Comics fans will recognize the distinctive work of Terry Beatty from the classic "Ms. Tree". Strap in for a 1994, 5-page comic, recently posted on his blog, which he describes as an "oddball piece -- complete with guest appearances by Criswell, Eck, the Little Rascals, the Bowery Boys, the Stooges (Shemp!), Mary Hartline, Edison''s Frankenstein, Volto, Toto, Snowy/Milou, Vampira, David Letterman as a flying monkey -- and of course, Bela Lugosi. So please enjoy my tribute to the Swedish man mountain, Tor Johnson, and the ever-lovely Miss Bettie Page."

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST!

From Black Book Magazine...

Juliette Lewis Is a Natural Born Rebel

...Let’s talk about today’s photo shoot. How did it feel to dress up like Bettie Page in her S&M phase?
One of the things that struck me about Bettie Page, like Marilyn Monroe, is that even though there’s an obvious sexuality to her pictures, there’s also joy and insouciance—a lot of life force in her. You could have 10 different girls doing the same bondage shit, but when Bettie does it, it’s got that extra-special viva verve...

Bettie Page's name is invoked to convince women of the truth for lots of guys... that Madison Ave.'s ideal of beauty isn't necessarily shared by the guy down the block, in this article by Michelle Gwynn for the Examiner.

The Bettie Page Blog has always stood for body acceptance and solidly against the beauty myth... that Bettie serves as an icon for alternative beauty is perhaps the best thing to come from her enduring popularity.

How has Bettie helped you learn to love yourself? Comment below!

Mark Mori, the director of BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL has been very active on the long-running virtual cantina of die-hard Bettie enthusiasts, the Yahoo! group, BETTIE SCOUTS OF AMERICA.

THE BETTIE SCOUTS OF AMERICA is the original Bettie Page fan club started September 9, 1992. Steve Brewster, the founder & Scoutmaster, invites you to come on in and share your thoughts, photos, art, links about Bettie.

Here''s a few sample exhanges to urge you to both join that group and be more active in our forums here at BettiePageMovie.com:

Posted by: Brian Keith

Irving destroyed a lot of negatives I understand - Paula saved many, but which ones?

Posted by: Mark Mori

In my 1996 on camera interview with Paula, she indicated that Kefauver did not order the destruction of negatives. This was done a number of times over the years by various judges, mostly due to persecution from the post office, but also local authorities. Irving finally got tired of years of harassment. By the early early sixties. Irving was ready to give it all up to try to stop the harassment, but Paula wasn''t. Paula saved many negatives, mostly ones of Bettie, as opposed to other models, by burying them somewhere in New Jersey, she said. Maybe others can shed more light on this.

Posted by: "Ti Eastman"

This is why -- despite Bettie bios, biopics, and documentaries -- we still need Mark Mori to tell the tale about what happened in Bettie''s life.

It''s true Kefauver started the ball rolling, but he was long gone from Movie Star News'' legal tangles when Irving cut a deal to get the Post Office off his back. He was told that he wouldn''t have to go to jail if they destroyed the "offensive" photos and negatives.

Why not post questions in the documentary''s "Ask the Director" section regarding what you want to see included in the film? It''s still on the cutting room floor. You have it in your power to affect its contents. In fact, if you go there, you''ll notice that Mark Mori has posted what Paula Klaw said about the deal with the Post Office.

This article was sent in by a reader, "Samantha", who thought it'd be great for the blog. She's right! If anyone out there sees good stuff, email it to me.

You, Madam, Are No Bettie Page

By Sadie...I love pinup fashion and hourglass silhouettes and classic glamor and the appeal isn''t lost on me. But a lot of "modern pinup" culture seems based on a very idealized idea of the 1950s, of what women like Bettie Page actually lived through and were made of. Postmodernism is one thing; historical misrepresentation? Quite another. Take Veronica Orso-Flores, a lovely Texas denizen and self-described modern pinup who describes her life of 50s-style cheesecake modeling to the Houston Chronicle as "all dress-up."

