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July 30, 2007, 1:30pm

Greg Beato looks at the enduring allure of Bettie Page.
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Comments to "New at Reason":

highnumber | July 30, 2007, 2:06pm | #

No mention of all the female record & book store clerks who have a haircut to emulate?

Sigfried | July 30, 2007, 2:38pm | #

That article just cries out for a few illustrative pictures....

Warren | July 30, 2007, 2:40pm | #

Plenty of Page’s contemporaries could drain the sexual tension from scenarios where only sunny beaches were involved, but only she could turn ball gags, stilettos, and all the other totems of sex as a dangerous, primal, overwhelming force into mere props for picture taking.

This is exactly what Madonna was doing until she got religion (read, pregnant) and became the all-boring all-the-time (save hot lesbian tongue wrestling) ex-celebrity.

Lurker Jack | July 30, 2007, 3:12pm | #

Sigfried...Here ya go

joe | July 30, 2007, 3:15pm | #

Betty Paige is awesomer than the most awesome thing ever, muliplied by Chuck Norris, plus 42.

lunchstealer | July 30, 2007, 3:31pm | #

No mention of all the female record & book store clerks who have a haircut to emulate?

Hey, it's not just for indie store clerks! My friend - who sports full betty-page wear, including the polkadot dresses - is a legal secretary for a big litigation-defense firm.

just another lurker | July 30, 2007, 3:47pm | #

Here in Seattle, I love passing by this house on the freeway each evening:

Bettie House Painting

just another lurker | July 30, 2007, 3:49pm | #

Or maybe with better HTML...

Bettie House Painting

Ska.one | July 30, 2007, 4:00pm | #

Yeah - I think there are a lot of Betty Paige-type women in the office environment. Thank Jeebus.

GImme Back My Dog | July 30, 2007, 4:11pm | #

Finally, something I can agree with joe on.

Lurker Kurt | July 30, 2007, 4:19pm | #

bald sugar dish

Mr Beato should win some kind of award for that phrase.

I don't know if I will ever be able to get it out of my head.

Warren | July 30, 2007, 4:55pm | #

Lurker Kurt,

Don't diminish the achievement. Burn the complete "pudgy, bald sugar dish" into your neurons.

P Brooks | July 30, 2007, 5:10pm | #

There is a great song by BR549 about Betty Page; sorry I am unable to link to it.

Syd | July 30, 2007, 5:12pm | #

joe and Ska.one are sentenced to spanking for misspelling Bettie Page's last name.

Stevo Darkly | July 30, 2007, 5:15pm | #

Back in the early days of the Internet, which I used to wander more widely and more aimlessly than I do now, I found "The East Asia Bettie Page Fan Club." That was a Web site, my friends.

Stevo | July 30, 2007, 5:28pm | #

... but unfortunately it's not around anymore.

lunchstealer | July 30, 2007, 5:41pm | #

"The East Asia Bettie Page Fan Club."

So a bunch of people from New England and the Mid-Atlantic states are simultaneously fans of Bettie Page, and '80s supergroup, Asia?

It truly was the heat of the moment.

T | July 30, 2007, 5:56pm | #

Rarely can one detect any libidinal ache, or even a mild hunger for something carnal.

Me and my collection of Bunny Yeager photos of Bettie beg to differ.

Stevo Darkly | July 30, 2007, 10:24pm | #

So a bunch of people from New England and the Mid-Atlantic states are simultaneously fans of Bettie Page, and '80s supergroup, Asia?

Oceana has always been at war with NewEngland&TheMid-AtlanticStates&The80sSuperGroupAsia.

Stevo Darkly | July 30, 2007, 10:26pm | #

Darn. It would have been funnier if I'd just said, "The Oceana Bettie Page Fan Club has always been at war with the Eastasia Bettie Page Fan Club," but too late now.

anonymous | July 31, 2007, 12:40am | #

Never too late, Stevo...never too late...

gutta percha | July 31, 2007, 9:34am | #

See "The Notorious Bettie Page," an excellent recent biopic. Four stars!

daniel k | July 31, 2007, 1:02pm | #

In an age when Britney’s pudgy, bald sugar dish attracts more tabloid coverage than most network sitcom stars, it’s ironic, isn’t it, that the 1950s pin-up queen who helped pioneer mainstream exhibitionism may jeopardize the spontaneous celebrity vulva eruptions that now give our lives meaning.
WOW, what great writing - its like Shakespeare, James Joyce, and Proust all in one

Brian Sorgatz | July 31, 2007, 5:45pm | #

See "The Notorious Bettie Page," an excellent recent biopic. Four stars!

Five stars on my Netflix account. Here's why.

After a career of exposing herself, she’d discovered the power of discretion.

A pair of panties could add 10 years to Lindsay Lohan’s career. If the young star ever realizes this, the Bettie Page boutique is ready to sell them to her.

Is this the Tao Te Ching of professional hot chicks—their proper balance of yin and yang?