BETTY PAGE, THE LIFE BEHIND THE LOOKS
PT2

In 1955, Betty Page won the title "Miss Pinup Girl of the World". She also later became known as "The Queen of Curves" and "The Dark Angel". As a model She did frequently pose nude, In-fact She often said that she loved being naked, felt free when she was, and said that she often thought of joining a nudist group. Despite this though she still never appeared in scenes with explicit sexual content. And while most pin-up and glamour models tend to have careers lasting just months, Page was in demand for years. She continued modeling until 1957.

But leave the industry she did.

The reasons reported for her departure from modeling vary. Some reports mention the Kefauver Hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency (after a young man apparently died during a session of bondage which was rumored to be inspired by Page), which ended Klaw's bondage and S&M mail-order photography business. In fact, the United States Congress called her to testify to explain the photos in which she appeared. While she was excused from appearing before the committee, the print negatives of many of her photos were destroyed by court order, and many of the rest remained banned from print for years. Other accounts say she just tried to live a normal married life.

However, the most obvious reason for severing all contact with her prior life was her conversion to Christianity while living in Key West, Florida in 1959.
After the pornography hearings She claimed to have been hounded by federal agents, her first marriage had failed and a second very quickly also ended in divorce. She suffered a breakdown and turned to the church. Click for the Bettie Page confidential biography from Barnes&Noble

During the 1960s, she attempted to become a Christian missionary in Africa, but was rejected for having been divorced. Over the next few years she worked for various Christian organizations before settling in Nashville in 1963. She worked full time for Rev. Billy Graham.
She briefly remarried Billy Neal, her first husband, who helped her to gain entrance into missionary work; however, the two divorced again shortly thereafter. She returned to Florida in 1967, and married again, to Harry Lear, but this marriage also ended in divorce in 1972.

It is not hard to see why Page had problems with depression in her life. Mental illness was one of the factors keeping Bettie out of the public eye, infact she spent some time in mental hospitals.

A cult following built around her during the 1980s, of which she was apparently unaware. This renewed attention was focused on her pinup and lingerie modeling rather than the 'darker' bondage images, and she gained a certain public redemption and popular status as an icon of erotica from a bygone era. This "bygone era erotica" probably looked pretty sweet and appealing by the cynical 80's!. The renewed attention raised the question of what happened to Betty page after the 50's?.
The new cult status of the pinup queen inspired comic book artist Dave Stevens to base the female love interest of his hero Cliff Secord (alias "The Rocketeer") on Page. And in 1987, Greg Theakston started a fanzine called 'The Betty Pages' and recounted tales of her life, particularly the camera club days. For the next seven years, the magazine sparked a worldwide interest in Page. Women dyed their hair raven black and cut it into bangs ( wide fringe) in an attempt to emulate the "Dark Angel". The media caught wind of the phenomenon and wrote numerous articles about her.

Finally the question of what Betty Page did in the obscure years after modeling was answered in part with the publication of an official biography in 1996, "Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-up Legend". That year, Bettie granted an exclusive one-on-one TV interview to entertainment reporter Tim Estiloz to help publicize the book. The interview featured her reminiscing about her career and telling anecdotes about her personal life, as well as photos from her personal collection. But at Page's request, her face was not shown. The interview was broadcast only once. In any and all TV or other appearances she would decline to be photographed saying that she would prefer the be remembered as she was before.

Bettie Page sadly died at 18:41 PST on December 11, 2008, after being hospitalized in a critical condition on December 6 2008. She is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
She was everything the perfect pinup girl should be...a shapely package of feminine contradictions ; nice/naughty, sweet/sexy, simple/glamorous the unattainable "girl next door".She is famously quoted as saying that she was " never the girl next door." I have always supposed that the term meant she seemed warm, the kind of woman you could safely approach...unlike other more distant stars. Or unlike women like me. I can understand the draw of those who don't look like they would take your head off if you tried to talk to them, I've always wondered what it might be like to be like that!. Another excellent quality she had was of not following fashion faithfully, something most models feel the need to do, but wearing what looked best on her and even making her own fashions..."I never kept up with the fashions. I believed in wearing what I thought looked good on me."- Betty Page. This is what I would call the best attitude for any aspiring style icon (even if only in her own home). The biggest thing we can learn from our lady Page is by all means take inspiration from others but always be yourself first. Take a good look at yourself, decide what you need and learn the skills you need to get it and go for it. And that the female body is not a thing to be ashamed of and hidden away.

A final and fitting quote from the lady herself sums it up:

"I was not trying to be shocking, or to be a pioneer. I wasn't trying to change society, or to be ahead of my time. I didn't think of myself as liberated, and I don't believe that I did anything important. I was just myself. I didn't know any other way to be, or any other way to live." - Betty Page

Betty page lived to see her star rise again, and despite her personal problems, she died knowing that she is our girl and we will always love her.

Click image for the movie of Bettie's life starring Gretchen Mol. From Barnes&Noble)

Betty page lived to see her star rise again, and despite her personal problems, she died knowing that she is our girl and we will always love her.

Return to the betty page story part one

Read about a modern day Betty - Dita Von Teese, burlesque diva