Bettie Page Reveals All Page #5

Irving Klaw photos,

Bettie looked a little gawky.

But Klaw would give her

a set of these photos.

She could summarize what

she was doing right

and what she was doing wrong,

and I think she became

a much better model.

She liked being in

front of the camera.

She enjoyed her body.

She liked the way she looked.

She liked her hair.

She enjoyed herself.

She never cried about anything...

"It's too tight,

'"'It's too loose,"

"Don't do that, " or anything.

She was just a super

lady to work with.

Irving said I was his most

famous model that he ever had,

and he had some 1,500

pictures of me going.

A lot of them to service men.

We made this set of

pictures, we'd advertise it,

and we noticed the

increase in sales.

One of the biggest sellers

is a picture of me wearing

my little leopard-skin bikini,

and I'm looking real mean,

holding this whip with

one foot up on a stool

and a cigarette dangling

out the side of my mouth.

And the teenagers.

Irving said that's their

favorite picture of me now.

You know, I never smoked.

I hate cigarettes.

Well, I shot stills but there was

more money into making films

so we started with the 16mm,

because that was very

popular at that time.

Well, she's a drama

queen from a golden age

Talking about the

curves of Bettie Page

Flinging through the pages

though, I just can't wait

She's the kind of woman

that I want to date

Oh, Bettie, Bettie, Bettie, Bettie

Oh, Bettie, uh-huh-huh

Oh, Bettie, Bettie, Bettie, Bettie

Oh, Bettie, yeah

I'm gonna run to you, girl,

I'm on the rampage

Just want Bettie,

Bettie Page, yeah!

Seven inch heels,

one pair, that he kept for me only,

that fitted me just fine

that I could wiggle around,

and move around,

and kick around in those.

Yeah, Bettie could walk great in

high heels, unlike most girls.

Most girls, they could

walk in high heels,

some of them, but they

didn't look natural.

Bettie, she could move

in 'em just like,

just like she was in moccasins.

My brother would set it

up and I would direct,

and I worked the 16mm.

Teaserama is a complete,

all new burlesque show,

filmed in beautiful

new Eastman Color.

Teaserama features the world's

most beautiful, exotic girls.

Tempest Storm is the girl

with a 40-plus bust,

who goes 3D two better!

So big, we had to use wide

screen to film Teaserama.

Bettie Page, the nation's

top pinup queen.

There's sexy seconds to

every minute in Teaserama.

In one of them starring

Tempest Storm, I played her maid.

And I also introduced the acts

wearing my bikinis

and other costumes.

And then I did a

little dance number.

It was a nothing tap

dance I made up

within a half an hour before

the movie was to be shot.

There was no sex in those

movies that we shot.

It was just fun.

Irving Klaw would pay me $150

every time I did one

of these movies.

And I would take the money and go

to visit my mother in Pittsburgh,

or my brothers in Nashville,

or my sister in Coral Gables.

Bettie happened to be in

Miami on a little vacation.

And she gave me a call.

And she said she was

a New York model.

And I said, "Oh," and

I was very impressed.

I posed for Bunny

in Florida in the spring of 1954.

She had just started

out as a photographer,

she used to be a pinup model.

I said, "You do pinup modeling?"

And she says, "I do nudes, too."

And when I heard that she did

nudes, I was really excited

because I had never photographed

a professional nude model before.

So I told her to come on over,

I would use her sight unseen.

Bettie was so perfect in every way.

It would be hard for anybody to

take a bad picture of Bettie.

Because she was a woman,

I felt more comfortable

posing in the nude for Bunny.

And we'd go out there

about 7:
00 in the morning

before anybody came on the beaches

and do our shooting then.

We worked so well together

because she caught on

to what I was trying

to get out of her.

And she just played like she was a

teenager in front of the camera,

and followed every

direction I gave her.

And that was a thrill too,

because I had not worked with

somebody that professional before.

You knew she was trying

to look her very best.

She would work on her tan

and sunbathe the nude for

a certain time everyday

so that her skin would

be so glorious.

Bettie had a different

torso than most girls.

Her bone structure there,

close to her waistline,

went way in to a very tiny waist.

And there are very few girls

that are built like that.

I was 36-24-37.

I worked out at the health

club three times a week.

I've always liked to exercise.

I wanted to keep in

shape for my modeling.

She lied to me about her age.

She told me she was 24 when she posed

for me but she was much older.

I think that she was 32.

We shot pictures at

Kiddie Land Park.

And I put her in a bikini

and shot her on the merry-go-round

and all these stupid rides.

And she, she had a ball, you know.

We had to go before

they opened up at 10:00

because I was getting worried with

the briefness of the bathing suits.

I was a little scared and I thought,

"Bettie, we might get arrested.

How do you feel about that?"

And he says, "Oh, I wouldn't

want to, but you know.

What are we going to do?"

So we just took our chances.

So they're very sensual pictures.

Very sexy.

We went out on the boat and

it was late in the afternoon,

and the sun was

already getting low.

But that made for good

shadowing of Bettie's body

for some beautiful

nudes on the boat.

And she actually caught a fish

while I was shooting her.

It was unbelievable.

I had never seen anybody

catch a fish so fast.

We must have been in good waters.

But that picture that you see

of Bettie holding the fish up.

That was for real.

While we were shooting some

pinups on the beach one day,

I asked Bettie, "Are you

afraid of wild animals?"

I had seen too many

Tarzan movies, I think.

She set up a session for

me up in Boca Raton

at Little Africa to

pose with the animals.

When you come into Africa USA,

they had a greeter at the gate,

dressed all up like a native.

I said, "Would you like to take

some pictures with my model?"

He said, "Sure."

He was happy about that.

I was very fond of

my one-piece outfit

that I made with the

scallops and high bottoms.

I was dressed just like a cheetah.

There wasn't much to

the bottom of it,

but maybe that was the

most alluring part of it.

I was very proud of that design.

The pictures that sold the

most were with two cheetahs.

Beautiful animals.

They had been sick the night before

and they were in a bad temper.

I was afraid to be around 'em.

The trainer said, "Please, don't

let go of that chain, Bettie,

because if they run,

they run 55 miles and hour

and they'll be gone."

She kept control,

and we got great pictures.

All my life I had worshiped

these pinup girls on the

calendars, and I thought,

"I'd love to shoot a calendar of

someone as beautiful as Bettie."

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