Bye Bye Bettie

Just before the holiday season hit with the usual mad panic, there was a passing in the world that didn’t receive nearly enough mention.  Bettie Page.  She passed away December 11th, last year, aged 85.  Some of you are scratching your head right now.  Who the heck was Bettie Page?  Why should I care?  What is Dave smoking now? 

Bettie Page was a lingerie and pinup model.  Yes, a lingerie and pinup model.  Some would say that she was also a fetish model, as some of her work was what could be described as salacious and had serious kink overtones.  However, what is one person’s kink is another person’s salad dressing, so we’ll avoid making judgements.  Saucy is a good term. 

In 1955 she was a centrefold in the earliest days of Playboy as well as posing in other publications.  She never did ‘stag films’ or what we call today ‘porn’.  Nudes, yes, no issue there but she was a model who was simply knock-you-down gorgeous:  Long black hair with bangs and the kind of curves that women today spend money on harsh diets and hours of exercise to avoid. 

Bettie Page could easily be described as a legendary beauty of her era.  Contemporary artists, like Madonna, or Dita Von Teese, owe so much to Bettie Page they’ll need federal bailout money to make the payments.

Which brings us back to her passing.  She lived, at least according to her Website, a well-rounded life and passed peacefully.  What she left behind was that undeniable something not seen nearly enough any more:  Sexiness.

What we have today is multi-media access to every possible combination, permutation and perspective to every act you can imagine, as well as several hundred you can’t imagine.  And might not want to imagine let alone attempt, unless you have a chiropractor, a urologist and a good lawyer on speed dial.

What we’re missing is the erotic, the sexy, the saucy and the naughty, while remaining on this side of nice, which is where Bettie Page resided.

Consider the current crop of celebs and stars.  How many of them would measure up to the classic beauty and underlying sexiness of Grace Kelly or Lauren Bacall?  (I know this is a personal value judgement, as what presses my buttons might not press yours:  I’m a straight male.  Deal with it.)

Of our current crop of pretty-boys, how many have that handsome smolder like James Dean or Cary Grant?

So far, we’re batting 0 for 4 at least by my reckoning.  Maybe Al Pacino gets in along with Pat Weaver’s kid, Sigourney.  But Paris Hilton?  Or Brad Pitt?  I’m not seeing it or feeling it, pun intended.

Which is why it is important to recognize the passing of Bettie Page, the last of the sexy, saucy, exotic and erotic pinups.