E True Hollywood Story - Bettie Page (1997) - video Dailymotion

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00:00:00posed for what were known as cheesecake pictures.

00:00:04Home sick soldiers pinned up those pictures on the walls of their barracks and fantasized.

00:00:10She represented a kind of a combination of naughty and nice.

00:00:15With her signature bangs and girl-next-door good looks,

00:00:19Betty posed for thousands of photos,

00:00:21graced the covers of national men's magazines,

00:00:24and appeared in racy films.

00:00:30She was glamorous and gorgeous and sexy,

00:00:34and men loved her.

00:00:36Then suddenly, in 1957,

00:00:39at the peak of her career,

00:00:41Betty disappeared.

00:00:43Vanished with barely a trace.

00:00:47It became a mystery that would remain unsolved for more than 40 years.

00:00:52All during that time,

00:00:54her legions of fans searched for information about their pin-up queen.

00:00:58According to magazine publisher Greg Theakston,

00:01:01there were wild rumors about her whereabouts.

00:01:04She was everything from a hash-slinging waitress in Houston

00:01:07to a baron's wife in France

00:01:10or living secluded somewhere in Canada

00:01:13and murdered by the mob.

00:01:15But it was all just speculation.

00:01:18No one seemed to have the answer.

00:01:20As the stories became more bizarre,

00:01:23Betty's popularity increased.

00:01:26People continued to collect her photos.

00:01:29Artists and fashion designers copied her look.

00:01:32Actresses and models emulated her style.

00:01:36Until by the 90s,

00:01:38Betty was a bona fide pop culture phenomenon.

00:01:43The interesting thing about Betty Page

00:01:45is that once she enters your consciousness,

00:01:48you begin to see evidence of her everywhere.

00:01:51Celebrity photographer Matthew Ralston.

00:01:54Betty Page has become an American icon.

00:01:56I mean, she's right up there from Madonna to Demi.

00:01:59I can think of a number of people in the music industry

00:02:02and actors and actresses that have pulled elements of that look into their look.

00:02:06Debbie Mazar. I mean, quite a few people.

00:02:09But still, the mystery remained.

00:02:12What had become of Betty Page?

00:02:15Why did she vanish?

00:02:17And where did she go?

00:02:20Now, more than four decades after her disappearance,

00:02:24those questions have been answered.

00:02:27We've tracked her down,

00:02:29and in her first televised interview in 40 years,

00:02:32shot in silhouette to conceal her identity,

00:02:35Betty reveals what happened during those missing years.

00:02:39In the next two hours, we'll tell the tale of Betty Page.

00:02:43How a pretty young girl from a poor southern family

00:02:46dreamed of making it in the movies.

00:02:49How her desire for fame led her down a strange path.

00:02:53And how the pin-up model ultimately paid a price for her ambition.

00:02:58Betty's story will be told through rare photographs,

00:03:02film clips, and reenactments,

00:03:04as well as interviews with family members,

00:03:07friends, colleagues,

00:03:09and celebrity fans such as model Shalom Harlow,

00:03:13fashion designer Todd Oldham,

00:03:15and actress Debbie Mazar.

00:03:17She inspired me, and I thank her for, you know,

00:03:21all that she's done to open doors for women,

00:03:24whether she knew she was doing it or not.

00:03:26I mean, you know, she was ahead of her time,

00:03:28and, you know, not ashamed of her body.

00:03:31From pin-up to sex queens,

00:03:34Betty Page is a true Hollywood story.

00:03:37It was a pleasant dream of being one of the world's...

00:03:40Her life's ambition was to be a star.

00:03:43Never recover from the public scandal.

00:03:53Nashville, Tennessee.

00:03:55A thriving southern metropolis.

00:03:58It is an industrial center

00:04:00and the mecca of country and western music.

00:04:03With the exception of its ingrained conservatism,

00:04:06the city today bears little resemblance to the Nashville

00:04:09where Betty Mae Page began her life on April 22, 1923.

00:04:15Betty was the second of six children born to Roy Page,

00:04:19an often unemployed auto mechanic,

00:04:22and Edna Page, a housewife.

00:04:24By the time Betty was six,

00:04:26the Great Depression had gripped the nation.

00:04:29Desperate for money,

00:04:30Roy Page moved his family throughout the South

00:04:33in a fruitless search for work.

00:04:36Edna was soon forced into the role of provider,

00:04:39and according to brother Jack,

00:04:41eight-year-old Betty filled the void.

00:04:44Oh, she was just like a little mother to all of us

00:04:48because we didn't have no dad.

00:04:50And my mother, she worked...

00:04:53around the clock, so to speak,

00:04:55to keep, you know, make ends meet.

00:04:58And Betty, she kind of ran the household

00:05:01and did a lot of the cooking and so forth

00:05:04and giving the orders out.

00:05:06It was also about this time

00:05:08that Betty began to show an interest

00:05:10in performing more than household chores.

00:05:13All the neighborhood kids would gather around,

00:05:16and I remember seeing Betty at night, you know,

00:05:20they'd have little plays

00:05:22or somebody would get out and sing or dance or something,

00:05:25and Betty, she was always out

00:05:27on this little mic stage that we had

00:05:30and doing some kind of little dance

00:05:33and she wanted to be up front

00:05:35and just full of smiles.

00:05:37Unfortunately, the happiness

00:05:39that Betty experienced on stage

00:05:42didn't carry over to life at home.

00:05:45Roy's financial instability

00:05:47and marital infidelity proved too much for Edna.

00:05:50Their troubled marriage ended when Betty was 10.

00:05:54Being a working mother with six children

00:05:57also proved too much for Edna.

00:05:59Betty and her sisters paid a terrible price

00:06:02according to biographer Karen Essex.

00:06:05Her mother was basically untrained for anything.

00:06:10Her mother worked in beauty salons

00:06:13and took in laundry, ironing,

00:06:16to try to keep the kids going,

00:06:19but there was a point where

00:06:21she just could not hold it together anymore

00:06:24and Betty and her two sisters

00:06:27had to spend a year in an orphanage,

00:06:29which I think they all made the best of.

00:06:32Betty made the best of orphan life

00:06:34by pretending she and her sisters

00:06:36were Hollywood beauty queens

00:06:38living in a world of glamour,

00:06:40but Betty soon realized

00:06:42there was only one way to escape her painful reality.

00:06:46Betty decided that education

00:06:49and not an attachment to some man

00:06:55was going to be her way out of poverty.

00:06:58Betty set her sights on becoming a teacher

00:07:01and in 1937 she enrolled in high school.

00:07:04According to Pin-Up Magazine publisher Greg Feakston,

00:07:08Betty became consumed by both her academics

00:07:11and her enduring passion for acting.

00:07:14She was in the debate team.

00:07:16She was in all of the high school productions.

00:07:18She liked to be seen.

00:07:20Betty realized that she was pretty,

00:07:22that she had something to offer,

00:07:24and she liked to be seen.

00:07:25Driven by her dreams of stardom,

00:07:27Betty soon realized that Nashville

00:07:29had a little to offer her.

00:07:31I think it was inevitable

00:07:33that she was going to grow up and leave.

00:07:38Nashville is a wonderful place,

00:07:40but an inherently conservative place,

00:07:43and Betty had an adventurous spirit.

00:07:47In spite of her charisma and stunning good looks,

00:07:51Betty steered clear of boys.

00:07:53Her mother made certain of that.

00:07:56Betty Page's mother wanted her daughter

00:08:00to stay away from men,

00:08:02limited the kind of dating that she could do.

00:08:04It was always under curfew.

00:08:06Then, in her senior year,

00:08:08Betty met Billy Neal.

00:08:10Betty was in one of the parks studying for school

00:08:14and Billy Neal pulled up and said,

00:08:16can you believe it,

00:08:17are there any more at home like you?

00:08:20And Betty fell for the bait.

00:08:23A little old model automobile,

00:08:27and Betty would buy it and bring it over to house

00:08:30and we'd ride around on the weekends in it.

00:08:33He was a wild southern boy

00:08:35and getting into trouble was his hobby,

00:08:37and for Betty to keep her personality

00:08:42and maintain her individuality

00:08:44with such a strong person around her

00:08:46suggested to me that she's very strong herself.

00:08:50In 1940, Betty graduated second in her high school class,

00:08:54winning a scholarship to Peabody Teachers College.

00:08:58But her first student teaching assignment

00:09:00convinced her that she had made a big mistake.

00:09:04Unfortunately, the kids were just too much for her.

00:09:07She was teaching at a high school level

00:09:10and you can imagine this incredibly good-looking babe

00:09:13coming in and teaching you every day.

00:09:15It would be a mighty distraction

00:09:17and she simply couldn't handle them.

00:09:18And that broke her heart.

00:09:19She wanted to be a teacher.

00:09:22December 7, 1941.

00:09:26Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

00:09:28America entered World War II

00:09:31and Betty's boyfriend, Billy Neal, was drafted.

00:09:35Billy asked Betty to marry him

00:09:37and against her better judgment, she agreed.

00:09:41Billy left Nashville for San Francisco

00:09:43and Betty joined him two years later

00:09:45after graduating from Peabody.

00:09:48Two weeks after Betty arrived on the West Coast,

00:09:51Billy got his marching orders.

00:09:53Betty, on her own for the first time,

00:09:56was free to pursue her real love, acting.

00:10:00She was in San Francisco working basically as a secretary

00:10:04and modeling coats and furs and suits.

00:10:09Just, you know, in the showroom of the company

00:10:13where they were manufactured.

00:10:15And she met this man who had a little talent agency

00:10:20and he encouraged her to go to Hollywood

00:10:24to take a screen test.

00:10:25So he set all of that up.

00:10:27Excited that her childhood dream of becoming an actress

00:10:30had finally come true,

00:10:32Betty journeyed to 20th Century Fox.

00:10:36But her youthful acting games didn't prepare her

00:10:39for the harsh reality of Hollywood.

00:10:42Betty was very upset about the screen test

00:10:44because they, as in A Star Is Born,

00:10:48completely changed her look

00:10:49to what Hollywood thought she should look like.

00:10:52They gave her Joan Crawford bangs

00:10:54and tremendous big red lips that were not her own lips.

00:10:58And she said, I didn't even recognize myself

00:11:01when I saw the screen test.

00:11:02I'm not surprised they didn't want me.

00:11:05Supposedly, one of the studio executives did want her,

00:11:09but for other things.

00:11:11And when Betty rebuffed his advances,

00:11:13she never heard from the studio again.

00:11:16That's really not a stretch to believe, is it?

00:11:19A gorgeous girl from Nashville shows up in Hollywood

00:11:22and I don't think it's any surprise

00:11:25that people had double agendas.

