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  • Bettie Page: How One Woman Propelled Her To Stardom

    Bettie Page has been a lasting icon for over half a century now, and for those who don’t know her name, her face and bikini body will likely still be familiar. The ’50s pinup model shot to fame in a decade of long skirts and buttoned-up blouses by baring her skin in a series of bathing suits and bikinis, which were handmade by the woman who helped throw a jump into her modeling career: Bunny Yeager.

    Now, after Sunday’s news that Yeager passed away, many are curious about the woman who was unafraid to be sexual and free at a time when women weren’t encouraged to show so much skin.

    Page hasn’t spoken much about her life, and became somewhat reclusive in her later years after turning to evangelical Christianity when she decided to stop modeling. Her younger years are filled with speculation, as stories have come out regarding sexual abuse by her father and a mother who wasn’t close to her.

    “All I ever wanted was a mother who paid attention to me. She didn’t want girls. She thought we were trouble. When I started menstruating at 13, I thought I was dying because she never taught me anything about that,” Page said in an interview.

    “The origins of what captures the imagination and creates a particular celebrity are sometimes difficult to define. Bettie Page was one of Playboy magazine’s early Playmates, and she became an iconic figure, influencing notions of beauty and fashion. Then she disappeared. . . . Many years later, Bettie resurfaced and we became friends,” Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said after her death in 2008.

    Bunny Yeager met Page in Miami in 1954 and the two hit it off, with Yeager eventually photographing the brunette beauty nude under a Christmas tree for Playboy Magazine. One of her most famous images is of Page in a cheetah-print bathing suit, which remains one of the most iconic pinup photos ever taken.

    Page eventually moved on from pinup modeling to bondage scenes, which were highly controversial during that time. She also did burlesque shows and short films. During her later years, she refused to be photographed, even in interviews, because she wanted her fans to remember her the way she was.

    “I want to be remembered as I was when I was young and in my golden times. . . . I want to be remembered as the woman who changed people’s perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form,” she said.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Bunny Yeager: Famed Bettie Page Photographer Dies

    With her blonde hair and good looks, it’s not at all surprising to find that Bunny Yeager was one of the most photographed models of the 1940s.

    Yeager wasn’t satisfied with simply being a pretty face; she decided she loved being behind the camera more than being in front of it.

    The model-turned-photographer is credited with helping to popularize the bikini.

    “Anyone in Miami in the 1950s who wanted a bikini would come to her,” said her agent Ed Christin.

    Somehow Yeager knew how to get the most out of the skimpiest looks. That is of course when fabrics were bothered with at all.

    Yeager was known for bikini-clad and nude photo-shoots alike. She had written multiple guides to nude photography and self-portraits. In the process, Yeager inspired photographers of both sexes, including artists like Cindy Sherman.

    Aside from her fashion influences and photographic talents, there is something else very special for which Yeager is known.

    She was credited with helping to launch the career of none other than Bettie Page.

    Yeager first began photographing Page in 1954.

    The reason why so many women from homemakers to aspiring models felt comfortable posing nude for her was quite simple.

    “They all wanted to model for me because they knew that I wouldn’t take advantage of them,” said Yeager. “I wouldn’t push them to do nude if they didn’t want to do nudes.”

    Sadly, the 85-year-old photographer passed away on Sunday. According to Christin, she had been in a North Miami hospice for about a week.

    Yeager leaves behind a legacy as a woman who helped shaped an area of photography typically dominated by men. Her photo of a young Bettie Page in a leopard skin bikini remains one of her most famous and enduring works.

    Prior to the decline of her health, Yeager was in the midst of putting together new work. Her upcoming book of photography was meant to celebrate her 60 years of work.

    It is scheduled to be released in September of this year.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Bettie Page Doc Coming To Theaters Next Month

    Bettie Page became a sexual icon in the ’50s, and in the beginning, she was too busy having fun to notice. During the early years of her modeling days, she created her own classic image–blunt bangs, red lips, cat eyes, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes–and followed it to success, including a turn in Playboy Magazine.

    But some of the photographs she posed for included bondage play and spanking, which was taboo in those days. Considered much too racy to be mainstream, Page cornered the market on an entire underground world that would eventually make her name synonymous with the word “pinup” and would spread her image across the world in various types of media.

    Page enjoyed success in the world of modeling throughout most of the ’50s, but by 1958, she seemed to have vanished from the spotlight. Later, it would be revealed that she turned to Christianity after battling court cases revolving around her racy photos, and took herself out of the situation altogether. Over the years, the icon became reclusive and was rarely seen or heard from.

    “It had built up so much that my mind snapped,” Page has said.

    The famous pinup has been quoted as telling a judge, “I’m not indecent, I will not plead guilty to it! You’ll have to charge me with disturbing the peace, too!”

    Now, much of Page’s story has been compiled into a documentary called “Bettie Page Reveals All”, which includes archives from her modeling days, video, and rare audio footage.

    “They claim that I opened up the sexual revolution,” Page said. “I was just doing my job and enjoyed every bit of it.”

    The film opens in select cities starting on November 22.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons