So for whatever reason, the other day I was thinking about Bettie Page, the former pin-up model. The Wikipedia entry linked above explains that pretty well — well, the best it can given the information available. Anyway, at the end of the Wikipedia entry are links to two recent photographs taken of her. A closer look at Bettie? It was taken in Not bad at all Bettie.
Karen Essex moderator : Welcome! My name is Karen Essex. I wish I had been a movie star. I had to go back to Nashville with my husband when he came back from the war.
And boy, what a story I was missing out on. What a woman! At a time when bikinis were not even heard of on the beaches of America and most women were sporting swimsuits with built-in girdles, Bettie Page was modelling the skimpy bikinis and lingerie that she had made and designed herself. Above, one of her more unusual designs for a party where she won best costume.
Page stands for joy and fun and freedom, absolutely, but for her that was perilous. What made her dangerous was the one thing she almost always wore: a smile. But her actual voice gives the movie its richness. Mori has constructed the movie around a series of audio-only interviews he conducted with Page in the s.