00:11:27Devastated by her Hollywood experience,

00:11:30Betty returned to San Francisco

00:11:32to await Billy's homecoming from the war.

00:11:35Betty and Billy were reunited in 1946.

00:11:39But Betty's sudden loss of independence

00:11:42and Billy's constant jealousy

00:11:44threw the marriage into a tailspin.

00:11:47Still, determined her marriage would not end

00:11:50as her parents had,

00:11:51Betty decided to give the relationship one last chance.

00:11:56He came back, shallow of the man that he was,

00:11:59and they moved back south

00:12:01and eventually realized that

00:12:03what they had in common before the war

00:12:05just wasn't any good anymore.

00:12:07Betty didn't know where she belonged,

00:12:09but she knew it wasn't in Nashville or with Billy.

00:12:13Her first marriage was to the star athlete

00:12:18from her hometown

00:12:20and that was a very traditional match to make at the time.

00:12:25And I think that, you know,

00:12:27even though that relationship had other problems,

00:12:30the truth is that relationship was not going to contain

00:12:35the adventurous spirit of Betty Page.

00:12:38In 1947, Betty left Billy

00:12:42and moved to Miami,

00:12:43where she found work as a secretary

00:12:45for a business with offices in Haiti.

00:12:48Betty jumped at the opportunity

00:12:50to accompany the owner to that Caribbean island nation.

00:12:54It would prove to be one of her many life-changing decisions.

00:12:58Betty had grown up in the segregated south

00:13:01and Haiti was a predominantly black country.

00:13:04It was an eye-opening experience for Betty

00:13:07who found herself captivated by the culture.

00:13:10Unfortunately, four months after her arrival,

00:13:13political unrest spread through the country.

00:13:17Frightened, Betty returned to Miami,

00:13:19but with a new outlook.

00:13:21Her adventure in Haiti somehow gave her the courage

00:13:24to go after her dream of becoming an actress.

00:13:28Betty packed her bags and left for New York City.

00:13:35By 1947, aspiring actress Betty Page

00:13:40had turned her back on tradition

00:13:42and set out to claim her share of fame.

00:13:45Betty's marriage to her high school sweetheart

00:13:48had ended in divorce.

00:13:50After a brief adventure in Haiti,

00:13:52the beautiful young woman from Nashville

00:13:55packed her bags and headed to New York

00:13:58to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.

00:14:02But it wouldn't be the lights of Broadway

00:14:04that would make Betty Page a star.

00:14:12Upon her arrival in Manhattan,

00:14:14Betty landed a job as a secretary.

00:14:17For a couple of years, she toiled away,

00:14:20all the while fantasizing about an acting career.

00:14:24But her dream seemed to be out of reach.

00:14:27Then, in the fall of 1950,

00:14:30Betty met a man who would forever change her life,

00:14:33recalls magazine publisher Greg Thigston.

00:14:36She was walking down the beach off the Atlantic Ocean.

00:14:43She spotted a black man doing weightlifting,

00:14:46doing his workout on the beach,

00:14:48and she was very interested in physical fitness.

00:14:52So she stopped to watch him and admire his form,

00:14:55and he started to admire her form

00:14:57and said, hey, I'm a photographer.

00:14:59Would you care to let me photograph you?

00:15:03And she was a little wary of it to begin with.

00:15:06But he says, hey, I'm a New York City policeman.

00:15:08You know, you can't feel any more secure

00:15:10with anybody than that.

00:15:12So she agreed, and the first photographs

00:15:15that were ever taken were taken by Mr. Tibbs.

00:15:22But these photos taken by Jerry Tibbs

00:15:24were not formal portraits.

00:15:26They were somewhat provocative pictures, pin-ups,

00:15:30which had become popular during World War II,

00:15:33according to writer Jim Silk.

00:15:35By this time, people are taking these pictures

00:15:39and cutting them out, putting them on the wall,

00:15:42and the word pin-up that is usually referred to

00:15:47in World War I or II,

00:15:49guys would pin them up in their helmets

00:15:51and in their bunkers and so forth,

00:15:53and it was usually Betty Grable or Rita Hayworth

00:15:55or a movie star.

00:15:57Betty felt the photos might be her ticket

00:15:59to bigger and better things.

00:16:01After all, lots of actresses got their start by modeling.

00:16:05Through their photo session,

00:16:07Betty and Tibbs became friends.

00:16:09Their relationship was quite unconventional,

00:16:12especially in 1950,

00:16:14explains biographer Karen Essex.

00:16:17She was a white woman from a small southern town,

00:16:22and he was a black man from New York City,

00:16:25and I think that speaks volumes about Betty

00:16:29and how she was willing to break

00:16:34with the social mores of her time

00:16:37to do what she thought was natural and good and right.

00:16:40Tibbs sold the photos,

00:16:42and Betty's pin-ups began appearing

00:16:44on the covers of various Harlem magazines.

00:16:47Then, on a whim,

00:16:49Tibbs came up with an idea to enhance Betty's beauty

00:16:52and sell even more photos,

00:16:54remembers photographer Sam Menning.

00:16:57When Jerry first found her, she didn't have bangs,

00:16:59and he shot a lot of stuff with her without the bangs,

00:17:02and he was the one that talked her into getting the bangs.

00:17:05Sensing Betty would be a big hit,

00:17:08Tibbs took the next step to make his protege a star.

00:17:12He set up an arrangement where she met Cas Carr.

00:17:16Cas Carr ran a photo club.

00:17:18Photo clubs, or camera clubs,

00:17:20had started springing up all across the country after the war.

00:17:25The clubs capitalized on the pin-up phenomenon.

00:17:28For a small fee,

00:17:30amateur photographers could go to a studio

00:17:33and take their own pin-up photos of models.

00:17:36They would be well lit, they would have props,

00:17:39and the casual photographer simply had to load up

00:17:42and come through the doors.

00:17:44And they did.

00:17:46Not all photographers were interested in the same images.

00:17:49They were there to take pictures,

00:17:51but they weren't interested in taking pictures of flowers or anything else,

00:17:54but the only thing they were interested in taking pictures of was TNA.

00:18:00This was an era of sexual conservatism

00:18:03before mainstream magazines like Playboy

00:18:06challenged the sexual mores.

00:18:09They were in a time of sexual repression.

00:18:14The camera clubs gave young men

00:18:17just about the only access they could have

00:18:22outside of marital relationships to sex.

00:18:27Not that people in camera clubs were having sex,

00:18:30but they were taking a lot of shots of girls in bikinis in the name of art.

00:18:35Yeah, lots of guys came in with no film in their camera

00:18:38and snapped away for an hour

00:18:40just looking at this beautiful girl posing.

00:18:42And in truth, there were a lot of guys that were interested in photography.

00:18:46Those who were truly interested in photography

00:18:49quickly realized that there was something different

00:18:52about this new model, Betty Page.

00:18:55Apparently, after she was shot by one photographer,

00:18:59word spread that this model was the best.

00:19:04Betty was not just a little better than the other models.

00:19:08Betty was superb.

00:19:11All of Betty's childhood modeling and acting games

00:19:14were finally paying off,

00:19:16and Betty was enjoying every moment of her growing fame.

00:19:20The first time I met Betty,

00:19:22we were in a cast of Cars,

00:19:24and I thought, well, she's good,

00:19:26but she doesn't seem so hot in person.

00:19:28But then, a few days later,

00:19:32she was modeling, and I was shooting her,

00:19:34and I could tell why.

00:19:36There's certainly something that sometimes

00:19:38the prettiest girls in the world just aren't good models.

00:19:40They don't have, they just don't radiate.

00:19:42She radiated.

00:19:43And when she got in front of a camera,

00:19:45she just naturally, she just flowed.

00:19:47Sometimes, the camera club photographers

00:19:50preferred a different setting

00:19:52and would leave the studios.

00:19:54But no matter where the sessions took place,

00:19:57Betty was always the main attraction.

00:20:00I would say if you got on a field trip

00:20:02and you got, say you had 30 or 40 photographers,

00:20:0520 of them would be photographing Betty

00:20:07and the other 20 photographing the other five girls.

00:20:10According to camera club photographer Art Amesy,

00:20:13Betty was the ultimate perfectionist,

00:20:16willing to do anything to get the shot.

00:20:19This was an early weekend in May,

00:20:22right off Long Island.

00:20:24I believe it was on Fire Island,

00:20:26and the water is frigid.

00:20:28And here is Betty, the consummate professional,

00:20:31splashing around in these,

00:20:34in these cold waves, in the surf.

00:20:37Other photographers, such as me,

00:20:39were quickly snapping the pictures.

00:20:41We were afraid that Betty would freeze her a little,

00:20:43took us to death.

00:20:45But she seemed to be having a good time.

00:20:48We were simpatico.

00:20:50I didn't have to necessarily tell her

00:20:56to hold her head up or down or this.

00:20:58I'd ask her for a pert pose,

00:21:00a saucy pose, a haughty pose,

00:21:04an angry pose,

00:21:06and she would give me that almost immediately.

00:21:09But it wasn't just Betty's instinctive ability

00:21:11to strike the right pose

00:21:13that attracted so many amateur photographers.

00:21:16Camera club snapshooter Addison Yeaman

00:21:19was captivated by Betty's hypnotic beauty

00:21:22and magnetic sexuality.

00:21:24She had the most magnificent legs and hips

00:21:28and behind of any human female

00:21:30I have ever seen in my life.

00:21:32She had what she called wiggle poses,

00:21:36and she'd throw her hip out

00:21:39and throw her leg up

00:21:43and get a smile on her face.

00:21:46Betty had good reason to smile.

00:21:48Her career was thriving,

00:21:50and she was enjoying her status

00:21:52as New York's busiest pinup model.

00:21:55Betty Page was the ultimate pinup girl.

00:21:58She devoted her entire existence

00:22:00to being the ultimate pinup girl,

00:22:02worked out every day in a time

00:22:04when people would be considered a health nut

00:22:06if you worked out every day,

00:22:08watched her diet, made her own costumes.

00:22:11She had a sewing machine in her apartment,

00:22:14and much of what you see on Betty

00:22:16in many of her shoots

00:22:18is designed and executed by Betty herself.

00:22:21So the photographer was perfectly set.

00:22:23Great model, great costumes.

00:22:25Where's my film?

00:22:27Soon, photographers started asking Betty

00:22:30to pose without the costumes,

00:22:33and according to biographer Karen Essex,

00:22:36Betty happily obliged.

00:22:38I think that Betty is uninhibited.

00:22:41You know, she says that God created us nude.

00:22:48We come into the world without clothes.

00:22:50Betty seemed to revel in her sensuality.

