Friday, December 12, 2008

Bettie Page, R. I. P.

Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure - Los Angeles Times: "Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.

Page, whose later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state mental institution, died Thursday night at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since suffering a heart attack Dec. 2, according to her agent, Mark Roesler."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The article shamefully fails to credit the late Dave Stevens for his critical role in bringing Bettie's image back into the pop culture consciousness, via his Rocketeer strip. It's my understanding that he located her, and saw to it that she received some compensation for the use of her image.

Bettie's all over the net, of course, but the most comprehensive collection of photos is probably at http://vintage.nobsxxxhost.com/. The Klaw & Yeager photos, candids & Polaroids, magazine covers and the like are all there. Most of them, needless to say, NSFW. Also vast quantities of other vintage cheesecake/porn.

Art Scott

mybillcrider said...

Thanks, Art. I tried to check the official Bettie Page site earlier, but it had crashed. Maybe Stevens gets some credit there.