The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of Pinups

by Richard W. Foster

A colorful portrait of the 1950s cheesecake model includes her popularity as a pinup girl, her arrest for attempted murder, and her commitment to a mental hospital. Reissue. (A New Line Cinema film, releasing March 2006, directed by Mary Harron, starring Gretchen Mol & Lili Taylor) (Biography).

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Erotica, Memoir

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 1997

About the author

Richard W. Foster is a former journalist (Associated Press, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal) and newsletter publisher (Orbis Publications and Brazil Watch). He taught English at Montgomery College, and was a co-founder there of a union for contingent faculty. He lives in Gaithersburg, MD with his wife, Etna.

His first novel, Topiltzin at Calakmul, is a a natural fantasy with a young adult hero and 14 colorful block print illustrations by Ariel Cavalcante. The book is a must read and for animal and fantasy lovers. A portion of the book's proceeds will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund.

Reviews

[Trav Rockwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written biography. I didn't know much about Bettie Page before reading. A very smart young woman who I would have loved to have known. She was unaware of her stardom until well after the pin up era. Used and abused. She started fresh after her 5 years modelling, she found god and went schizophrenic turning into a recluse and getting mixed up in violence towards others. I have a lot of respect for Bettie Page, I love you Bettie.

[laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

So very sad. My husband got this book from a donation made to his school, and I had to read it out of curiosity. It was a super-easy read--like reading a paperback version of "People". But, in the end, it was a very sad story and, to me, an interesting commentary on mental health and the way we have viewed it in this country.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the most interesting biographies I have ever read(all be it only one of maybe 5). I loved peering into the life of someone I have never known but wish I did and sometimes feel that I do.

[S. Roit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fascinating; like many, Bettie drew me in. Now some of the mystery is dispelled. Why not more stars? Well, this is an older book that I think contains healthy doses of speculation. It also has a disjointed feeling when reading, at times.

[Baroness · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a woman who wasn’t afraid to show and use her sexual power. She had fun and was proud of what she was doing when she was doing it.
Unfortunately, in the end her demons were stronger than her. I couldn’t finish the read. No need to ruin the fantasy.

[Devvy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was crazy to read about how Bettie Page actually was in life. I wasn't prepared for some of the content that Foster delivered. Truly a great read.

[Mateo Tomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, well researched, and doesn’t make any bones about it being a non authorized biography who, the subject said “was a devil pretending to be human”.

As for Bettie, her life after 1957 was as unglamorous and difficult and more bound and tied up than any photo she ever was in.

[Lonnie D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too dry-especially for subject person

This book I picked up because of a mention of Bettie Page bangs in a novel I read. Never heard of this lady before and I was curious. I read that this book told the real story of her life unlike an authorized biography. I was somewhat disappointed. It certainly doesn't read like something you enjoy- like a novel. I was looking for the real person. What this is is explaining on and on and on is why this lady is a legend. It's simple- lust. But, he writes like it's some kind of mystery and several, several chapters are designated to explaining it, which I found boring and tedious. If he had described this at all concisely, that might be a part of the story. He describes how she is an icon in a seamy sort of 1950's underworld and the various journeys through it by various people and various groups of people. Yes, yes, we all know about men and these photos- no mystery at all. It did treat her conversion to Christ and her mental illness with respect- and this part was concise. I feel that too many chapters were dedicated to the pin-up mystique and not enough to the person. He did speculate that she was somehow more attractive than other pin-up queens, (ugly nomenclature) because of her happy attitude for the camera. Obviously she had had her boundries maliciously violated at a young developing age. This book mentions about these poor confused souls that are sexually violated as children accurately- in a couple sentences.

[morris elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very short quick read. I just wanted to know what happened to her after the short period of her fame. The answer is: nothing good. The author is a fan, but he didn't do her any favors here. He navigates us through the predictable f-cked up childhood. He shows how intelligent and determined she was to be somebody and overcome her origins. That part of the book is interesting and she deserves respect for finding something she at least liked and was good at. I can hear the usual bleating about the usual bullshit but she didn't drink or drug and seems to have handled her career to the best of her ability. But under pressure from the usual morality idiots of the time and the weight of her own mental illness she quit. She found religion and spent a lot of time devoting herself to it. Then of course she went bat shit crazy. ( If you didn't see that coming you were not paying attention) This portion of the book is so boring I am still amazed it got past an editor. The bottom line is that there just isn't enough here to give us a real picture of who she was.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating but 'unauthorized' biography of the pin-up model of the 1950s - how she made it to the top then fell to the bottom. Unflattering story of her life in New York City and some of the terrible people she had to deal with. Sad ending as she develops some sort of mental illness and completely disappears from society. But she is discovered living in LA in the 1990s, and her images, which were so scandalous in the 1950s, become art in the 1990s, and she makes a comeback of sorts.