00:22:53Perhaps in response,

00:22:55some of the amateur photographers

00:22:57began to perfect their craft,

00:22:59elevating the quality of their photos

00:23:01from cheesecake to art.

00:23:04A lot of them would take,

00:23:06and they'd use different screens

00:23:09to give different effects,

00:23:11and they'd do a lot of fancy darkroom work

00:23:13and always bringing the pictures back to the girls

00:23:15or showing the other photographers.

00:23:18At every opportunity,

00:23:20camera club members would photograph Betty

00:23:23in as many different settings as possible.

00:23:26Occasionally, they pushed the limits of the law.

00:23:30So everybody piled in and went upstate.

00:23:32It was near the Connecticut border,

00:23:34so it's kind of secluded,

00:23:36and they were doing full nude photography outdoors

00:23:38on this farm.

00:23:40And so all of a sudden, there's a bunch of guys

00:23:42we didn't know coming around there.

00:23:44They all had badges on them.

00:23:46They brought us back to the police station,

00:23:48and they had, well, they did have a big bunch of charges.

00:23:52Or you could plead guilty to the lesser charge

00:23:55of disturbing the peace.

00:23:57The girls pleaded guilty to indecent exposure,

00:23:59$20 fine,

00:24:01and Betty says,

00:24:04I am not indecent.

00:24:06I will not plead guilty to indecent exposure.

00:24:10So then they had to take the charges back

00:24:12and had to rewrite the charge

00:24:14for all the girls disturbing the peace, too.

00:24:16The incident stunned Betty.

00:24:18She had always lived her life

00:24:20by her own free-spirited rules.

00:24:22Suddenly, those rules were being challenged.

00:24:26Her being put in jail

00:24:28because she was posing, making a living,

00:24:30gave her pause for thought.

00:24:32She really had never considered

00:24:34that it could happen to her,

00:24:36and in fact, it was an alarm

00:24:38to wake her up to the fact

00:24:40that a lot of people did not like what she was doing.

00:24:47By 1951,

00:24:49Betty Page was undergoing

00:24:51a remarkable transformation.

00:24:53The one-time student teacher

00:24:55and wannabe actress from Tennessee

00:24:57had landed in New York.

00:24:59After a chance meeting

00:25:01with an amateur photographer,

00:25:03Betty posed for some pictures.

00:25:05She soon became the most popular model

00:25:07for photo club members

00:25:09who would pay a small fee

00:25:11to take snapshots of her.

00:25:13However, the most dramatic step

00:25:15in Betty's transformation

00:25:17was yet to come.

00:25:23Betty Page was enjoying success

00:25:25as a pin-up model,

00:25:27but outside the community

00:25:29of camera club photographers,

00:25:31she was virtually unknown.

00:25:33Then, in 1951,

00:25:35Betty's photographs

00:25:37came to the attention

00:25:39of several of the country's

00:25:41leading men's magazines

00:25:43such as Wink, Flirt, and Titter.

00:25:45Those publications capitalized

00:25:47on the post-war pin-up craze.

00:25:52According to pin-up magazine publisher

00:25:54Greg Feakston,

00:25:56Betty offered a different image

00:25:58from other well-known pin-up models

00:26:00of the time.

00:26:02She seemed, like, accessible, you know?

00:26:04She seemed, um, like, uh,

00:26:06Betty seemed like she wouldn't be aggressive

00:26:08or, uh, she seemed very friendly

00:26:10in these pictures.

00:26:12Some of the models are pretty scary.

00:26:15I had this, would make you feel good.

00:26:17Betty began appearing

00:26:19in dozens of men's magazines

00:26:21as professional photographers

00:26:23discovered what amateur shutterbug

00:26:25Art Amesy had known all along.

00:26:27She was just a, uh,

00:26:29perfect pin-up model,

00:26:31and her expressions

00:26:33were something that,

00:26:35which would capture

00:26:37every viewer that saw her.

00:26:39Suddenly, Betty's career skyrocketed.

00:26:41Almost overnight,

00:26:44But despite her national success,

00:26:46Betty remained loyal

00:26:48to the people who had given her

00:26:50her start as a pin-up model,

00:26:52including Irving Klawe,

00:26:54New York's pin-up king.

00:26:56That loyalty would eventually

00:26:58drive Betty into exile.

00:27:00Klawe,

00:27:02along with his sister Paula,

00:27:04owned Movie Star News,

00:27:06a successful photography

00:27:08and pin-up art studio.

00:27:10In an interview before her death,

00:27:12Klawe recalls why Betty's pictures

00:27:14sold so well.

00:27:16She has all the charm,

00:27:18the beauty, the glamour,

00:27:20and the personality.

00:27:22And, uh, she went over very big.

00:27:24All the customers loved her.

00:27:26Her smile,

00:27:28and, uh, her personality,

00:27:30and everything went along with her.

00:27:32Most of the modeling that

00:27:34Betty Page did for Paula and Irving Klawe

00:27:36at the Movie Star News store

00:27:38was beauty photography.

00:27:40Her lingerie,

00:27:42her in swimsuits,

00:27:44brushing her hair,

00:27:46putting on her makeup,

00:27:48and smiling very pretty

00:27:50with dolls and stuff.

00:27:52Betty also appeared

00:27:54in several short dance films

00:27:56for the Klawe's.

00:28:02So they would do a session

00:28:04where they would actually

00:28:06film Betty dancing,

00:28:08and they would do the session over again

00:28:10with her post for photographs

00:28:12so that you could buy both

00:28:14the moving image of Betty

00:28:16and the still photos to enjoy

00:28:18whenever you wished.

00:28:20Movie Star News was successful

00:28:22because Irving and Paula

00:28:24catered to their clients

00:28:26who numbered in the thousands.

00:28:28So when one of their best customers

00:28:30made a proposition,

00:28:32the Klawe's listened.

00:28:34A man had contacted Irving Klawe

00:28:36to offer him motion picture photos

00:28:38of women that are tied up.

00:28:40Of course, Irving Klawe had thousands of pictures

00:28:42from the serials and from various movies

00:28:44of women tied up.

00:28:46Well, this guy bought them all

00:28:48and said, do you have any more?

00:28:50But Irving had sold the customer

00:28:52all of his most risque photos.

00:28:54That's when the man made an offer

00:28:56that Irving and Paula couldn't refuse.

00:28:58Ira Kramer, Paula's son,

00:29:00and current owner of Movie Star News,

00:29:02explains.

00:29:04Irving and Paula agreed

00:29:06and were thrust into

00:29:08a strange new world.

00:29:10According to Betty Page

00:29:12biographer Karen Essex,

00:29:14the Klawe's weren't trying

00:29:16to do anything illicit.

00:29:18They were just trying

00:29:20to turn a profit.

00:29:22Irving and Paula Klawe

00:29:24were not bondage aficionados.

00:29:26You know, they were nice

00:29:28Jewish people, family people

00:29:30living in New York.

00:29:32This was the family business.

00:29:34And they operated

00:29:36it very successfully.

00:29:38The Klawe's knew

00:29:40the only way to guarantee success

00:29:42was to use the best models.

00:29:44Naturally, they called on

00:29:46Betty Page. And naturally,

00:29:48Betty said yes.

00:29:50Betty had been performing since childhood

00:29:52and this was just another role.

00:29:54Betty thought it was playtime.

00:29:56And because she was an actress,

00:29:58she knew how to make her body

00:30:00and her face look like

00:30:02what she wanted. And if it was

00:30:04terror, she could do terror.

00:30:06And if it was a cute girl next door,

00:30:08she knew how to do that too.

00:30:10Betty will say that it was all part

00:30:12of the job.

00:30:14She was not unaware of what the photos were

00:30:16and who was going to be enjoying them.

00:30:18But it didn't bother her.

00:30:20She wasn't uptight about being tied up

00:30:22and enjoyed all of

00:30:24the attention and the steady paychecks

00:30:26that the Klawe's paid her.

00:30:28The steady paychecks allowed Betty

00:30:30to once again turn her attention

00:30:32towards serious acting.

00:30:34She was very much

00:30:36encouraged by

00:30:38her teacher in New York,

00:30:40Herbert Burkhoff, who was

00:30:42a very well-respected

00:30:44teacher and practitioner

00:30:46of the Stanislavski method.

00:30:48Burkhoff

00:30:50liked Betty and he encouraged her

00:30:52a great deal to

00:30:54audition for plays. He introduced her

00:30:56to agents and managers.

00:30:58However, Betty's professional

00:31:00acting debut was not on the stage,

00:31:02but on the silver screen.

00:31:04It was an adult

00:31:06comedy film called Striparama.

00:31:08The motion

00:31:10picture featured a number of famous

00:31:12strippers and pin-up models,

00:31:14including, of course, Betty Page.

00:31:16Betty's

00:31:18performance was billed as the most

00:31:20daring bathtub scene

00:31:22ever filmed. The next year,

00:31:24in 1954,

00:31:26Irving Klawe decided to enter the world

00:31:28of filmmaking with a racy movie

00:31:30titled Varieties.

00:31:32The film also featured Betty Page.

00:31:34Both Striparama

00:31:36and Varieties were hits

00:31:38and Betty, delighted in her status

00:31:40as an actress, recalls her friend

00:31:42Sam Menning.

00:31:44So we're looking at the picture out in front of the theater

00:31:46and some guy keeps looking at him and all of a sudden

00:31:48he says, are you Betty Page?

00:31:50I'm Betty Page. He says,

00:31:52oh, can I get your autograph?

00:31:54Betty was enjoying success

00:31:56on a number of fronts. She had a

00:31:58very successful pin-up career

00:32:00and her acting career was blossoming.

00:32:02But as her visibility increased,

00:32:04Betty's pin-up fans became

00:32:06increasingly aware of the senior

00:32:08side of her profession.

00:32:10I think when it became known

00:32:12to the people who thought of her

00:32:14as the good girl next door, it was kind of a shock.

00:32:16Here's this woman that I really

00:32:18adore and whoa, wait a minute,

00:32:20she's got leather boots on up to her thighs

00:32:22and

00:32:24she's all tied trussed up

00:32:26so maybe it opened some

00:32:28people's minds about what it was, but

00:32:30my guess is that if you weren't into it, you simply

00:32:32weren't into it.

00:32:38By 1954,

00:32:40Betty Page had become a national pin-up

00:32:42sensation, appearing in hundreds

00:32:44of men's magazines.

00:32:46Her celebrity status increased with her

00:32:48appearance in two successful adult comedy

00:32:50films, Stripperama

00:32:52and Varieties.

00:32:54But Betty also posed

00:32:56for some shocking photos that would have

00:32:58a devastating impact on her career

00:33:00and on her life.

