Bettie Page was arguably the most popular
supermodel of the 20th Century, and she would go down in history as “The Queen of Pinup”. Even if you haven’t heard of her yet, once
you know who she is, you will begin to see her influence practically everywhere you go
in the United States. Images inspired by her still show up in music
videos, movies, and pop culture to this very day. Even if you recognize her face, very few people
know the story of her real life. This woman never used her circumstances as
an excuse for failure, and the amount of grit she needed to overcome obstacles to achieve
her dreams is astounding. This is the inspirational true story of Bettie
Page. Early Life
Bettie Mae Page was born on April 22, 1923 in Nashville, Tennessee. She was the second of six children, and the
oldest daughter of Roy and Edna Page. Her father was an auto mechanic, but he was
an alcoholic who had trouble holding down a job. Her mother was a housewife, and those six
kids kept her extremely busy. During the Great Depression, Roy moved the
family around from place to place, because he could never keep a job. He was inflicting every form of abuse on his
wife and daughters, and he often cheated on Edna, as well. When Bettie was 10 years old, her mother finally
found the strength to get a divorce. Edna Page had to work full-time, even though
a few of her kids were still toddlers and babies. Since she did not have much education, she
could only find very low-paying jobs. As the oldest daughter, all of the usual domestic
responsibility fell on Bettie. She was still only 10, but became the surrogate
mother of her younger siblings by cooking, cleaning, and babysitting. She did all of this cheerfully and with a
smile on her face, though. And their house became very popular, because
after school, the neighborhood kids could come over to their house and play together
without any adult supervision. Bettie loved watching movies, and they were
her escape from her harsh reality. They inspired her to sing and dance in the
backyard on a makeshift stage the kids made out of discarded scraps of wood. Since this was during the Great Depression,
the kids did not have many toys to play with, but they were entertained by Bettie’s imagination. Since she had an audience who eagerly awaited
to see what she would do next, she was always pushing the envelope and thinking about her
next performance. But those dreams would come to a screeching
halt. Even with Bettie’s help, six children was
far too much responsibility for Edna to manage alone. Even though she worked full-time, the amount
of money she made was simply not enough. Roy was not sending her any form of child
support, and they never heard from him again. It was so bad, that Edna had to choose between
starvation, or giving up a few of her children to live in an orphanage. Bettie and her younger sister were together
in an all-girls home, and she encouraged her sister to pretend that they were like characters
in a movie. By playing pretend, it helped her and her
sister stay strong and resilient through this traumatic experience. High School and College Years
After a few years, Bettie’s mother had saved up enough money, and was able to get custody
of her children again. Bettie was a few years older now, and she
had grown into a very beautiful young lady. Edna was concerned that Bettie might make
the same mistake she did, and give up her future by marrying the first guy who came
along. So, she made it a rule that Bettie was not
allowed to have a boyfriend. But, like most teenagers, Bettie rebelled
in High School. She fell for Billy Neal, the all-star quarterback
from the rival high school. He was everything you would imagine of the
stereotypical cool kid back then. He wore leather jackets, rode a motorcycle
to school, and probably skipped class to smoke cigarettes. Bettie fell in love with Billy, but the years
spent in the orphanage were more than enough for her to know that she never wanted to depend
on a man for her financial security, as her mother did. She wanted to get a college education so that
she could always support herself if she needed to. Keep in mind that in 1940, over 50% of the
US population dropped out of school after the 8th grade. Very few women ever went on to earn a High
School diploma or even attempt to earn a college degree, let alone graduate with a BA. If they did, they usually came from well-to-do
families in the upper class. But Bettie wasn’t going to let her family
history stop her. After school, Bettie joined the debate team
and school theatrical productions. She studied extremely hard, and graduated
second in her class. This allowed her to win a full academic scholarship
to Peabody Teachers College. She also got married to Billy Neal. Even though she still dreamed of being a Hollywood
