the public eye. We just hope she does another photo shoot wearing her Vector Vixen prize package, the fabulous Fifties-inspired poodle skirt ensemble from Cruisin’ USA!

Archel Pacific Northwest	Elaina San Jose, CA	Jessica St. Helena, CA
Elsie U.S.A.	Melanie Torrance, CA	Aiddee Los Angeles, CA

Want to see more lovely pin-up beauties?
Click the photo below to view last month’s contest!

This red headed English rose is an assistant photographer who, when not taking pictures, also makes and sells her own retro clothes and bags. Her dream is toone day own her own cherry-red caddy and ride around with her dog Tony as well as travelling to Canada and the West Coast of the U.S. of A. Says Lisa, “I love everything about the ’40s and ’50s, from the music and fashion to the glamour of the pin-ups and bomber models.” She has recently started jive lessons and is surely never short of a partner!