00:33:08In April of 1954,

00:33:10Betty left New York for a vacation

00:33:12in Miami. Betty had lived

00:33:14in Miami prior to becoming a model

00:33:16and would often return when she wanted

00:33:18to escape the pressures of living

00:33:20and working in the big city.

00:33:22To help pay for the trip,

00:33:24Betty accepted a modeling assignment

00:33:26with Miami model and photographer

00:33:28Bunny Yeager.

00:33:30According to Bunny, the photo sessions

00:33:32would prove to be a turning point

00:33:34for both of them.

00:33:36And I thought, wow, what an opportunity!

00:33:38A real New York model!

00:33:40And she's going to be working for me.

00:33:42And I was surprised that she

00:33:44would be interested in working for me

00:33:46because I was just really still

00:33:48learning. Well, she told me she did

00:33:50lingerie modeling and she posed for camera

00:33:52clubs.

00:33:54But

00:33:56that didn't mean anything to me because I'd never heard of

00:33:58a camera club and

00:34:00I hadn't shot any lingerie.

00:34:02I was only shooting beach shots.

00:34:04And naturally, their

00:34:06first shoot was on the beach.

00:34:08And when

00:34:10she was ready, she came out

00:34:12and she walked out on

00:34:14tippy toes.

00:34:16You know, most girls would just walk out flat footed

00:34:18because that's a normal thing.

00:34:20She walked out on her toes.

00:34:22Tippy toes like a toe dancer.

00:34:24And there was this beautiful, flawless

00:34:26tan body.

00:34:28Tan all over. No marks, no

00:34:30freckles, no blemishes.

00:34:32Misperfection.

00:34:34And with this shiny

00:34:36blue-black hair.

00:34:38Everything was in place.

00:34:40And there I was, my New York model.

00:34:42Ready to go.

00:34:44And we shot some very memorable pictures

00:34:46there.

00:34:48Music

00:35:08And then when she told me

00:35:10she did nudes, my ears just

00:35:12perked up and I thought, nudes?

00:35:14I haven't been able to shoot any nudes

00:35:16with anybody because nobody would pose for me.

00:35:18And I didn't know how to ask anyone

00:35:20to do it because it was taboo.

00:35:22Music

00:35:26And she was very

00:35:28normal about doing it. She had done it for the

00:35:30camera clubs.

00:35:32Music

00:35:36Benny was probably one of the most

00:35:38beautiful models that I ever worked with.

00:35:40And she was probably the best

00:35:42model for posing.

00:35:44She knew her body. She knew how to

00:35:46make it work.

00:35:48Betty came alive in front of a camera.

00:35:50She could be that girl next

00:35:52door. Playful, simple,

00:35:54innocent. And then she could be

00:35:56a vixen. Oh, mean.

00:35:58You know, you didn't know what to expect.

00:36:00And she could give you that look.

00:36:02Like, well, what's coming next?

00:36:04Much of Betty's career had been

00:36:06built on being in the right place

00:36:08with the right person at the right time.

00:36:10And the Miami job with Bunny

00:36:12was no exception.

00:36:14According to pop culture critic and writer

00:36:16Jim Silk, Jaeger's photographs

00:36:18captured a side of Betty

00:36:20no one had ever seen before.

00:36:22In Bunny Jaeger's

00:36:24photos, she'll do the dark and the light.

00:36:26She'll do Betty as really, you know,

00:36:28the eyebrows arched and

00:36:30black silk stockings and the dark hair.

00:36:32And she'll come in right at you and like,

00:36:34you know, she's in charge.

00:36:36And it's in a really aggressive sexuality.

00:36:38Whereas then she'll turn around and

00:36:40let her just bounce on the beach.

00:36:42And you have this just completely

00:36:44unconscious of her nudity

00:36:46or of the sexuality

00:36:48and the sexuality. She's just enjoying the

00:36:50sunlight almost, you know, and the water and the sand.

00:36:52The pictures

00:36:54were a contrast to Betty's other

00:36:56racier photographs, according to

00:36:58magazine editor Greg Feakston.

00:37:00The Irving Claw

00:37:02films and photos were

00:37:04a land of always night, where the doors

00:37:06were always locked and the cops were ready to

00:37:08knock them down at any minute.

00:37:10Certain paranoia about the Claw photos

00:37:12that the Bunny Jaeger photos

00:37:14don't have at all. Betty not

00:37:16only found a new dimension to her

00:37:18modeling while in Miami, she

00:37:20also found romance.

00:37:22She asked a young man

00:37:24to take a picture of her.

00:37:26He took a picture of her and it

00:37:28formed a friendship. The young man

00:37:30was 18-year-old Armand

00:37:32Walterson. He became the

00:37:3431-year-old Betty's constant

00:37:36companion. Walterson even

00:37:38accompanied Betty to her sessions with

00:37:40Bunny Jaeger. He just stayed

00:37:42off to the side. He wasn't any trouble at all.

00:37:44Usually you don't like a boyfriend coming along

00:37:46because they start talking and

00:37:48want to tell you how to do the job

00:37:50and you don't like anyone around

00:37:52to be a second director.

00:37:54But he stayed out of the way.

00:37:58Betty continued posing

00:38:00for Jaeger over the course of several

00:38:02weeks. But soon, it

00:38:04was time for Betty to return home to

00:38:06New York. The vacation

00:38:08was over and so was her

00:38:10fling with her young lover, Armand.

00:38:12Leaving her boyfriend behind,

00:38:14Betty went back to Manhattan

00:38:16and picked up where she left off.

00:38:20She wanted to continue with her acting

00:38:22lessons. So to pay for those lessons,

00:38:24Betty resumed modeling for

00:38:26Irving and Paula Claw.

00:38:28There was a

00:38:30big demand for Betty's daring

00:38:32photos.

00:38:44According to Ira

00:38:46Kramer, current owner of MovieStar

00:38:48News, Irving and Paula Claw

00:38:50were caught off guard by the increased

00:38:52popularity of their photographs.

00:38:54I don't think they knew

00:38:56what this was going to

00:38:58blossom into. I don't think they had

00:39:00any idea at all. Nobody knew.

00:39:02They were just

00:39:04selling pictures

00:39:06like anybody else. You know,

00:39:08what's the hot item? And that's what

00:39:10they were selling. And to keep up with

00:39:12what was hot, Paula and Irving

00:39:14decided to film the daring scenarios

00:39:16and offer the short movies along

00:39:18with the photos to their customers.

00:39:22The films featuring Betty

00:39:24Page became their biggest

00:39:26sellers.

00:39:34According to Playboy magazine

00:39:36founder Hugh Hefner,

00:39:38Betty's versatility as a model

00:39:40made her a favorite among fans of the

00:39:42genre.

00:39:44The girl next door was a little touch of kink.

00:39:46In other words, there was a popularity

00:39:48of

00:39:50a combination

00:39:52of the naughtiness and

00:39:54the niceness, because it was perfectly obvious

00:39:56in those pictures that she was a nice

00:39:58person, which indeed is exactly who she was.

00:40:00And

00:40:02it was kind of the breaking of

00:40:04the stereotypes

00:40:06of the past. According to

00:40:08sex historian and television personality

00:40:10Dr. Susan Block,

00:40:12Betty challenged the image of the

00:40:14all-American girl, and she did it

00:40:16with her own unique approach.

00:40:18Especially in the 50s,

00:40:20the idea that you couldn't

00:40:22be a good girl and a bad girl at the same time.

00:40:24Well, Betty Page, with that sweet smile,

00:40:26she had to be a good girl.

00:40:28And yet

00:40:30those sexy outfits

00:40:32and those poses, she had to be a bad

00:40:34girl. But she's not a little girl. She's a

00:40:36woman. She's a professional model

00:40:38who is acting out a scene.

00:40:40And she's able to laugh at it.

00:40:42But law enforcement officials in New York

00:40:44City weren't laughing.

00:40:46The claw photos pushed the envelope,

00:40:48but remained legal because there wasn't

00:40:50any nudity or sex.

00:40:52Even so, vendors like Claw

00:40:54came under close scrutiny,

00:40:56recalls writer Ira Levine.

00:40:58It was an era

00:41:00in which there were already

00:41:02publications and groups catering to the specialized

00:41:04interests of various fetishists,

00:41:06of various persuasions,

00:41:08all against a backdrop

00:41:10of constant harassment

00:41:12by legal authorities and

00:41:14hectoring from the usual

00:41:16sexist pressure groups.

00:41:18Photographer Sam Menning remembers

00:41:20the atmosphere became tense

00:41:22as the police cracked down.

00:41:24They just raid those bookstores

00:41:26week after week sometimes in New York.

00:41:28They raid the bookstore and the guy says,

00:41:30you know, I'm going to beat this.

00:41:32He says, yeah, but he says, the city's got more

00:41:34money than you have. How long can you afford

00:41:36to hire lawyers? So they

00:41:38closed them down.

00:41:40It wouldn't be long before Betty Page would

00:41:42find herself caught up in the firestorm

00:41:44of controversy, and her life

00:41:46would never be the same.

00:41:54By the mid-fifties,

00:41:56Betty Page was riding an incredible

00:41:58wave of popularity.

00:42:00She had achieved her dream of acting in

00:42:02films, even though they weren't big

00:42:04Hollywood movies, and she

00:42:06was a tremendous success as a magazine

00:42:08model. But there was another

00:42:10side to Betty's career, involving

00:42:12racy underground photo

00:42:14sessions. The disclosure

00:42:16of those sessions was about to shatter

00:42:18Betty's public image, and

00:42:20her dreams.

00:42:26In

00:42:281954, Betty Page

00:42:30had posed nude for photographer

00:42:32Bunny Yeager. Bunny

00:42:34was convinced she was sitting on a gold

00:42:36mine. Yeager convinced

00:42:38the owner of a fledgling men's

00:42:40magazine to purchase some of her photos

00:42:42of Betty. Yeager

00:42:44knew Betty's sexy wholesomeness

00:42:46was just what Playboy magazine

00:42:48was looking for, and Playboy founder

00:42:50Hugh Hefner agreed.

00:42:52She was a

00:42:54playmate.

00:42:56Miss January of

00:42:581955. But Betty

00:43:00had a

00:43:02fame that kind of

00:43:04coincided and predated

00:43:06her appearance in

00:43:08Playboy.

00:43:10She represented a kind of a combination

00:43:12of naughty

00:43:14and nice. It's a part of what Playboy

00:43:16was doing in that same time frame.

00:43:18Saying, in effect, that you could be kind

00:43:20of sexy, and

00:43:22still be a nice person, nice girl.

