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25 December 2007 03:21:46 AM

An homage to Bettie Page

An homage to Bettie Page in this photo shot for FHN magazine. Nice and naughty, shy and daring, simple and exotic, Bettie shone with a freshness never before seen in the modeling scene. Without elaborate props, costumes, or set-dressings, Bettie produced some of the most beautiful shots to ever grace the covers of hundreds of magazines.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettie_PageBettie Mae Page (though listed "Betty" on her birth certificate) born April 22, 1923 in Nashville, Tennessee, is a former American model who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. While she faded into obscurity in the 1960s after her conversion to Christianity, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s and now has a significant cult following.Page was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the second child of Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle.[1] During Bettie's early years, the Page family traveled around the country in search of economic stability.[1] At a tender age, Bettie had to face the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings. Her parents divorced when Betty was 10 years old. Following the divorce, Page and her sister lived in an orphanage for a year. During this time, Bettie's mother worked two jobs, one as a hairdresser during the day and washed laundry at night.[1] As a teenager, Bettie and her sisters tried different makeup styles and hairdos imitating their favorite movie stars. Bettie also learned to sew. These skills proved useful years later for her pin-up photography when Bettie did her own makeup and hair and made her own bikinis and costumes.[1] A strong student and debate team member at Hume-Fogg High School, Bettie was voted "Most Likely to Succeed."[1]As the Salutatorian of her class,[1] on June 6, 1940, Bettie Page graduated from high school with a trust fund of $10,000 and enrolled at George Peabody College with the intention of becoming a teacher. However, the next fall she began studying acting, hoping to become a movie star. At the same time, she began her first job, typing for author Alfred Leland Crab. Page graduated from Peabody with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944. In 1943, she married Billy Neal (with whom she had attended high school) shortly before he left for active duty in World War II. For the next few years, Bettie moved from San Francisco to Nashville to Miami and to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where she felt a special affinity with the country and its culture.[1] In November 1947, while back in the United States, Bettie filed for divorce from Neal.Following her divorce, Page worked briefly in San Francisco, and in Haiti. She moved to New York City, where she intended to find work as an actress. In the meantime, she supported herself working as a secretary. In 1950, while walking along the Coney Island, New York City shore, Bettie met Jerry Tibbs, a police officer with an interest in photography. Bettie was a willing model, and Tibbs took pictures of Bettie and put together her first pinup portfolio.In the late 1940s, men formed what were known as camera clubs as a means of circumventing legal restrictions on the production of nude photos. These clubs existed ostensibly to promote artistic photography. However, many of them were merely fronts for the production of erotic photographs. When Page entered the field of glamour photography she did so as a popular camera club model, working initially with photographer Cass Carr. Her lack of inhibition in posing made her a hit. Her name and image became quickly known in the erotic photography industry, and in 1951 her image appeared in men's magazines with names like Wink, Titter, Eyefull and Beauty Parade. At the same time she posed for photographer Irving Klaw for mail-order photographs with pin-up, bondage or sado-masochistic themes, making her the first famous bondage model.In 1953, working with Herbert Berghoff, Bettie secured several roles in New York stage productions, and made several television appearances as well. Her off-Broadway productions included Time is a Thief and Sunday Costs Five Pesos. Bettie even appeared in the Jackie Gleason show.[1] But Bettie's first love was pin-up modeling. In 1954, during one of her annual pilgrimages to Miami, Florida, Page met photographers Jan Caldwell, H.W. Hannau and Bunny Yeager.[1] At that time Page was the top pin-up model in New York, and Yeager a former model and aspiring photographer. Yaeger signed Page for a photo session at the now closed African wildlife park Africa USA in Boca Raton, Florida. The Jungle Bettie photographs from this shoot are among her most celebrated. They include nude shots with a pair of cheetahs named Mojah and Mbili. The leopard skin patterned Jungle Girl outfit she wore was made, along with much of her lingerie, by Bettie herself.

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