starlet, Billy wanted them to have a life together in Nashville. She loved him so much, that she didn’t want
to break up with him to pursue her dream. The next best thing was becoming a teacher,
since she would be able to do public speaking, and share her knowledge with younger kids. So, after getting her Bachelor’s Degree,
Bettie started teaching at her old High School. Her former principal and teachers remembered
how she excelled in academics. But she was still in her early 20’s, and
not all that far off in age from her students. She was so beautiful, that she became a target
of harassment by the young boys. The male students thought that with her perfect
hourglass curves, she was simply too distracting to be their teacher. No matter how intelligent she truly was on
the inside, hardly anyone could see past what she looked like on the outside. Because apparently, no one can take a female
teacher seriously unless she looks like Professor McGonagall. Billy Neal joined the army, and they stationed
him at a military base in San Francisco before going overseas. As his wife, Bettie had to quit her job as
a teacher, and she was very excited about moving to California. She took this opportunity to switch career
paths, and got a new job as a secretary. One of the men who visited her office said
that she was pretty enough to be in the movies, and he offered to help her get an audition
in Los Angeles. Bettie was excited, hoping that this was the
big break to become a movie star she had dreamed of her entire life. Bettie showed up for a screen test for 20th
Century Fox, but she hated the experience, because she was poked and prodded by the makeup,
hair, and costume departments to the point where she didn’t even recognize herself
when she looked in the mirror. They told her that if she wanted to make it,
she would have to change a lot of things about herself, like going blonde and doing her makeup
a different way. The man who helped her get the screen test
made a move on her, promising her fame and fortune in exchange for sleeping with him. But Bettie turned down his advances. The man threatened to ruin her reputation,
and promised that he would make sure no one ever hired her in Hollywood. She still chose to stay faithful to her husband,
and walked away. But Bettie Page wasn’t alone. Today, we now know that the likes of Harvey
Weinstein and Bill Cosby made it a habit of preying on young actresses, and that this
was happening to women for decades before. Even though she had been completely faithful
to Billy, he was actually angry to come home to find out that she was pursuing her acting
career while he was gone. He wanted her to be satisfied with just being
a housewife, and he wanted to move back to Tennessee. She realized that their ambitions in life
were completely different, and they simply were not compatible anymore. They decided to get a divorce. Life in the Big Apple
In 1947, at 24 years old, Bettie moved to New York City and began auditioning for plays,
movies, and commercials. Unfortunately, she ran into the same problems
that she had in Los Angeles. The men in charge wanted more than just her
talents in exchange for work, and she refused to change her moral compass. For three years, she worked as a secretary
in Manhattan. As the years slipped by, she was now considered
to be too old to start a career in show business. She had given up everything in order to be
an actress, and soon enough, it would be too late. One day, Bettie was walking along the beach
on Coney Island, when she noticed a man doing pushups on the beach. This was a police officer named Jerry Tibbs. He said that he was a professional photographer
on the side, and asked if she would be interested in being paid to model for him. After talking to him for a while longer, she
decided to say “yes”. When Tibbs asked her how old she was, she
pretended to be in her early 20’s, even though she was already a 27-year old divorcee. Nowadays, this line about being a “photographer”
who is inviting a young woman into his basement for pictures is used by a surprisingly large
number of serial killers and perverts. But thankfully for her, the photography sessions
went just as Tibbs said it would, and she was paid handsomely for her time. Many of her photos began showing up in girly
magazines around Harlem. Keep in mind that this was after World War
II, where photos of pinup girls had become incredibly popular. A lot of young women wanted to do their part
to help the troops, and even after the war, posing provocatively for pinup became a goal
for aspiring models. So Bettie Page was excited to be apart of
this, and she had such a good experience with with Jerry Tibbs, that he invited her to become
apart of a “Camera Club”. In the 1950’s, a Camera Club was where a
studio would bring in a group of models, and both amateur and professional photographers