00:43:24Betty displayed those same

00:43:26qualities in her co-starring role

00:43:28in Teaserama, Irving

00:43:30Claw's second adult comedy film.

00:43:32Betty gets a scene

00:43:34with Tempest Storm in Teaserama

00:43:36where she acts as

00:43:38Tempest's maid, which

00:43:40is kind of appropriate

00:43:42because Tempest was one of the biggest striptease

00:43:44acts of the day, and certainly Betty was

00:43:46the most famous pinup model.

00:43:48So to have the two of them in a scene would seem

00:43:50very appropriate. Here's a

00:43:52scene from Teaserama from the

00:43:54Betty Page CD-ROM, The World

00:43:56of a Pinup Queen.

00:44:06...

00:44:08...

00:44:10...

00:44:12...

00:44:14...

00:44:16...

00:44:18After Teaserama,

00:44:20Betty's career took another

00:44:22surprising turn.

00:44:24Television provided her next

00:44:26acting opportunity.

00:44:28She landed small parts on the

00:44:30Jackie Gleason Show

00:44:32and the Earl Wilson Show

00:44:34where she was named Miss Pinup Girl

00:44:36of the World.

00:44:38Betty was enjoying the best

00:44:40of both worlds. Her acting career

00:44:42was finally starting to take off

00:44:44and her pinup photos were selling

00:44:46from Los Angeles to New York.

00:44:50But in Washington, D.C.,

00:44:52Betty's underground pictures caught the

00:44:54attention of Estes Kefauver,

00:44:56the ambitious and influential

00:44:58senator from Betty's home state

00:45:00of Tennessee.

00:45:02...

00:45:04...

00:45:06...

00:45:08According to writer Ira Levine,

00:45:10Kefauver knew how to zero in on

00:45:12issues that captured the attention

00:45:14of the American public.

00:45:16Sin is one of the basic components

00:45:18of the reservoir

00:45:20of political strength

00:45:22that propels the careers

00:45:24of a whole class of American politicians.

00:45:26They campaign against sin

00:45:28and that's how they get themselves elected.

00:45:30Estes Kefauver was kind of

00:45:32one of those guys

00:45:34and he had really kind of made a name for himself

00:45:36in national politics by investigating

00:45:38organized crime in the

00:45:40early 1950s. In fact,

00:45:42the first televised congressional hearings

00:45:44were his hearings into the influence

00:45:46of the organized crime families.

00:45:48Along with organized crime,

00:45:50Kefauver also decided to

00:45:52take on pornography.

00:45:54In January of 1955,

00:45:56he formed a subcommittee to investigate

00:45:58pornography's effect on juvenile

00:46:00delinquency. Kefauver's

00:46:02first order of business was to

00:46:04dismantle the popular comic book

00:46:06industry. So after

00:46:08he'd finished beating up on comic books

00:46:10for a while, then they

00:46:12moved on to pinups and

00:46:14fetish erotica and

00:46:16things like that which were

00:46:18yet another terrible menace

00:46:20to the proper upbringing

00:46:22of American youth. So they brought

00:46:24the hearings to New York City, to

00:46:26LA Square, to the courthouse,

00:46:28and subpoenaed a number of people to come down

00:46:30and testify about pornography.

00:46:32Including a very

00:46:34frightened Betty Page,

00:46:36according to biographer Karen Essex.

00:46:38Even though she did not do it,

00:46:40she was called to testify.

00:46:42She was subpoenaed.

00:46:44She was made to sit in a room

00:46:46at the courthouse by herself,

00:46:48sort of locked in this room and isolated

00:46:50all day. I mean, clearly they were trying

00:46:52to intimidate her. They were trying

00:46:54to get her to say that Irving Claw

00:46:56was a pornographer, and

00:46:58Betty refused to

00:47:00do it. She said that she

00:47:02kept telling federal agents,

00:47:04how can he be a pornographer?

00:47:06There is no nudity in

00:47:08any Irving Claw shots. There were

00:47:10no men in any Irving Claw

00:47:12shots. So Betty defended

00:47:14Irving to the end and

00:47:16refused to cooperate

00:47:18with the authorities. Irving

00:47:20Claw also refused to cooperate.

00:47:22They got him up in front of the committee

00:47:24and of course they asked him, his lawyer

00:47:26advised him to take the Fifth Amendment.

00:47:28You've got to pretty much say, I refuse to answer any

00:47:30of these questions on the grounds they might tend to incriminate

00:47:32me. So among other things, they asked him

00:47:34if it was true that he had large numbers of

00:47:36minors on his mailing list. Well,

00:47:38it wasn't true, but he couldn't say

00:47:40no, that's not true, because he would have destroyed

00:47:42his Fifth Amendment privilege on any other

00:47:44questions. I decline to

00:47:46answer under the Fifth

00:47:48Amendment of the Constitution.

00:47:50Because Claw refused

00:47:52to testify, Kefauver's

00:47:54subcommittee failed to prove that Irving

00:47:56Claw was a pornographer.

00:47:58But, on the flip side, Irving

00:48:00Claw had also failed to prove

00:48:02that he was innocent.

00:48:04The public's adoration of Betty

00:48:06and

00:48:08Kefauver's

00:48:10persecution of

00:48:12those same people

00:48:14that were producing the Betty Page

00:48:16material, it is

00:48:18so classically American.

00:48:20It's such a, it just

00:48:22embodies

00:48:24what American

00:48:26sexuality is all

00:48:28about. I mean, look around our

00:48:30culture, it's just loaded with

00:48:32sexual imagery. You know,

00:48:34and at the same time, we have that

00:48:36undercurrent of thinking that it's all

00:48:38really bad and dirty.

00:48:40Nevertheless, the

00:48:42incident was just the beginning of

00:48:44ongoing investigations and accusations

00:48:46against Irving Claw by the

00:48:48government. In those

00:48:50days, merely to be accused

00:48:52of something by a Senate committee

00:48:54was enough to destroy

00:48:56lives and careers. It's very hard

00:48:58for people today, in an era when you

00:49:00can get famous for wearing your underwear

00:49:02on MTV, to imagine

00:49:04how damaging this would have been

00:49:06to the life of an ordinary person.

00:49:08Betty saw herself as an ordinary

00:49:10person. She just happened to be

00:49:12involved in an extraordinary event.

00:49:14The incident with Claw

00:49:16forced Betty to re-evaluate

00:49:18her career. It was very clear

00:49:20that the government wasn't going to leave Irving Claw alone.

00:49:22Betty said, look,

00:49:24it's me next, and I really would rather not

00:49:26go to jail again.

00:49:28So I'm just going to have to

00:49:30stop doing fetish

00:49:32photography for you.

00:49:34You guys want to do cheesecake, that'll be fine.

00:49:36I'll still do camera club stuff.

00:49:38But it had to be much more

00:49:40discreet. She was there

00:49:42to be an actress. She wasn't there

00:49:44to be a pin-up model who was

00:49:46behind bars half the time.

00:49:48Through 1956,

00:49:50Betty continued to do pin-up shoots

00:49:52for Irving and Paula Claw.

00:49:54Then, in 1957,

00:49:56tired of the continuing government

00:49:58investigations, Irving Claw

00:50:00called it quits, and Betty lost

00:50:02her best employer. But that

00:50:04wasn't her biggest problem.

00:50:06She was

00:50:08stalked by

00:50:10one person. She was receiving

00:50:12very strange

00:50:14hate mail,

00:50:16sort of perverse hate mail

00:50:18from someone else. Terrified,

00:50:20Betty contacted the FBI.

00:50:22Suspecting the hate mail

00:50:24was from an elusive serial murderer,

00:50:26the FBI devised a plan

00:50:28to apprehend him using

00:50:30Betty as bait.

00:50:32Betty agreed to meet the stalker,

00:50:34and the stage was set.

00:50:36The suspect arrived

00:50:38and was immediately arrested by the FBI.

00:50:42The stalker turned out to be a 16-year-old

00:50:44boy.

00:50:46But the harrowing incident had a profound

00:50:48impact on Betty.

00:50:50I imagine for a person as vulnerable

00:50:52as that, and as in a sense

00:50:54naive and innocent about it,

00:50:56that must have scared the hell

00:50:58out of her. I think she just

00:51:00had to get out of town.

00:51:02I think the whole New York experience was getting

00:51:04very tedious for her. She

00:51:06wanted to

00:51:08get out of New York, and so all those

00:51:10factors together, you know, she was

00:51:12intimidated by

00:51:14the Kefauver committees.

00:51:16She was

00:51:18weary of

00:51:20life as a single woman

00:51:22in New York City, and

00:51:24she was 35 years old.

00:51:26It was December of

00:51:281957. Betty was at the

00:51:30height of her popularity as a pin-up

00:51:32model, but she just couldn't take

00:51:34the pressure any longer.

00:51:36So Betty Mae Page

00:51:38vanished into thin air.

00:51:40The young woman from

00:51:42Nashville, who had desperately wanted

00:51:44to be a star, turned her back

00:51:46on fame and slipped out of sight.

00:51:48It would

00:51:50be 40 years before her fans

00:51:52would know what had become of their pin-up

00:51:54queen.

00:52:00In 1955,

00:52:02pin-up model Betty Page became

00:52:04the focus of a Congressional investigation

00:52:06into pornography.

00:52:08A subcommittee led by powerful

00:52:10Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver

00:52:12targeted Betty because of a

00:52:14series of shocking underground photos.

00:52:16Although Betty

00:52:18was never charged with a crime,

00:52:20the intense scrutiny took its toll.

00:52:22Succumbing to the pressure,

00:52:24Betty turned her back on her

00:52:26lucrative modeling career and

00:52:28disappeared. But her main

00:52:30lawyers, Irving and Paula Claw,

00:52:32stayed behind to face

00:52:34the music.

00:52:40Fearing government prosecution,

00:52:42the Claws stopped taking suggestive

00:52:44photos. But they still

00:52:46had to make a living, so they continued

00:52:48to sell pictures, primarily

00:52:50through mail order. They relocated

00:52:52their company from New York to New

00:52:54Jersey and opened it under a new

00:52:56name, Nutrix.

00:52:58Magazine publisher Greg Beakston.

00:53:00They were making a lot of money

00:53:02selling photographs. They had every right to sell.

00:53:04But the harassment

00:53:06by the Postal Department and the government

00:53:08simply became too much.

00:53:10On June 27, 1963,

00:53:12federal law enforcement

00:53:14officials raided Nutrix,

00:53:16and Irving, along with Paula's husband

00:53:18Jack Kramer, were charged with

00:53:20conspiracy to send obscene materials

00:53:22through the mail.

