Bettie Page, Queen of Pinups, 1923 - 2008

Ms. Bettie Page was, to quote the New York Times, "the most famous pinup girl of the post-World War II era, a centerfold on a million locker doors and garage walls." Indeed Bettie was so popular that she soon attracted the attention of the quacks in Washington and was a subject of Senator Estes Kefauver's anti-pornography investigation of the mid-1950's. I confess I had never heard of Ms. Page until I read her obituary this morning - she had already entered into a long period of seclusion before I reached puberty and thus I had no occasion to fully appreciate her art.

Ms. Page lived a long and troubled life. And despite her emergence later in life as a born-again Christian, she refused to renounce her career as a pin-up girl. “I want to be remembered as I was when I was young and in my golden times,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 2006. “I want to be remembered as a woman who changed people’s perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form.”

And there is little doubt that the people's perspective has changed. Indeed as one surveys the smoldering ruins of the U.S. economy that is the legacy of the Bush Administration, it is interesting to note that the porn industry is one of the few that has not, to my knowledge, announced massive layoffs.

The New York Times story is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/arts/12page.html?hp

Ms. Bettie Page, 1923-2008. R.I.P.

In other news, it is as clear as a bell this morning and the forecast is for dry weather for the next week or so. I will endeavor to get plenty of exercise out-of-doors. Doesn't sound like it's supposed to get too cold; but it will be blowing Taku downtown, I'm sure.

I continue a series of ol' timey Christmas pictures with the exhibit below of yours truly on a cherished toy, a molded plastic tank that shot little plastic balls. The tank was particularly useful for annoying my teenage sister and her friends. I was a little brat. Another favourite pastime of this era was listening-in on Linda's phone calls (she had an extension in her bedroom in the basement and I would pick-up the phone upstairs). I would then rat-her-out to mom, e.g., "Big party tonight mom, you better ground her." I also recall standing outside on the front porch and yelling at the top of my lungs such newsworthy items as "Linda has a boyfriend!" It's amazing my sister even speaks to me...

Little Elmer as General Patton.