Bettie Page 1923 - 2008

The sad news from CNN.

Before Adriana, Alessandra, Heidi or Claudia, Jill, Christie, Cheryl or even the term 'Supermodel', there was Bettie Page. She's from an era long before me; she was a contemporary of my grandmother's - who passed away just weeks ago. I can't know what the impact was like at the time, but to be remembered an a pop culture icon all these years later as Bettie Page still is, it must have been a hell of a culture shock at the time. I'm glad in her later life, she got to reclaim more of her image (and, hopefully some of the massive amount of cash everyone else seemed to be making off of her image).

Her official site.
The Notorious Bettie Page movie site.

Edit: More thoughts on Bettie Page by writer Karen Essex.

I came across this rare 1997 interview with her I actually saw on NBC when I was around 13, just when all the resurgence of interest was hitting:



Still not impressed? Think repressive 1950's, no marketing powerhouse like Vicky's or Calvin Klein or behind you, no internet, and no real mass exposure, so to speak, or squeaky-clean G-rated black and white TV. And she pretty much had to fend for herself. R.I.P.