00:53:24Facing a $10,000 fine,

00:53:26Irving was forced to make a deal

00:53:28with the government, according to writer

00:53:30Ira Levine. He made some

00:53:32kind of a settlement in which he agreed to go out

00:53:34of the business of distributing fetish cheesecake

00:53:36erotica and supposedly

00:53:38destroyed thousands of negatives.

00:53:40Claw kept his end of the deal

00:53:42with the government, burning and shredding

00:53:44thousands of negatives and photos.

00:53:46Years of work and profit

00:53:48went up in smoke. But Claw's

00:53:50sister Paula couldn't bear to see

00:53:52every negative of her favorite model,

00:53:54Betty Page, destroyed.

00:53:56So she took a huge risk.

00:53:58In an interview given

00:54:00before her death, Paula recalls

00:54:02what happened next.

00:54:04And I had to destroy

00:54:06many negatives of her

00:54:08that the judge said to me,

00:54:10if you don't destroy them,

00:54:12I have to put your brother and your husband

00:54:14in jail. So

00:54:16there was

00:54:18at stake. Their freedom

00:54:20was at stake. So I

00:54:22destroyed them. But I did hide

00:54:24some that I didn't tell him about.

00:54:26Even though most of the original

00:54:28negatives were trashed, many

00:54:30of the magazines that had been sold

00:54:32and collected in the 50s still existed.

00:54:34And in the 1960s,

00:54:36young boys began

00:54:38discovering Betty Page as they

00:54:40located their father's secret treasures.

00:54:42I was 10 years old.

00:54:44The kid next door called me up

00:54:46on this February morning and said,

00:54:48get over here right away, I've got something to show you.

00:54:50And when we got over there, we discovered

00:54:52his father's men's magazine collection.

00:54:54For a couple of 10-year-olds,

00:54:56that was pretty hot stuff. It was the first time

00:54:58we had seen hundreds of naked

00:55:00women, much less one.

00:55:02And one of the women in the

00:55:04magazines that stood out was

00:55:06Betty Page. Artist Dave Stevens

00:55:08remembers a similar experience.

00:55:10Came across a full-page photograph

00:55:12of her standing in

00:55:14water in a little bikini

00:55:16that she'd made

00:55:18and just was knocked out

00:55:20totally.

00:55:22I remember thinking,

00:55:24this has got to be the most

00:55:26attractive.

00:55:28Just

00:55:30she exuded

00:55:32health and joy

00:55:34and everything else that's

00:55:36just

00:55:38so appealing to

00:55:40somebody at age 17.

00:55:42Stevens began drawing pictures of Betty

00:55:44as a hobby. Then,

00:55:46in the early 1980s,

00:55:48his hobby became his profession

00:55:50when he created a comic strip featuring

00:55:52a Betty-inspired character.

00:55:54I sat down and started noodling

00:55:56around and it just kind of

00:55:58fell into place. I penciled in a girl

00:56:00and a couple of gangsters shooting a Tommy gun

00:56:02and made the girl

00:56:04Betty. And I didn't really think

00:56:06about it. I just thought, well,

00:56:08she looks good, I'll put her in there.

00:56:10And did the

00:56:12two segments of five pages each, handed them in

00:56:14the publisher called

00:56:16and said, well, where's the rest of it? We want more.

00:56:18What people got

00:56:20was the highly successful comic book series

00:56:22The Rocketeer.

00:56:24The comic book helped kick off the Betty Page

00:56:26revival.

00:56:28Comic book creator Dave Stevens

00:56:30fell for the sweet, cartoonish quality

00:56:32of Betty.

00:56:34But, erotic artist Robert

00:56:36Blue was seduced by her

00:56:38darker side. Most kids

00:56:40are raised with comic books.

00:56:42I was raised with

00:56:44erotica books. The first time

00:56:46that I ever saw Betty Page

00:56:48in any of this material,

00:56:50I mean, I immediately

00:56:52recognized her as

00:56:54someone that had

00:56:56the visual power to

00:56:58provoke

00:57:00something

00:57:02inside. From the late 70s

00:57:04through the 80s, Blue's

00:57:06large-scale paintings of Betty

00:57:08took the art world by storm.

00:57:10He had gallery shows in New York,

00:57:12Los Angeles, and Europe,

00:57:14and buyers snapped up

00:57:16every one of his Betty paintings.

00:57:18I was thinking that I was

00:57:20doing something that

00:57:22was part of

00:57:24the modernist movement of

00:57:26painting, and that was

00:57:28this brilliant idea that I had

00:57:30to take a

00:57:32taboo photograph

00:57:34that was hidden under a mattress

00:57:36and blow it up, life-size

00:57:38or bigger than life-size, in a

00:57:40beautiful oil painting and put it in a high-end

00:57:42gallery. I thought that that was

00:57:44an important idea.

00:57:46So he brought her out of these little

00:57:48digests and brought her

00:57:50big and full color,

00:57:52fully realized, to this sort of

00:57:54elite crowd.

00:57:56Just as she had during her modeling

00:57:58career, Betty was once again

00:58:00attracting two very different audiences.

00:58:02Only this time,

00:58:04the image that was taboo in the

00:58:0650s was suddenly cutting-edge.

00:58:08Betty Page

00:58:10really

00:58:12set the stage

00:58:14for

00:58:16the vogue photographers

00:58:18that

00:58:20came in the 70s

00:58:22and the 80s and the 90s.

00:58:24She set the stage

00:58:26for rock and

00:58:28roll. I mean, their whole image is

00:58:30Betty Page.

00:58:32Even music

00:58:34and fashion trendsetter Madonna

00:58:36borrowed some of her own provocative

00:58:38style from Betty Page,

00:58:40according to fashion photographer

00:58:42Matthew Ralston.

00:58:44No question that Madonna and Jean-Paul

00:58:46Gaultier, who designed those famous costumes,

00:58:48were drawing on Betty Page-type imagery.

00:58:50Her look in the 50s, the classic

00:58:52Betty Page years, to me, really

00:58:54applicable to fashion today.

00:58:56I mean, open up a Betty Page

00:58:58pictorial and look at Dolce & Gabbana's

00:59:00current collection. It's very current.

00:59:02Her look is very much a look of today.

00:59:04From New York

00:59:06to Paris to Milan,

00:59:08the kinky look was in vogue with a

00:59:10stylish flair, and designers

00:59:12like Todd Oldham started copying

00:59:14Betty's style.

00:59:16Well, you could definitely see exact parallels

00:59:18in our celebration of the bus line

00:59:20and the

00:59:22bondage tip. I love bondage

00:59:24clothes, and you always see little

00:59:26flourishes in what we do.

00:59:28Supermodels such as Ava

00:59:30Herzigova, Helena Christensen,

00:59:32and Shalom Harlow

00:59:34emulated Betty. Betty, to me,

00:59:36is the original model.

00:59:38She's an inspiration,

00:59:40not only because

00:59:42she was so beautiful, but because she

00:59:44had a sense of humor with everything she did,

00:59:46and she really created her own sense of style.

00:59:48And Betty mania hasn't

00:59:50been limited to the fashion world.

00:59:52Musical groups like the

00:59:54country-western band The Mavericks

00:59:56also pay tribute to the girl with the bangs.

00:59:58There's something so

01:00:00very sexy about

01:00:04the woman, and not

01:00:06just her, but she kind of represents

01:00:08womanhood. It's curvy,

01:00:10it's beautiful.

01:00:12And by some of today's funky standards

01:00:14of, you know,

01:00:16in the age of Kate Moss,

01:00:18I mean, Betty Page

01:00:20is a very curvy woman, and it's a

01:00:22pretty

01:00:24beautiful thing.

01:00:26Impressed by Betty's naughty side,

01:00:28Nashville's rockabilly band,

01:00:30BR549, wrote a song

01:00:32in honor of their hometown legend.

01:00:34Looking back, I

01:00:36swear, you know,

01:00:38when you started seeing a bunch of Betty Page stuff

01:00:40about ten years ago

01:00:42when it started happening,

01:00:44when the pin-up craze kind of

01:00:46started back again, I recognized

01:00:48her. I'm like, wow, who's that woman?

01:00:50And the more you find out about it,

01:00:52the more other people are obsessed with Betty Page.

01:00:54That obsession continues today,

01:00:56and includes people like

01:00:58actress Debbie Mazar.

01:01:00Betty Page influenced me in acting as far

01:01:02as just trying

01:01:04to feel natural and go at the

01:01:06moment. She's inspired me

01:01:08as far as her courage

01:01:10in front

01:01:12of the camera. I always thought

01:01:14of Betty Page as more of an

01:01:16actress than a model, actually, because

01:01:18when I looked at her photographs, you know,

01:01:20there was

01:01:22something very specific

01:01:24about the moment, you know.

01:01:26Guinevere Turner, who was cast

01:01:28to play Betty in an HBO film,

01:01:30feels Betty holds a quality that

01:01:32has been imitated, but never

01:01:34duplicated. Her beauty,

01:01:36her

01:01:38naturalness in front of the camera,

01:01:40her

01:01:42unselfconscious

01:01:46radiance, I mean, the way that

01:01:48you look at her, and you can

01:01:50tell that she doesn't know how adorable she

01:01:52is, and that there's something so

01:01:54appealing about that.

01:01:56And also, I think it's

01:01:58something about lost innocence. I mean,

01:02:00when you look at pictures of Betty, you realize

01:02:02that nobody

01:02:04looks like that now, that nobody

01:02:06is that fresh.

01:02:08She didn't have all this product

01:02:10and beehives and eyeliner,

01:02:12you know, little lipstick, and

01:02:14you know, she was good to go.

01:02:16You know, like, just whatever.

01:02:18In fact, even like her bras,

01:02:20she just had a little triangle thing on it.

01:02:22It wasn't like some big push-up

01:02:24d***y cup where her d***s were up to here.

01:02:26You know, it was just all like, you know,

01:02:28let's just throw the thing on, take a

01:02:30picture, you know, and let's be natural.

01:02:32By the mid-90s, Betty's

01:02:34influence could be felt everywhere.

01:02:36There were books, fan magazines,

01:02:38underground fetish clubs,

01:02:40galleries, fashion

01:02:42shows, and look-alike contests.

01:02:44But,

01:02:46as Betty's cult status grew,

01:02:48her fans began wondering

01:02:50what had happened to Betty Page.

01:02:52Was she dead?

01:02:54Or was she out there, quietly

01:02:56watching the Betty Page revival

01:02:58unfold?

01:03:00Pin-Up Magazine publisher Greg Feakston

01:03:02felt compelled to find the answer.

01:03:04Knowing that she's probably

01:03:06out there somewhere,

01:03:08it became

01:03:10a

01:03:12passion that I had to fulfill.