would pay a fee to come and take pictures of beautiful women. Sometimes, men would show up with a camera
that was empty, because they just wanted an excuse to ogle beautiful women wearing lingerie
up close and personal. But Bettie Page wasn’t just good at modeling,
she was a genius. She needed very little direction from the
photographers, and knew how to strike a pose. Her face was always cheerful-looking, friendly,
and approachable. There was something about her that made men
feel that she was just the girl next door. Many of the camera men would often stop taking
pictures of the other girls and spend more time on her, because she was just that good
at her job. Soon enough, Bettie Page was raking in the
money, and she made far more than she ever had as a secretary. She saw this as a stepping stone to finally
make it in the movies. Today, it’s totally normal for the likes
of the Victoria’s Secret Angels to be on a strict diet and exercise regimen every single
day to keep themselves fit. But back then, models usually showed up to
have photos taken of their natural body. Bettie Page didn’t rely on her natural beauty
to get the job done. She worked out every day, watched her diet,
and even sewed new costumes that would look good on camera. She treated this very much like a business,
and everything she did during her career was setting the new standard for what models would
be expected to do in the future. She began receiving requests to do photoshoots
all over New York City, and eventually became a millionaire. Whenever tastes changed, photographers expected
Bettie Page to do things that were more and more risque. She would agree to do it, despite any previous
hesitations she may have had in the past. She knew that times were changing, and if
she wanted to keep her career and business going, she would have to begin posing in the
nude. If you think her willingness to pose nude
sounds kind of contradictory to the fact that she kept refusing to sleep with anyone to
get a job, she had this to say; “Being in the nude isn't a disgrace unless you're being
promiscuous about it. After all, when God created Adam and Eve,
they were stark naked. And in the Garden of Eden, God was probably
naked as a jaybird too!” So...she continued to pose naked, so long
as she thought it was at least tasteful. One day, the Camera Club decided to find a
secluded area in Upstate New York to have a nude photoshoot outside, where the models
were frolicking in the grass. It shouldn’t be surprising that the police
showed up and arrested the women and the photographers. They charged the men for “disturbing the
peace”, and the women with “indecent exposure”. Bettie actually yelled at the police officers,
saying that she refused to accept that charge, because she was not an “indecent” person. She demanded to have the same charge as the
men, and they finally gave in, changing it to “disturbing the peace.” Despite having to serve time in jail for her
nude photos, she still continued to do these photoshoots, anyway. During the peak of her popularity, Bettie
Page became “Miss January of 1955” in Playboy Magazine. Hugh Hefner once said that he slept with 11
out of 12 of the cover models of each Playboy issue, and Bettie Page would have been that
one exception who didn’t have to sleep with him in exchange for being published. He actually purchased her nude photos from
a female photographer and fellow model named Bunny Jaeger. Hefner respected Page immensely, saying that
she "...was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste
in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society." When the issue of Playboy came out, we can
only imagine how her former High School students must have felt when they opened up the pages
of Playboy and figured out that the teacher they once had a crush on now had a full spread
of her nudes in glossy print. For some, it was probably a dream come true. The Scandals and End of Her Career
Modeling was paying the bills, but Bettie Page still wanted to move in the direction
of being in the movies. Sibling business partners Paula and Irving
Klaw ran The Movie Star News Store, where they sold “beauty photography” of pinup
models. They also filmed short clips of Bettie dancing
in lingerie, and sold them to customers. She eventually starred in two movies called
Striporama, and Varietease. After work, Bettie was taking acting classes
and auditioning for plays on Broadway, without much luck. In 1955, a Senator named Estes Kefauver created
a subcommittee that was cracking down on comic books, pornography, and basically anything
else that could be considered sinful. The FBI detained Bettie Page and interrogated
her, asking if Irving and Paula Klaw were shooting pornographic movies at the Movie
Star News Store. Bettie protested, saying that the women were
