The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of Pinups (Paperback)

~ Richard Foster (Author)
Key Phrases: pinup queen, bondage photos, cheesecake photos, Bettie Page, New York, Irving Klaw (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this unauthorized biography of the 1950s pin-up phenomenon Bettie Page, Style Weekly's associate editor reveals new information about the pop icon's missing years. In 1957, at the height of her popularity, Page walked away from the glamour-girl lifestyle and disappeared until tracked down by reporters in 1992. Recent books and articles about the model, including her coauthored authorized biography, Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-Up Legend (General Publishers Group, 1996), have left out seamier portions of her story, which Foster includes here. A chapter on Cyber Bettie gives web site addresses, including a hyperlink list to more than 400 images and text. An inventory lists selected book covers, comic books, and album and magazine covers. Although this work reads like a tabloid expose?Foster offers lots of speculation and not much insight?it will appeal to pin-up fans and, thanks to the reference material, collectors. Appropriate for larger public libraries.?Kelli N. Perkins, Herrick P.L., Holland, Mich.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

What was the dark secret of Bettie Page--the curvaceous black-banged pinup goddess who titillated 1950s America with S&M poses, abandoned her career in 1957, and disappeared?... journalist Foster, in this sensationalistic, albeit scrupulously researched book, reveals that in 1979 and 1982, Page (a diagnosed schizophrenic) tried to stab several people to death and was institutionalized.... An eloquent fan, he brings ... insight into her recent revival as a sex symbol. -- Entertainment Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Citadel (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806520752
• ISBN-13: 978-0806520759
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,837 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Clunky telling of a riveting tale, December 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of the Pinups (Hardcover)

Sorry to tell this to customer reviewers who prefer to ignore the sadder facts of Bettie's life, but she really did disappear from public view as a result of a slide into madness and violence. Foster's book is the first discussion of the FACTS of Page's life, rather than of the image and the fantasy. Admittedly, he's not an elegant writer, but that's more than compensated for by his skills as a researcher. His book is the result of a clear-eyed examination of the life of a woman he clearly likes and for whom he clearly has a great deal of sympathy. Bettie comes across as mostly sympathetic -- even as she falls into darkness. If the truth matters more to you than the image, read this book.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Defending Foster's bombshell, December 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of the Pinups (Hardcover)

Foster's book is, in the truest sense of the term, a bombshell. An easy read and a tough book to put down, except to come up for another gasp before you dive back down again, fans of la Page may want to curse Foster for bursting their bubble...or expanding the myth of the Queen of Curves. I consumed it in an evening along with a massive bowl of popcorn and a lot of tea; the 1972 mugshot alone is worth the cover price of $22, but Amazoned at $15, I got a lot of "wows" for the price of a pizza. Onward: Exploited, cheated, lied to and deceived, Bettie Page emerges not so much as an icon as much as a victim...and Foster is the messenger being shot at because he bears the news: the image of Page as we know it is far more complex than we knew. Page was not, as her earlier book paints, a good girl from a happy family doing naughty photos and disappearing discreetly. Instead, Foster's book shows her as an almost perennial victim from the sexually abused child to the trusting client of one bad promoter or lawyer after another. While Playboy's article seemingly comes to her defense, Foster points out that her issue of Playboy is the second most-requested issue in the magazine's history...and Page got all of $20 for it. When an attorney sued an unauthorized producer of Page materials without her consent, the judge found in favor of the producers and she was left with $85,000 in legal fees; another in a long string of slaps from another low-life. Ironically, in a January 1998 Playboy article, Page calls Foster "a devil" when he may be one of the few straight-forward men she's encountered in her life. One might point to countless cases of abuse victims attacking the people who've come to help them, and that may be the case here. Foster dug deep to produce a newsworthy, terrific read; he did not produce one of the dozens of Bettie Page videos, recordings, books, cigarette lighters or junk that gets listed in he book's epilogue, nor does he throw a single criticism of the numerous web sites devoted to Bettie. Foster's book is definitive investigative writing. Now the uncomfortable question that Page followers will have to face is whether our lust for Bettie is fandom or a further contribution to her continued victimization.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A primer of Bette, March 20, 2001

By	John A. Gregorio (Castalian Springs, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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It's all in the book. All the dark and sad moments of Ms. Page's life. I admit a morbid streak which prompted me to read this book, but afterwords there was a sense of why did I need to know this much about her life. Did I enjoy her work more because of this knowledge? No. You may enjoy this book, more than I, if the sensational is your cup of tea. I took one star off because it is written in a 6-8th grade level English and it was annoying. Put your monies down and takes your chances!