For "Miss V," being a pinup means being a lady: well-groomed, well-mannered, impeccably outfitted."I don''t think people know how to be a lady these days, how to carry yourself, when to hold your tongue," Orso-Flores said at her home recently, as she served a guest cupcakes and lemon water.

The article describes her brand of kittenish appeal as a nice alternative to our culture''s overt sexualization. But that''s presuming that we have no alternative to some form of sexualization, right?

It''s a strange dichotomy, this mixing of the 50s housewife ideal and the pin-up ideal, both of which require a lot of, well, idealization. Bettie Page stood out because she maintained an aura of wholesomeness in a decidedly seedy world, and the gloss of camp conspired to idealize what was hardly the lifestyle of the average "lady." Pinups did not generally make cupcakes; housewives did not pose for calendars. This seems to be the same paradox at work with those "Time-Warp Wives" who live an idealized 50''s life: these women are drawn to the rigidity of the era''s roles and mores, but don''t seem to recognize that choosing these same roles is totally antithetical to the spirit of the age they idealize.

...

READ THE REST @ JEZEBEL

Didn't know there WAS such a thing, but I guess you can mourn on a monthly basis (which is sadly not too funny, given the rate of significant passings to those who love 50's culture).

OBIT MAGAZINE

In a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bettie Page exclaimed, “I am more famous now than I was in the 1950s.” She was busy signing copies of her pinup photos, those saucy pictures of Page in naughty outfits and suggestive poses that adorned locker doors and helped propel America’s sexual revolution of the 1960s. Since then, the genre of pinup fantasy--bangs-and-heels, lingerie-and-costumes—has grown from the obsession of a tiny sub-culture to a grand American tradition, a tradition that lost its queen, Bettie Page, who died on Thursday, December 11. Page was 85.

Her career as a pinup model started on the beaches of Coney Island in 1950, where a police officer who moonlighted as a photographer discovered Page. He assembled her first pinup portfolio. It was a long way from her hometown in rural Tennessee. The New York Times, in their obit, narrates the wayward life story of the woman behind the pinups.

Her pictures were ogled in Wink, Eyeful, Titter, Beauty Parade and other magazines, and in leather-fetish 8- and 16-millimeter films. Her first name was often misspelled. Her big break was the Playboy centerfold in January 1955, when she winked in a Santa Claus cap as she put a bulb on a Christmas tree. Money and offers rolled in, but as she recalled years later, she was becoming depressed.

In 1955, she received a summons from a Senate committee headed by Senator Kefauver, a Tennessee Democrat, that was investigating pornography. She was never compelled to testify, but the uproar and other pressures drove her to quit modeling two years later. She moved to Florida. Subsequent marriages to Armond Walterson and Harry Lear ended in divorce, and there were no children. She moved to California in 1978.

For years Ms. Page lived on Social Security benefits. After a nervous breakdown, she was arrested for an attack on a landlady, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a California mental institution. She emerged years later as a born-again Christian, immersing herself in Bible studies and serving as an adviser to the Billy Graham Crusade.

Her bouts with mental trouble later in life form an odd counterpoint to the sheer joy and exuberance of her pictures in youth. Either clad (or not clad) in jungle sequences, frolicking on the beach, or festooned in fishnet stockings and black lingerie, Page seemed outside vulgarity. From a 21st century perspective, her photographs are positively innocent, as if Page and her photographers were experimenting joyously. Of course there were the S & M pictures, but those too, with all of their whips and leather, seem like play.

Simply, Bettie Page had a joi-de-vivre that still captures the imagination of her viewers. From tattoo culture, to hot rod racers to actresses and models who mimic Bettie Page’s iconic look, she is the centerpiece of an entire solar system of retro aesthetics.

--
Obit from the New York Times
2006 Interview from the Los Angeles Times

A fascinating list of Look alikes and Bettie Page-inspired models

Dark Horse has a line of official, licensed Bettie Page merchandise... which includes this special way to wake yourself up in the morning!

When a hot beverage is poured into the cup, a magical transformation takes place, and our sultry cutie's top fades away. Oh, Nellie . . . that Bettie!