never fully nude in these movies, and there were never any men in them, either. Bettie’s boss, Irving Klaw, was taken to
court before the Senate sub-committee. Even though he was not found guilty, the mere
suggestion that she was starring in porn ruined Bettie’s reputation. Her name was printed in newspapers all over
New York City. Bettie Page became the target of slut-shaming,
and men were yelling at her in the streets. A stalker began to send her letters threatening
to kill her. Since she had gotten to know the FBI agents
in New York City, she contacted them right away. They believed that the person who sent the
letters was a known serial killer. They set up a plan where they used Bettie
as bait to catch the murderer and only jumped in at the last minute to save her. It turns out that her stalker was a 16-year-old
boy. But all of this took a serious toll on Bettie’s
mental health, and it was all downhill from there. In 1957, The Irvings had to shut down the
Movie Star News Store, and Bettie Page was out of a job. She decided to stop working as a model, and
give up her dream of becoming an actress. She moved to Florida, and became a born-again
Christian. The church made her feel like a sinner, and
that she needed to repent. While in Florida, she began to attend Bible
college, and tried to be a Christian missionary overseas in the 1960’s. However, when they found out that she was
a divorcee, they rejected her, saying that she was too indecent to represent the church. She began taking graduate courses to earn
her Master’s Degree in hopes that maybe she could go back to being a teacher. But her reputation followed her there, too,
and she dropped out. All along, her mental state continued to decline,
and by the 1970’s, she was beginning to suffer from schizophrenia. She had a nervous breakdown, and ended up
in a mental hospital. After receiving psychiatric treatment for
several years, she was released. During that time, she had to essentially be
deprogrammed, because the Church had brainwashed her into hating herself and her accomplishments. As time went on, there was a revival in interest
over Bettie Page. She had been the most photographed model of
the 20th century, and when she retired, she seemingly disappeared without explanation. People wanted to know what had happened to
her, and the mystery only added to the excitement. For 40 years, no one heard anything about
her life after modeling. In 1998, Playboy Magazine tracked her down,
and asked for an interview. They asked her if she ever felt ashamed of
her work while she was doing it, or if those feelings of guilt came after she began receiving
criticism from Estes Kefauver and the Senate sub-committee. She said, "I never thought it was shameful. I felt normal. It's just that it was much better than pounding
a typewriter eight hours a day, which gets monotonous." For the rest of her life, fans sent Bettie
Page letters telling her how much they loved and appreciated her bravery for paving the
way for so many other women, and she finally got the recognition and love she deserved. She died of a heart attack in 2008, at 85
years old. At the time of her death, she had a net worth
of $20 million. Cultural Inspiration
Even though it was considered to be very scandalous at the time, the sort of modeling Bettie Page
did is on-par with Victoria’s Secret and Calvin Klein ads of today. Near-nudity has become such a big part of
American culture, that some young women even put similar photos of themselves on Instagram
without any shame. Today, we would barely bat an eyelash at the
majority of Bettie Page’s photographs that were deemed to be so sinful and inappropriate. Without her, things just wouldn’t be the
same. Bettie Page’s iconic look became the inspiration
for a number of fictional characters, including Jenny Blake from a comic book called The Rocketeer. She also inspired the looks of celebrities
like Katy Perry, Madonna, and the modern-day burlesque dancer, Dita Von Teese. In modern times, most men may have moved on
to having crushes on other female celebrities, and the photos of Bettie Page may not seem
like anything special. Today, she is now actually more popular with
women, especially feminists. She was strong, smart, independent, and never
backed down on what she believed was right. Even if it took her years of heartache and
struggle, she was able to make it in the modeling industry on her own terms. Even after her death, her estate continues
to make tons of money. In 2017 alone, Bettie Page merchandise sold
for $7 million. Her memory will continue to live on as one
of the most iconic women in history.
Neat video.
I felt sad when she got rejected because of her looks or reputation.
Great video. Who doesn't love Bettie Page ?
Betty Page will always be beautiful. She challenged the norms of the day and did what she wanted to do.