01:03:14I had to find out

01:03:16everything I could about this woman.

01:03:18As Feakston started his research,

01:03:20other writers began picking up the

01:03:22story. Ira Levine

01:03:24wrote a 1989 retrospective

01:03:26for Rolling Stone magazine.

01:03:28One of the things that attracted me

01:03:30to this story in the first place was

01:03:32just wondering, in the

01:03:34conservative social atmosphere of that time,

01:03:36who would be drawn to this kind of

01:03:38work. Intrigued by Betty's

01:03:40story, writer Karen Essex

01:03:42began her own search.

01:03:44The interesting thing about Betty Page is that

01:03:46once she enters your

01:03:48consciousness, you begin to see evidence

01:03:50of her everywhere.

01:03:54I

01:03:56became fascinated with

01:03:58the idea of somebody who would walk

01:04:00away from a successful

01:04:02modeling career.

01:04:04That was also the question Tommy

01:04:06Goldsmith, a reporter for Nashville's

01:04:08Tennessean, hoped to answer.

01:04:10His contacts led him to a

01:04:12neighborhood friend of the Page family.

01:04:14She says, oh yes, I remember them from when

01:04:16I was a little girl, and I didn't really know them, but I remember

01:04:18Betty, she was beautiful, and

01:04:20we talked a little bit about that, and

01:04:22did you know where Betty is now? No.

01:04:24But finally she said,

01:04:26well, Jack just lives up the road

01:04:28here, and she told me

01:04:30the street he lived on, and I went and looked in the phone book,

01:04:32and lo and behold, there was Jack Page.

01:04:34It's kind of a shaky time for me, because I think

01:04:36well, I'm close maybe to finding out what has happened.

01:04:38And

01:04:40I walk up to the door, and knock

01:04:42on the door, and here comes Jack, and I

01:04:44think, bingo, because he looks like

01:04:46Betty. He has that glint in his eye,

01:04:48and that sort of sparkle.

01:04:50A reporter from a Tennessean called me

01:04:52about five years ago, and

01:04:54said he was running a feature article

01:04:56on a model

01:04:58that used to be here, Betty Page.

01:05:00He wanted to know if I was her brother, and I told

01:05:02him yes. And he said,

01:05:04she's fine, she's in California.

01:05:06And I thought, okay.

01:05:08I had crossed the barrier

01:05:10into knowing

01:05:12what had happened to her.

01:05:14On Sunday, April 26, 1992,

01:05:16the Tennessean ran

01:05:18their expose on Betty Page.

01:05:20Tommy Goldsmith

01:05:22informed the world that America's

01:05:24missing pin-up queen was alive.

01:05:26But the mystery

01:05:28surrounding her missing years still

01:05:30existed.

01:05:34Pin-up model

01:05:36Betty Page disappeared in

01:05:381957 at the height of her

01:05:40career. But her image

01:05:42did not fade away.

01:05:44In fact, her fame blossomed

01:05:46during the next three decades as

01:05:48artists, musicians,

01:05:50actresses, and fashion designers

01:05:52drew inspiration from Betty's

01:05:54style. Then,

01:05:5630 years after she vanished,

01:05:58came the news that the lost pin-up

01:06:00queen had been located,

01:06:02alive. But the mystery

01:06:04of what happened during those missing years

01:06:06remained.

01:06:12Betty's disappearance and prolonged

01:06:14absence fueled the mystique

01:06:16surrounding her. Pin-up historian

01:06:18Steve Sullivan.

01:06:20All sorts of legends and myths that

01:06:22grew up around her during the 60s and 70s

01:06:24as to what happened to her.

01:06:26The occasional Elvis-like

01:06:28sightings in obscure

01:06:30places in rural America.

01:06:32And no one knew what the

01:06:34truth was. They made up their own stories.

01:06:36She became even more an object of fantasy.

01:06:38And according to magazine publisher

01:06:40Greg Theakston, the stories

01:06:42were pretty outrageous.

01:06:44She was everything from a

01:06:46hatchling and waitress in Houston,

01:06:48to a baron's wife in France,

01:06:50or living secluded somewhere

01:06:52in Canada, and murdered

01:06:54by the mob. Take your pick.

01:06:56Everybody had their own weird

01:06:58story about what happened to Betty Page.

01:07:00As it turned out, the truth

01:07:02was not nearly as wild as the

01:07:04rumors. Here's what really

01:07:06happened. Immediately after

01:07:08she quit modeling, Betty headed south to

01:07:10Florida to take a vacation

01:07:12to get away from the strain of it all.

01:07:14While relaxing on the beach,

01:07:16Betty caught the eye of lifeguard

01:07:18Ellsworth Boyd. You couldn't miss her

01:07:20because she had on this

01:07:22skimpy bikini, which back in those

01:07:24days was quite a

01:07:26arousing thing.

01:07:28So I got out of the lifeguard chair,

01:07:30went down by the water, so that she had to

01:07:32pass by me, and I said hello, struck up a

01:07:34conversation, and

01:07:36she expressed, I told her I was

01:07:38a fan of hers. We had a camera with us, and I said

01:07:40would you pose for some pictures?

01:07:42Betty agreed, and those photos

01:07:44turned out to be the last pin-up

01:07:46shots ever taken of Betty.

01:07:48Well, I was just amazed

01:07:50at how

01:07:52well the photos came out.

01:07:54Almost, I mean,

01:07:56we were just amateur photographers,

01:07:58and they came out almost, what I would call

01:08:00professional.

01:08:02Betty was almost 35

01:08:04years old when she gave up modeling

01:08:06and dropped out of sight.

01:08:08She longed for the one thing her successful

01:08:10career never afforded her,

01:08:12a family.

01:08:14Betty contacted

01:08:16her old beau, Armand

01:08:18Walterson, the young man she had dated

01:08:20while working with Bunny Yeager in Miami.

01:08:22They resumed their relationship,

01:08:24and on November 26,

01:08:261958, Betty

01:08:28and Armand were married.

01:08:30They settled in Key West.

01:08:32Unfortunately, their marriage

01:08:34was troubled from the start,

01:08:36according to Betty Page biographer,

01:08:38Karen Essex. One of the problems

01:08:40that Betty had with her second husband,

01:08:42Armand, was that he was

01:08:44much younger than she was,

01:08:46but he had no sense of adventure.

01:08:48You know, he liked to eat

01:08:50the same food every night.

01:08:52He hated to travel.

01:08:54He didn't like to explore

01:08:56anything he didn't

01:08:58read, and so

01:09:00she just quickly

01:09:02became very, very bored.

01:09:04New Year's Eve,

01:09:061958. Betty wanted

01:09:08to celebrate. She begged Armand

01:09:10to take her dancing, but he

01:09:12refused. Disappointed,

01:09:14Betty left their home and walked

01:09:16along the beach. The path

01:09:18passed a small church where services

01:09:20were being held. Then,

01:09:22something unusual happened.

01:09:24Betty found herself drawn to

01:09:26the church's cross.

01:09:28Reverend Morris Wright of the Latin

01:09:30American Baptist Temple was preaching

01:09:32that evening. I saw her

01:09:34come from the sidewalk in through

01:09:36the doors,

01:09:38take her seat in the front,

01:09:40and I just kept preaching,

01:09:42and she was listening

01:09:44intently,

01:09:46hanging on every word. After the

01:09:48service, Betty spoke with Reverend

01:09:50Wright. And she was

01:09:52weeping, just gently,

01:09:54just quietly weeping.

01:09:56I prayed

01:09:58for her after

01:10:00giving her the message,

01:10:02and then

01:10:04she prayed, and she

01:10:06asked Jesus to come into her heart.

01:10:08She volunteered that she was an

01:10:10entertainer, and

01:10:12that she had done some things in

01:10:14entertaining she was ashamed of.

01:10:16And she wanted to turn life around

01:10:18and be what

01:10:20I think her words were, a proper person.

01:10:22She came in the church that evening,

01:10:24as I mentioned a while ago,

01:10:26in my personal

01:10:28view, knowing the Bible as I

01:10:30know it, by

01:10:32divine intervention

01:10:34of God. She did have

01:10:36a religious epiphany.

01:10:38She

01:10:40went, really,

01:10:42on a spiritual quest.

01:10:44But Armand wasn't ready for Betty's

01:10:46spiritual quest.

01:10:48The couple separated in 1958

01:10:50and eventually divorced.

01:10:52Betty decided

01:10:54to dedicate her life to God.

01:10:56She left Florida,

01:10:58moved to California,

01:11:00and enrolled in the Bible Institute of

01:11:02Los Angeles. Pretty much for the

01:11:04next few years, Betty dotted

01:11:06the United States, studying

01:11:08at Bible College and working for the

01:11:10Billy Graham Crusades in the early

01:11:1260s, where she was cited

01:11:14giving out religious brochures

01:11:16at Chicago's O'Hare Airport,

01:11:18as unlikely as that may seem.

01:11:20In 1964,

01:11:22Betty returned to Florida, a place

01:11:24where she'd always found comfort.

01:11:26Even though Betty was devoted to

01:11:28her religious quest, she also

01:11:30loved to dance. Every week

01:11:32Betty showed up at the Palace Ballroom.

01:11:34It was there, on a balmy

01:11:36August night in 1966,

01:11:38that Betty met Harry Lear,

01:11:40a divorced father of three.

01:11:44I saw this

01:11:46healthy-looking

01:11:48younger, not young, but

01:11:50you know, nice-looking lady,

01:11:52just a healthy, wholesome-looking

01:11:54person, and

01:11:56I said to myself, well, I'm going to go ahead

01:11:58and dance with her if I can, if she will.

01:12:00In a sense, I was just stalking

01:12:02her, you know. She'd be over there

01:12:04and over here, dancing around,

01:12:06and I just moved to this spot,

01:12:08moved to this spot where I could get a hold of her

01:12:10closer, and

01:12:12finally I

01:12:14got enough nerve to ask her,

01:12:16and she said yes, and

01:12:18we just danced

01:12:20quite a bit that night, and

01:12:22the song

01:12:24Strangers in the Night was played a lot, and that

01:12:26came to be our

01:12:28song in the times to come.

01:12:30It was a whirlwind romance.

01:12:32Six months later, on

01:12:34Valentine's Day 1967,

01:12:36Harry and Betty were married.

01:12:38Betty was a committed

01:12:40wife, and nothing gave her more

01:12:42pleasure than caring for her three stepchildren.

01:12:44Betty was,

01:12:46she was a good mother.

01:12:48She fed them well, and

01:12:50she tried to

01:12:52teach them things, and you know,

01:12:54Betty was a school teacher previously, too,

01:12:56and

01:12:58she's had a master's degree in English, and

01:13:00she helped them with

01:13:02all different kinds of things like that.