If you remember our exhaustive coverage of the Bettie Page Heaven Bound art show at the Worlds of Wonder Gallery on Hollywood Blvd., an interesting thing has happened to that space... it is now the new home of the Los Angeles location of the Bettie Page Clothing Store. Already a mecca in Vegas, the Bettie Page Clothing Store has been looking to expand to LaLa Land for some time. The owners went to the Heaven Bound show, hanging out with Mark Mori, Dita, Lenore, Olivia and other luminaries in the world of Bettie Page... and something must have clicked, because a few weeks later, a gala party launched the store on this fabled street! From the looks of it, many of Olivia''s "Heaven Bound" pieces are still on display (and likely for sale as well).

The fabulous rockabilly gal, Bernie Dexter, covered the amazing event in a post on 21st Century Pin-Ups. Read it!

No, it's not a white slavery ring... it's the estate sale of Charles Martignette, the world's premiere collector of pin-up and illustration art. Charles co-wrote definitive books on my (and many of your) favorite "classic" pin-up artist, Gil Elvgren.

• Huffington Post article


• New York Times article


• Heritage Auction Gallery main page

Bettie didn't drink, so she probably wouldn't've been a patron at Imperial Beach's Crystal Cove Coctails, but her posters happily adorn the walls of this "new oldtime dive bar" popular with the "rockabilly and rockachola" crowd.

READ ABOUT IT IN THE SAN DIEGO CITY BEAT (scroll down on the linked page).

Tracy Wilson-Tucker mused on Bettie in her blog, Black Holes and Barbies. I think she speaks for many of us:

What is it about a single Bettie Page photo that can make someone feel happy? Apart from the obvious, her photos have lifted my mood many a time. What a woman. What a lady. In her pix she''s portrayed as elegant, saucy, funny, and beautiful, a true boundary breaker who could handle just about any cinematic scenario. From glamour to bondage shoots, her personality literally radiates.

Empire Online has exciting news for fan of the book, Secret Identity, which I blogged about earlier.

According to Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman''s Co-Creator Joe Shuster by Craig Yoe, the artist behind the creation of Superman also penned a series of mob-financed underground fetish-comics that sparked an anti-comic crusade among politicians but have been largely forgotten - until now. Yoe''s book has been optioned for the screen, making for a sort of Hollywoodland meets The Notorious Bettie Page prospect.

Fantasy Ink has great comic book and illustration-style pin-ups posted on a regular basis, but could not resist a photo of Bettie Page:

Although Bettie's funeral was shot on video exclusively by filmmaker Mark Mori, click on this LINK and scroll down to see some still photos of this solemn occasion.

Great, if older, article appreciating Bettie''s appeal, Greg Beato for the Las Vegas Weekly.

A house in the Seattle, photo courtesy of the delightfully named blog, Yard Sale Bloodbath.

Agent Lover''s photostream on flikr

Agent Lover''s blog and vlog

Agent Lover''s interview with Lenora Claire

=spaceduck=''s photostream on flikr

Lenora Claire''s photostream on flikr

Tiffany!''s photostream on flikr

Pepper!''s photostream on flikr (she was one of the "Bettie Nurses" who manned the spanking machine)

Motor City Blog

Deep Glamour

boing boing interview with Lenora Claire

LAist interview with Lenora Claire

Dita tweeted the event

ilikedginger tweeted the event

dedredhed (responsible for the Bettie Nurse costumes) has a great recap of the night (she tweets, too)

LA WEEKLY slideshow and article

WORLD OF WONDER coverage:

• MORE Bettie Page Heaven Bound pics (Tuesday, May 05, 2009 05:51 PM)

• JAMES ST. JAMES INTERVIEWS DITA VON TEESE AT ''BETTIE PAGE: HEAVEN BOUND'' PARTY (Tuesday, May 05, 2009 12:17 PM)


• ''BETTIE PAGE: HEAVEN BOUND'' OPENING RECEPTION (Monday, May 04, 2009 01:04 PM)
  Here''s a glimpse of the excitement, beauty, and glamour at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery''s opening reception for the "Bettie Page: Heaven Bound" show this past Saturday. Burlesque icon Dita Von Teese, featured artist Olivia, guest curator Lenora Claire, screen legends Julie Newmar and Mamie Van Doren, Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira, Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro, Perez Hilton, fashion designer and RuPaul''s Drag Race judge and wowlebrity Santino Rice, Bobby Trendy, wowlebrity Calpernia Addams, wowlebrity artists Mathu Anderson and Austin Young, fashion designer Jared Gold, Ryan Heffington and his Dance Attack dancers, and burlesque beauties Selene Luna and Satanica were but a few of the luminaries who graced the party.


