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Betty Page
1923 Betty Page is born on April 22nd in Nashville, Tennessee as Bettie
Mae Page. Her parents are Edna and Roy Page.
1937/38 Death of her father.
1937-1940 Hume-Fogg High School. After initial difficulties, Betty becomes
a model pupil working for the school newspaper and theatre group. She passes her school-leaving exams with flying colours and says she wants to he a singer with a big orchestra.
up to 1944 Peabody College. studying English with a social sciences subsidiary. Graduates with distinction.
1944 Works for a while as an English teacher. Tries in vain for a Hollywood
contract. Moves to San Francisco with her sister.
1947 In San Francisco she meets her first husband and moves to Pittsburgh with him. Their marriage soon founders.
1948-1950 In the lite '40s she goes to New York. With Broadway in mind, she takes acting classes. Begins to pose for ~camera clubs~ and Robert Harrison's ~girlie magazines~.
1951 Betty is still one model among many, and her real name does not appear in captions. At the end of the year, probably, she meets Irving KIaw.
1952 Betty is on the cover of KIaw's
Cartoon and Model Parade No.53. At a camera club shoot in the country, Betty and all involved including the well-known photographer Weegee are arrested for causing a public nuisauce.
1953 Betty is now Irving Kiaw's top model. Photos, films and comic strips featuring her sell fast. »Strip-o-Rama« is premiered at the Rialto Theatre, New York - a burlesque revue in which
Betty appears with dancer Lily St. Cyr.
The success of the film (produced by Martin Lewis) impresses Irving KIaw so much that he decides to make full-length colour films too.
1954 KIaw produces Varietease, again starring Lily St. Cyr and Betty. In Florida, where Betty often spends holidays with her sister and works for local photographers, she meets Bunny
Yeager, an ex-model now embarking on a new career as photographer.
1955 Betty is a Playboy centrefold. photographed by Bunny Yeager. Klaw's second film, Teaserama~ is
realised. The Senate begins its investigations into Irving KIaw's sales of photographs that could corrupt young people.
1956 Betty still hopes to star on
Broadway one day. She acts in dramaschool productions and in Long Island summer theatre. At the end of the year she terminates her work with Irving KIaw.
1957 Betty does camera club work
for a while longer, then leaves New York. Her present whereabouts in America are unknown. |