[Mahalah Cripe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating. I've always adored Bettie Page, looked up to her. One of the first pin ups, she was modeled after by so many actresses and models after her time as a model herself. This is extremely enriching, informational, and I can say I learned a lot about her from this book. Wonderful read. 👏

[CeeCee Danib · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just enough information to keep me reading, but so poorly written I cringed quite a bit and sensationalized to the point that I checked to see if this guy ended up writing for the tabloids. If I could go back in time, I'd leave it at the thrift store.

[Mark Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I've always been a Bettie Fan but little did I know!!! Even through it's not authorized, it reads like it was. The authors research seems extensive and results in What must be the most accurate portrayal at the time of publishing.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

couldn't get into it. had a very tabloid-esque vibe to it.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Behind the scenes story of a woman who, on the surface, appeared to be having a lot of fun. The alternative Marylin Monroe, fascinating but ultimately tragic.

[Danielle Rich]

I love betty page of coure someone stole the poster ..lol

[randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

you will enjoy this book if you are interested in her life story and not just her photos.

[Bunnyfoofoo405 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book, I feel sorry for how Bettie Page was treated by society especially towards the end of her life.

[Phil Hodgkiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK read but found it a bit repetitive

[Marisol Puga · Rating 2 out of 5]

JESUS. “But like every male I’ve ever met who has seen a picture of her, I cannot to this day see a photo of Bettie Page without getting an erection. And that is the simple truth; and that is what it’s all about.” That foreword should be a good clue of what’s to come. How can a book simultaneously claim to honor a legend and treat her as nothing more than a piece of ass. The prose felt counterintuitive to their purpose. Bettie Page is depicted as an intellectual in one sentence and then the next paragraph is some random man “expert” focusing only on her sexual abuse at the hands of her father or several other men. It makes you wonder how much different would this biography have been had she actually written it herself. I don’t know, I really regret reading this biography. It somehow felt disrespectful.

[erin w · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an unauthorized Bettie Page biography written by a straight presenting cis man and it's exactly how you think it would be. He mentions her weight at least twice a chapter. The pictures were beautiful and there's at least a semblance of empathy every now and again but most of the time it's irrefutably dated and feels mildly violating to Bettie to even have read it. Very sad.

[Óscar Alarcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

En realidad leí "Bettie Page: La reina de las curvas (y otras pioneras del erotismo de papel)" de Isabel Andrade (col. Serie B, ed. Midons, 1996)

[A.D. Stranik · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1995 I wrote a screenplay (Salvation in Reverse) inspired by Bettie Page's 1957 disappearance at a time when nothing was known of her fate or whereabouts. In my story, Peggy Deveroux was an ex-pin up who has been missing for thirty years and is horrified to find that she has become an underground cult figure. So she goes on a kill crazy rampage against the ones responsible for raising her public profile. I sent it out to a few film companies who said that the idea of a sixty-year old woman attacking people with a knife was a bit far fetched. A couple of years later I came across this book. It would not be the first weird coincidence connected with this errant star that would result in my debut novel, Monomania, Mon Amour. OUT NOW!

[Emmy Lou Musgrave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading about these iconic women of America's past, but damn is it sad. Bettie Page, like most of the women I've read about so far, was an incredibly influential person and was well-known across the country. However, she ended up dying poor and alone because society tossed her to the wayside. I've seen a pattern of women like Bettie Page, women who use their bodies shamelessly and enjoy doing so, are simultaneously wanted and unwanted. Society creates a demand for women like Bettie Page, but then shames them and destroys their lives for supplying that demand. Even today, men are jacking it to Bettie Page, so why was she treated so poorly in her later life?

Society (and men) are a recurring problem in these biographies I'm reading.

[Polly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting stuff. I didn't make it all the way through, but even with just reading the first 1/2 or 3/4ths of this book, I have a wildly different idea of what her life was (is?) like. I think she's still alive.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biografía no autorizada que apunta a episodios más íntimos, la mayoría no exentos de polémica y que viene a cubrir los años perdidos de la legendaria modelo. Una lectura que exige al fan abordala sin prejuicios y con un afán informativo.

[suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool!

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only recently found out about Bettie and this book has not only great pictures, but a wonderful account of the notorious Bettie page!

[PJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently researched. Readable.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great autobiography about Bettie Page. Easy read and allows you a glimpse into her life since she seems like such an untouchable icon