Dag ya'll... I'm extremely sad to find out that the illustrious, infamous, often misunderstood Betty Page died yesterday in Los Angeles at 85 yrs of age. She had been in the hospital for 3 weeks with pneumonia and had recently suffered a heart attack. Ms. Page was on life support for a week.
She was a model in the 1950s, perhaps most notably a S&M (sadomasochism) pioneer, and probably the most recognizable pin up girl ever (en mon avis). Betty Page was a diva! I'd just like to note that apparently she was less than thrilled with the the biopic done about her starring Gretchen Moll (The Notorious Betty Page.) This may be because she really only modeled for a short time, felt like the profession was not of God, stopped modeling, and became a rather devout Christian.
My dear friend works for the company that handles the rights to her images, and this friend told me personally that Ms. Page wasn't a big fan of this movie. But I am!!! I really enjoyed it. I hope all the details were true and not Hollywoodized all to hell...
Though it saddens me to think that Betty was less than proud in any way of her image, I exalt her contributions to women's liberation. I feel that even if unappreciated in the mid-1900s as crude, distasteful, deviant, erotic, or unladylike, it is clear that her pin up images now represent that of a sexually liberated woman. Even though it was only the character that was sexually liberated and the model and actual woman was struggling with the issues.
She was extremely sexy, and remained so her whole life. Pls google her and check out some of her later in life pics, she looked incredibly youthful.
Here is to a leopard print, long legged, jet black hair, adorable bangs, pert icon! Rock on Betty, Rock on!!!
How do you feel about the icon Betty Page? Depraved, ahead of her time, or both?
Also, Macaulay Culkin's 29 yr old sister Dakota died recently after being struck by a car in West Hollywood. The driver of the car attended to her, and was cleared of any wrongdoing, she died the day after being hit due to massive head trauma. So so sad... Its a good warning for us all to not take ourselves or anyone for granted and to continue to be on guard at all times. In the words of my dear cousin, Pls Be Safe in all ways, always...
My deepest condolences...
Peace and blessings
In a way it was her decision to abandon her sex icon lifestyle that makes her even more beautiful to me.
I remember a documentary about her. A photographer was taking pics outside in a forest. He told her to expose herself, she took everything off, exposing her hairy pubic area. He chastised her and said people don't want to see "that" much. She felt embarrassed.
What I think is interesting about this story is how she really was very innocent about all of this. It was when she realized that while she was just having fun and being free, in fact the reaction that her fans were having was not what she intended. When she started to get that it was primarily perverted, depraved men who were into her, she couldn't reconcile herself with that.
It was her consciousness about this that makes her a hero in my eyes. She could have kept going, enjoying the ego boost, fame and money, but she didn't.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude