T   H   E

C   O   M   P   A   N   I   O   N

PART SEVEN

By Brendan Hancock
Edited by Matthew J Schelle

Originally Written for The Australian Rock & Roll Appreciation Society in 2005

PART SEVEN of EIGHT

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Through the 1980s and the 1990s, Bettie Page re-surged as a modelling icon. The media, intrigued by her mysterious disappearance launched a countrywide search for Bettie. Comic books soon featured characters that resembled Bettie, contemporary artists such as Olivia, Dave Stevens, and Robert Blue immortalized their idol with their powerful images. Today, Bettie is enjoying her private life with her family.

Bettie’s undeniable influence is present still today in fashion, films, and magazines just to name a few. The dark-haired girl from Nashville has become a living legend, a modern icon, a symbol of beauty and femininity that transcends ordinary standards. In the heart of her adoring fans, Bettie will forever remain the queen of pinup.

Although the interest in Bettie Page had never really died out since she came onto the scene. It would be safe to say that the quietness of her departure from the modelling scene after the Kefauver fiasco only made way for more rumours to surface and create the legend that she is today. Some believe it was the sheer embarrassment from the Kefauver hearings that forced her to kill herself, leave the country or become a born again Christian, with the later being the most truthful. 

Yet by 1960, new material, let alone sightings of Bettie Page were a thing of the past.  But because the interest was still there, pocket sized retrospective digest-style books featuring Bettie in all her glory started making the rounds with Irving Klaw’s mail order business doing their fair share of cashing in on it. Titles such as Betty Page at Home, Bettie Page Outdoors and Betty Page in Bondage where all top sellers throughout the sixties.  By the 1970’s and the advent of more explicit magazines such as Larry Flynt’s Huster magazine the now seemingly innocent cheesecake photos of Bettie started to dwindle.

The second wave:

 

The interest in Bettie Page started again via journalist Gay Talese and his book “The Neighbour’s Wife” a well researched book looking at American’s changing sexual ideals. Published in 1980 the book pays a lot of attention on Playboy founder Hugh Heffner and his playboy magazine, but also pays tribute to who is regarded as playboy’s hottest playmate of all time, Bettie Page. By the time this book came out, underground demand began to build up again and the Bettie Page revival was now officially underway,

Bettie’s ex-friend and photographer Bunny Yeager started to get requests for reprints of her famous images of Bettie and realised there was some money to be made.

Erotic pinup artist Olivia De Bernardinis began painting and drawing Bettie Page in 1978 and began to frequently show up in Playboy magazine. Olivia was introduced to Bettie by publishing entrepreneur J.B Rund who had already, by this time published four magazine format books called Betty Page – Private Peeks. The books feature rare and unseen images of Bettie as well as artist renderings of her likeness. Olivia’s images of Bettie have been seen all over the world with both the image of Bettie Page and Olivia’s artwork gaining more and more fans with every reprint featured on collector cards, posters and magazines.

The Third Wave:

It took the work of cartoonist and animator Dave Stevens to fully bring Bettie back to the public spotlight and to the attention of a whole new generation of fans. He discovered Bettie during the late 1970’s and not only became fixated by her image; but he would become one of only a few who would become a close friend of his subject matter in real life.

Stevens eventually created a superhero comic book character known as “THE ROCKETEER”, the immortal and fanciful retro tale of a 1950s flyboy Cliff Secord who becomes a flying superhero thanks to the help of a jet-powered backpack. It was the influence of Bettie Page that Stevens created the superheroes love interest. The comic book became popular and it didn’t take long for Walt Disney Pictures to create a film based on the work.

Due to the overwhelming success of both the Rocketeer comic book series and now the film, in no time the comic book and the rest of the publishing establishment jumped back on the bandwagon and began to produce more Bettie Page related material.

By the late 1980s Darkhorse comics produced an entire series of comic books using Bettie as it’s central character which included___________________________________-, and cross promoted them with trading cards, posters, statues, t-shirts.

Bettie page had now become a million dollar business, artists with a history of recreating the Bettie Page look either with brush strokes or from previous photography work were now getting more well known. One of the most popular publications to come out of this period was Greg Theakson’s “THE BETTIE PAGES”, a small independently published magazine that primary purpose was to release a book that was all things Bettie. The small, almost pocket sized booklets where jammed packed with classic and rare images of Bettie Page and featured exclusive interviews with friends and professionals including the likes of Paula Klaw and Bunny Yeager. Not surprisingly The Bettie pages were a huge success with fans and ran 9 issues and two book-sized soft cover annuals.

Through “THE BETTIE PAGES”, Theakston was able to piece together the first partial biography of Bettie Page and searched high and low  from sources all over the country for any clue as to his favourite pin-up models’ whereabouts.  He wanted, like so many before him, to find any hint of truth about her mysterious disappearance from the public eye so many years prior.

By November 1992 the mystery seemed to been answered, although the real story was that Bettie has been a mental patient at Patton State Hospital for the last decade was not yet known, fans were just happy to know that their pinup legend was still very much alive and she made her presence known via a 30minute audiotape that was provided to Robin Leach for his show “LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS”.

Her slow deep south accent made it’s way on American televison and soon more interviews eventually followed.

She has since been featured in Playboy magazine, Interview, Rolling Stone. E! Entertainment aired a 2 hour documentary about her in April 1997.

She was only just beginning to learn about her growing fan following when she was released from Patton State, yet by the time she was able to fully comprehend the magnitude as to how popular she had become during her dark period and the simple fact that by 1992 her image has been used to sell all types of material and millions of dollars were made, Bettie hadn’t seen any of it. Bettie would eventually find the right agent to look after her affairs, and slowly she tracked down a number of manufacturers of unlicensed Bettie products and started branding everything with the newly established Bettie Mae Page (B.M.P) Inc. Company endorsement.

Now that there was a lot of money to be made by Bettie Page, and that finally Bettie was making a bit herself. There was obviously a lot of bad blood between a lot of the key players in the latest resurgence of all things Bettie.

Initially artists such as Olvia was slightly angered when the TV show ‘Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous’ showed some images of her paintings without her consent and was used to illustrate a point in the segment about makers of unlicensed bootleg Bettie products. At the time it is written that Oliva refused to work on or co-operate on any further Bettie Page products, but in any case this has changed with the advent of a collection of Zippo lighters, a Bettie Page coaster set, and Bettie Page writing journal all endorsed by Bettie Page and Olivia. A partnership which will continue for a long time to come.

The biggest Bettie Page rift that has made the rounds is the one between Bettie and photographer Bunny Yeager. The two, once great friends had a falling out over photos, which Bunny sells in various formats. Bunny’s images have saturated the market by being used in books, annuals, photo magazines, trading cards, comic book specials, coasters, journals, diaries just about anything imaginable. Bunny reportedly had told Bettie that if she wants her pictures, the price is $200 a print. When asked about why she would charged Bettie for the images by Karen Essex and James Swanson for their book “Bettie Page The Life of a Pinup Model”, Yeagers response was “What has Bettie Page done for me lately”. It wouldn’t take anyone to think, Bettie Page has done plenty for her. Not only has Bettie’s images made Yeager a very rich woman, the posing she did for her was done for free in the first place.

PART SEVEN of EIGHT

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |