Betty Page gone at 85

[ram]

Betty Page, passed away on Thursday.... Pretty lady in a turbulent life - RIP. 22/Apr/23 - 11/Dec/08

[paologregorio]

Rest In Peace! One of my all time favorites. I have a set of Bettie refrigerator magnets.

[cjj]

Dang, seems like all my heroes are dying off these days...

She was a classic... RIP Betty.

[doctorwho]

... She was a classic... RIP Betty.

+1

[winston]

Just a tad before my time but never the less a very pretty lady who managed to have quite a career in her chosen field. R.I.P. Betty

[rickenbrother]

... She was a classic... RIP Betty.

+1

+2

[collin]

Yep, a classic beauty who will be missed. Terrible shame what the media reduced her to over her lifetime. At least she got to live a long happy life unlike Monroe etc.


The silver lining, I suppose....is that now legions of young ladies can find somebody else to emulate/dress like. Here in Orange County (ie..faux Rockabilly hell) every girl and her sister rocks the Betty Page look (usually unsuccessfully). Let's let the lady rest in peace!

[paologregorio]

Good point Collin; at a gig we played last year at the Doll Hut, our former drummer noticed all of the rough looking, tattooed girls with the Bettie Page bangs and commented, "these girls all try to look like Bettie Page, but they look more like Betty Page fell down the stairs".

Definitely a classic beauty though. I'll always admire her looks and style...and I get to see her every day via my BP refrigerator magnets.

[jingle_jangle]

She'll never be an old lady to me, Collin...I remember back in '57, when, at age 9, I found an Irving Klaw photo magazine of Bettie (that's how she spelled it) in a neighbor's garage. Sorta forgot about her until friend Mike turned me on to the first issue of the "Bettie Pages", in the early '80s.

My wife is also a big Bettie fan. Bettie will always be 25 to us, and I think that's one of the reasons she remained underground after 1960 or so--she wanted us to remember her as forever young and eternally lovely.

[beatlefreak]

Another who will be missed.

[rickenbrother]

Definitely a classic beauty though. I'll always admire her looks and style...and I get to see her every day via my BP refrigerator magnets.

Don't mind me if I'm staring at your fridge the next time I visit!

[whojamfan]

Here in Orange County (ie..faux Rockabilly hell) every girl and her sister rocks the Betty Page look (usually unsuccessfully). Let's let the lady rest in peace!

Been like that there since at least the early 90s. If Betty got a residule from every guy who's had her tattooed on him in the last 15 years her heirs would be living majorly large.

She was truly a classic, beautiful woman, she will definitely be missed!

[collin]

our former drummer noticed all of the rough looking, tattooed girls with the Bettie Page bangs and commented, "these girls all try to look like Bettie Page, but they look more like Betty Page fell down the stairs".

haha, good one! It's true.....like as if Betty Page gained 60 lbs, and got smacked around a bit...that's all I see 'round here!

[rickboy88]

I've been going through my many books to donate some of them. I need to reduce the overall count for space reasons, and so far have filled up 6 moving boxes with books.

A book that I re-discovered (and am keeping) is called "The Real Bettie Page," by Richard Foster. It was written back in 1997. My favorite books are probably biographies, and I've read many. The author is actually a big fan, but wanted to also accurately summarize her at times tragic life. You can get it on Amazon in paperback for less than $15 U.S.

I posted on another thread about Brian Wilson where his mental issues came up, and it was much worse with Bettie. She was not only pulled into the whole mess with the Kefauver indecency hearings (never having to testify though), but as she got older had more issues with paranoid schizophrenia. Brian Wilson was more manic depressive and a gentle soul, but Bettie could get violent. She threatened her third husband and family with a knife once. By that time her Christian faith had turned a bit scary and inflexible. She also later stabbed 3 people, all senior citizens on two different occasions. At the 2nd attack in 1982, she woke up the victim by sitting over her in the woman's bed and stabbing her. Imagine waking up to that! The victim never regained the feeling and control in two fingers and took 2 years for other things to heal. She sold her house without ever going back.

Bettie had been committed to mental institutions multiple times by the early 80's, and found not guilty by reason of insanity each time. She actually got out early after the first attack, and the woman who was seriously attacked wasn't told her history. She sued the state of California, but only got barely enough to cover her medical bills after the lawyers took 40%.

People who knew Bettie even in her younger days said it was almost like she had two personalities. She apparently was abused by her father when a child. Based on what I read, I for one probably wouldn't have wanted to be sleeping with her nearby in the same house from the late 60's - early 80's. She could be frightening to her 3rd husband and his children during daylight hours.

I think she was released the final time in the early 90's and drug treatments probably helped out a lot after that. I'm actually not done with the book yet, but I do know that by then she was becoming a commodity again according to the book.