Bettie Page
Bettie Mae Page (though listed "Betty" on her birth certificate) born April 22, 1923 in Nashville, Tennessee, is a former American model who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. While she faded into obscurity in the 1960s after her conversion to Christianity, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s and now has a significant cult following.
When Page entered the field of glamour photography she did so as a popular camera club model, working initially with photographer Cass Carr. Her lack of inhibition in posing made her a hit. Her name and image became quickly known in the erotic photography industry, and in 1951 her image appeared in men's magazines with names like Wink, Titter, Eyefull and Beauty Parade. At the same time she posed for photographer Irving Klaw for mail-order photographs with pin-up, bondage or sado-masochistic themes, making her the first famous bondage model.
In 1954, during one of her annual pilgrimages to Miami, Florida, Page met photographers Jan Caldwell, H.W. Hannau and Bunny Yeager. At that time Page was the top pin-up model in New York, and Yeager a former model and aspiring photographer. Yaeger signed Page for a photo session at the now closed African wildlife park Africa USA in Boca Raton, Florida. The Jungle Bettie photographs from this shoot are among her most celebrated. They include nude shots with a pair of cheetahs named Mojah and Mbili. The leopard skin patterned Jungle Girl outfit she wore was made, along with much of her lingerie, by Bettie herself.
After Bunny Yeager sent shots of Bettie to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Hefner featured Page as the January 1955 Playmate of the Month, the centerfold model for the two-year-old Playboy magazine. In 1955, Bettie won the title "Miss Pinup Girl of the World."
Resource Used: http://www.wikipedia.org
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