• Bettie Page: Heaven Bound - Opening Night (Saturday, May 02, 2009 07:49 PM)


• World of Wonder Gallery Peep of the Day (Friday, May 01, 2009 06:14 PM)


• LAist on Bettie Page tribute (Thursday, April 30, 2009 01:24 PM)


• Bunny and Our Honey (Wednesday, April 29, 2009 04:35 PM)


• Boing Boing Girls Gone Wild (Wednesday, April 29, 2009 09:48 AM)


• Hanging Bettie Page: Heaven Bound (Tuesday, April 28, 2009 05:11 PM)


• Bettie Page: Heaven Bound arrives! (Tuesday, April 28, 2009 04:00 PM)


• Another Subtle Reminder (Monday, April 27, 2009 03:28 PM)


• Lenora (and Lenora) on Lenora (Monday, April 27, 2009 10:43 AM)


• World of Wonder TV


• World of Wonder twitter

www.LenoraClaire.com
www.Myspace.com/LenoraClaire
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lenora-Claire/731212083
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenora_Claire
http://twitter.com/lenoraclaire
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenoraclaire/

Bernie Dexter was kind enough to personally furnish us with the following photos of the new Olivia-designed T-shirts that she will be modeling at the San Diego Comic Con TODAY (Friday, July 24th, 2009) and TOMORROW (Saturday, July 25th, 2009) from 12:00-4:00 (although if she's having fun, she admits she will probably come earlier and stay later!)

She and Olivia De Berardinis will be appearing at Olivia's booth, #5358. Olivia will be at the booth for the entire run of the convention (through the end of the day, Sunday, July 26th, 2009).

Bernie will be modeling the awesome t-shirts seen below...









If you can't get to the Con, you can buy these incredible shirts at BETTIE PAGE HOLLYWOOD or BETTIE PAGE LAS VEGAS.

Rhett Miller first came onto many music fans’ radars as the leader of OLD 97’S, a standard-bearer of “alt country”… a genre known for taking the decidedly anti-intellectual genres of country & western and infusing them with inventive, literate lyrics and complex musical arrangements. The band moved into poppier and increasing eclectic sounds as they matured. Rhett’s solo record continues this forward momentum, scarcely giving good ol’ shitkickin’ country a second glance in the rearview.

Instead, Rhett rewards listeners with a collage of sixties “pure pop” sounds that would please millennials, boomers and even vinyl obsessed X-ers. His catchy power pop songs feature low-key vocals dispensing ultra-clever, misanthropic lyrics about love gone sideways (and was it worth the trouble?), set in sharp relief against lush, dense, evocative production. There’s some Beach Boys here, some Dylan, there, the Beatles everywhere. Inventive instrumentation keeps each track fresh. The first few songs are shiny and bright… then some fuzz guitar enters, allowing for some grit, making a few songs sound like lost “Nuggets” tracks. Far beyond a pastiche, Rhett makes his references serve his own statements in an authentic way.

The album’s midpoint, “Bonfire” is a delicate, spaced-out ballad that brings Syd Barrett to mind, seemingly ushering in a softer, more earnest, less complicated (but no less thought out) back half to the album. There, the “Topanga Canyon sound” of Graham Parsons has a run-in with the English show bands that inspired Sgt. Pepper’s on “Another Girlfriend”, and folkier flavors give room for more hopeful and redemptive love songs to bloom, making way for “Sometimes”, a sweet, unabashedly romantic paean to the power of music and the belief in everlasting love… an earnest denouement to a work that began with a brash odes to the power of pessimism.

www.shoutfactory.com

www.rhettmiller.com