01:13:04Though now transformed into a

01:13:06model wife and mother, the former

01:13:08pinup girl still drew stares.

01:13:10We'd be walking down the beach there,

01:13:12and everybody would look at her.

01:13:14She had the big, beautiful blue

01:13:16eyes and dark black hair,

01:13:18and everybody would be looking at her. Even the dogs

01:13:20would turn their heads when they walked by.

01:13:22She was devoted to her new family,

01:13:24but Betty's relationship

01:13:26with God remained a priority.

01:13:28We went to church

01:13:30three times a week. We went

01:13:32Sunday morning and Sunday evening

01:13:34and prayer night on

01:13:36Wednesday evening. At last,

01:13:38Betty had the family she

01:13:40had longed for during her career.

01:13:42Oh, I think

01:13:44the price paid

01:13:46was probably

01:13:48a stable family

01:13:50life.

01:13:52I mean, you know,

01:13:54a stable family life

01:13:56with her own family, husband,

01:13:58children. But Betty's happy

01:14:00stable marriage ran into trouble

01:14:02when Harry's ex-wife tried to reclaim

01:14:04the children. The kids were

01:14:06caught in the middle. Although Harry

01:14:08and Betty loved each other, their

01:14:10relationship couldn't take the stress,

01:14:12and the marriage soon fell apart.

01:14:14I think her third marriage could have been

01:14:16a happy one, but there were

01:14:18so many problems,

01:14:20custody problems

01:14:22with his three children

01:14:24and problems with his

01:14:26ex-wife.

01:14:28Those problems

01:14:30sabotaged the relationship

01:14:32between the two of them.

01:14:34In 1972,

01:14:36Betty and Harry divorced.

01:14:38They remained friends.

01:14:40It was just circumstances,

01:14:42and

01:14:44it was probably best

01:14:46for both of us.

01:14:48No, I always think a lot

01:14:50of Betty, and I

01:14:52never had any problems with

01:14:54the animosities toward her

01:14:56at all. Always bucking tradition,

01:14:58Betty continued to live in

01:15:00Harry's house, albeit in separate

01:15:02bedrooms, until 1978

01:15:04when she moved to Lawndale, California

01:15:06to be with her brother, Jimmy.

01:15:08There, she remained

01:15:10for several years, oblivious to

01:15:12the fact that she was at the center of a

01:15:14growing cult phenomenon. But

01:15:16she was about to find out.

01:15:18At the same time, many

01:15:20of her fans would be surprised to learn

01:15:22that their pin-up queen, a woman

01:15:24who defied convention and

01:15:26courted scandal, spent the past

01:15:2840 years embracing religion

01:15:30and seeking a traditional family

01:15:32life.

01:15:36Pin-up model Betty Page

01:15:38disappeared at the height of her fame

01:15:40in 1957.

01:15:42During the decades that followed,

01:15:44Betty married and divorced twice,

01:15:46dedicated her life to God,

01:15:48and traveled across the

01:15:50country working for various religious

01:15:52colleges and organizations.

01:15:54For 40

01:15:56years, Betty remained hidden

01:15:58from the public and from her

01:16:00adoring fans. All

01:16:02through those missing years, Betty never

01:16:04knew she still had a following,

01:16:06that she was being imitated and idolized

01:16:08by a new generation of

01:16:10admirers. Many, many

01:16:12women

01:16:14of Betty Page's age

01:16:16do not know who Betty Page is,

01:16:18and in an ironic way,

01:16:20Betty Page was one of them.

01:16:22Do you know what I mean?

01:16:24Betty Page was an older

01:16:26woman who didn't have a

01:16:28clue about this pop culture

01:16:30phenomenon that was going

01:16:32on, even though

01:16:34she was it. Now,

01:16:36shot in silhouette to conceal

01:16:38her identity, Betty Page

01:16:40gives her first televised interview

01:16:42in more than 40 years.

01:16:49We traveled to an

01:16:51undisclosed location in Southern California

01:16:53to meet the legendary pin-up

01:16:55model. Older, yes,

01:16:57but still beautiful.

01:16:59Nevertheless, Betty preferred

01:17:01to stay in the shadows, saying

01:17:03she didn't want to disappoint her fans

01:17:05who remember her the way she was

01:17:07in her glory years.

01:17:09Betty spoke with us about her life after

01:17:11modeling and her growing cult status.

01:17:13It just surprises me.

01:17:15I've never heard of any other model

01:17:17who, 40 years later,

01:17:19became more popular

01:17:21than she did when she was posing.

01:17:23They keep saying I'm some kind

01:17:25of icon, and that

01:17:27I started the

01:17:29new generation

01:17:31sex movement.

01:17:33All I did was pose in the news.

01:17:35I had less sex activity

01:17:37those seven years in New York

01:17:39than I had any other time in my life.

01:17:41Betty acknowledges that her religious

01:17:43conversion changed her life.

01:17:45I did have feelings,

01:17:47after I turned my life over to the Lord,

01:17:49that maybe God had disapproved of the nudity.

01:17:51I didn't think He disapproved of the

01:17:53bondage, the fetish, or the pin-ups,

01:17:55but of the nudity

01:17:57in public,

01:17:59for pictures to be sold to the public,

01:18:01especially young people.

01:18:03I thought maybe God disapproved of that,

01:18:05and I had asked His forgiveness for that, of course.

01:18:07When I was into all of my

01:18:09religious work and training,

01:18:11I never ran into any...

01:18:13I didn't look at the magazines.

01:18:15It was another life for me,

01:18:17and I never ran into anybody who said anything to me

01:18:19about modeling.

01:18:21I just had put it all behind me

01:18:23as something that I

01:18:25once did and was no longer interested in.

01:18:27It wasn't until 1992

01:18:29that Betty discovered

01:18:31how popular she'd become.

01:18:33I was just shocked to hear

01:18:35that my pictures

01:18:37were selling now,

01:18:39and people were interested in them,

01:18:41and all kinds of other

01:18:43memorabilia, T-shirts,

01:18:45and statues,

01:18:47and calendars,

01:18:49and what have you were selling now

01:18:51a lot more than

01:18:53they ever did back when

01:18:55in my modeling days.

01:18:57Artist and friend Dave Stevens

01:18:59confirms Betty's genuine surprise

01:19:01at her icon status.

01:19:03She gets so tickled when she sees some new book

01:19:05with her picture on it, or some...

01:19:07whatever product it is,

01:19:09even if she's not getting any money for it.

01:19:11I took her into Tower Records

01:19:13I don't know,

01:19:15sometime this last year,

01:19:17and I said, come here, I want to show you something.

01:19:19And I steered her around to the

01:19:21book section, and there on an end cap

01:19:23of an aisle of books

01:19:25was a display of nothing but

01:19:27Betty Page books, books about her,

01:19:29or with pictures of her,

01:19:31and she just stood there

01:19:33in amazement. It's nice to

01:19:35see her react

01:19:37to the fact that suddenly now

01:19:39she's legitimized.

01:19:41Whereas back then she was

01:19:43sort of under the counter,

01:19:45and not really given much

01:19:47if any

01:19:49respect as a model,

01:19:51as an actress.

01:19:53That respect has generated a variety of

01:19:55Betty Page products, including

01:19:57a CD of music inspired by Betty,

01:19:59a CD-ROM,

01:20:01and even Betty Page phone cards.

01:20:03Pin-up collector

01:20:05Joe Zanotto believes that the popularity

01:20:07of Betty's photos and memorabilia

01:20:09is due to Betty's eternal

01:20:11beauty and style.

01:20:13Her appearance is

01:20:15timeless, I think. There's some

01:20:17models from the 50s, Jane

01:20:19Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, that you

01:20:21know are of that

01:20:23time, frozen in time.

01:20:25But with Betty,

01:20:27she looks as

01:20:29modern today

01:20:31as she did look

01:20:33in the 50s and the 50s.

01:20:35Certain people you

01:20:37take an image of and you make

01:20:39it two-dimensional, and particularly

01:20:41in the movies, and you throw that head on a movie

01:20:43screen and it's 30 to

01:20:4540 feet high,

01:20:47and who they are

01:20:49apart from performance.

01:20:51And you take Jimmy Dean or Marilyn Monroe

01:20:53and you put them up there and everybody wants

01:20:55to know them. There's something about them that

01:20:57they show themselves completely.

01:20:59Their vulnerability, their strength,

01:21:01and so forth. And they become

01:21:03images that

01:21:05are indelible in people's lives.

01:21:07And somehow it reaffirms

01:21:09your own life. And somehow

01:21:11Betty managed that trick on a

01:21:134x5 glossy. And she was

01:21:15overtly sexual, but

01:21:17joyous. And that's the, I think

01:21:19that's the difference. And you like her.

01:21:21Personally, I just, I find her very

01:21:23alluring and very, very beautiful.

01:21:25And she made

01:21:27one single move that was probably the smartest

01:21:29thing that anyone could do

01:21:31for a career, and then she disappeared.

01:21:33So she is forever in our memory

01:21:35exactly as she is.

01:21:37Well, Betty Page was ahead of her time.

01:21:39I mean

01:21:41in the 50s, I know

01:21:43like, you know, people were like

01:21:45not ready for her.

01:21:47But she was just

01:21:49she was never afraid to,

01:21:51you know, show her body

01:21:53and to be a woman and to be sexy

01:21:55and to use her power.

01:21:57You know, we didn't create Betty.

01:21:59I didn't create Betty.

01:22:01You know, the photographers didn't create Betty.

01:22:03Betty created Betty.

01:22:09My only hope is

01:22:11for the living Betty

01:22:13Page, the real Betty Page

01:22:17to

01:22:19feel that she has done

01:22:21something that has touched a lot

01:22:23of people.

01:22:25I don't regret anything.

01:22:27Just two or three bad experiences I had.

01:22:29But

01:22:33I don't regret it.

01:22:35I enjoyed my modeling days.

01:22:37My posing,

01:22:39trying to do the best I could.

01:22:55Betty, Betty

01:22:57where can you be?

01:22:59I ain't seen

01:23:01the likes of you

01:23:03in Hustler Magazine.

01:23:05Betty, Betty

01:23:07don't you understand?

01:23:09If I had

01:23:11been taught by you

01:23:13I'd be a different man.

01:23:15You came

01:23:17to New York City

01:23:19back in Jack and Neal's day.

01:23:21All the lights of Old

01:23:23Times Square that flickered

01:23:25on a great wide wave

01:23:27Straight from Tennessee

E True Hollywood Story - Bettie Page (1997)

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