Everybody loves Bettie Page. We may not know exactly
why but she is part of our ethos. We have seen some photos of her all tied
up or on the beach or sitting next to leopards and smiled. It made us feel
better. Happier that a Bettie Page once existed. One of a kind. An icon who
never tried to be one and had no idea she was until she was getting quite
old. She went through a lot of shit to get there. To some she represents
sex, to others fashion, to others woman's liberation - a free spirit who
just saw nothing wrong in posing in a multitude of ways and in various outfits
and with nothing on. No one should be able to tell her what to do was her
opinion. And this was in the 1950s - the time of Eisenhower and McCarthy
and others out to stamp out promiscuity and pornography.
She had a lousy childhood with a father who molested all of his daughters
and a mother who could not take care of six children on her own. Bettie tried
out for Hollywood and didn't get much past turning some producer down. On
Coney Island one day a fellow asks her if she would be willing to pose for
pin-ups. She says yes and from that point on became a favorite of many photographers
- professional and amateur. They used to have these camera clubs in which
guys would pay a fee to take pictures of models. She would get $20 a day.
There are literally thousands and thousands of Bettie Page photos out there
and a bunch are absolute classics.
She never made much money from this and after about seven years now in her
thirties she just disappeared. Without a trace. She had had enough and was
getting older. Moved back to Florida and got married a few times. Found God
and studied at Bible schools. And cracked up and was institutionalized for
long periods. Never having any idea that she had a huge fan base out there,
Never having any idea that she influenced fashion and style, had films that
were inspired by her, had comic books of her and book after book of her photos.
Most people assumed she was dead. But someone tracked her down - a huge fan
- and by then she was ok again and he told her how much she was loved. She
met Hugh Hefner and he set her up with lawyers and she finally began collecting
money for her image. She died in 2008 but apparently not before she narrates
much of this film off-camera. She wanted people to remember her as she was.
Incredibly vivacious, full of joy and those bangs. She is surprisingly honest
about things - almost too much so - and her memory is amazing. This documentary
is fine - could easily have been cut down from its 105 minute running time
- but Bettie does reveal all.
