The Rocketeer: The Rebirth of a Pin-Up Queen

The Rocketeer: The Rebirth of a Pin-Up Queen

It was a wonderful summer day; the kind of weather that made you smile. I could smell in the warm summer breeze that something great was going to happen. I was in my pre-teen years, and began to realize some specific changes in my body. The flatland, which was my chest, started to develop breasts, and my square hips became heart-shaped. I was a curvy girl; a bit plumper than the others. I had not met girls that look like me in school, nor seen them on television, in magazines, or in the movies. All changed on that wonderful summer day; when my friends, and I saw the film, The Rocketeer.

The film was about a young pilot who finds a jetpack, and becomes a flying, masked superhero. His girlfriend in the film had physical qualities that pleased the senses. She was the definition of a true beauty. The character's name was Bettie Page. She had long, dark, raven-like hair, supple breasts, luscious lips painted scarlet red, and a tight dress that hugged her dangerous curves. I was simply intrigued by the sensuality, and innocence that was portrayed on screen. After watching the film, her image was engraved into my memory. During our walk back home, my friend mentioned that the character of Bettie was a living, breathing human being, and that she was a pin-up model from the 1950's. I did some research, and found photos of the real Bettie Page; that is when my endless love affair with her began.

For years, I had only seen images of Page, and wanted to discover who she was. What was behind that curvy bombshell's smile? I felt there was more to her than just an image, and I wanted to learn about her life. In 2005, I bought the film, The Notorious Bettie Page, to obtain more information on Page's life. I had known only the image of a dark angel with jet black bangs, spiked seven inch heels, an innocent gaze combined with cheesecake poses. The Notorious Bettie Page, gave me insight on the life of that image I was so intrigued with. Page was no longer a photographic image; now she became a strong woman who had depth because she endured so much, but kept on going.

Bettie Mae Page was born on April 22, 1923 in Nashville, Tennessee. Bettie grew up in a conservative religious family, the second child of Roy and Edna Page's six children. At the sadistic hands of her father, Page, and her sisters were victims of incest, and sexual abuse. In her teens, she was raped by a group of men; I call them cowards. In 1942, Page met her first husband, Billy Neal. One year later, the couple were married, and moved to San Francisco, where Page launched her modeling career. Billy became controlling and abusive. Page never spoke of the incest, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, or rape to anyone until her later years of life. Bettie decided to divorce Billy, and moved to New York; there she worked with a photographer named Irving Klaw.

Irving Klaw was a pioneer of bondage fetish photography whose pictures, and movies helped Page become the first successful bondage model. "Bettie could have done burlesque; she had the fan base, and heaven knows the moves. She did appear in three filmed burlesque shows: Striporama (1953), Varietease (1954) and Teaserama (1955). But for Bettie and her fans, a public exhibition couldn't compete with a private audience. As mail-order products for an audience of one-at-a-time, the Klaw films -- which Irving produced and Paula, his sister, usually, directed -- helped Bettie create an intimacy with the solo spectator" (Corliss, TIME). Bettie was the most photographed woman in the world; her image appeared on the cover of men's magazines with names like Eyeful, Wink, Titter, Black Nylons, or Beauty Parade. What Page did for the male libido then, is what Viagra does for men now. She became more than your average pin-up model, she was a living icon, and the queen of the pin-ups. Page was not the first pin-up model in the world, but she did it better than everyone else. Pin-up models of the era had short lived careers that lasted, if lucky, more than a few months. Anything Page did was in demand for years.

In 1954, during one of her annual vacations where she enjoyed the sun, sand, and blue clear oceans in Miami Beach, Florida, she caught the eye of aspiring photographer, and former pin-up model, Bunny Yeager. Page was a top pin-up model in New York, and just knew how to pose, position her face, and body. When she posed nude, she seemed comfortable and so relaxed. Even though she posed nude, she never appeared in anything with explicit sexual content. Bunny signed Bettie up for a photo shoot at a Wildlife Park in Florida. Yeager's "Jungle Bettie" photographs, which include nude shots of Page with a pair of cheetahs on each side of her, were her most popular, and are still today. Page was very creative, and aware of what looked good on her. She made a leopard print outfit