The Real Bettie Page: The Truth about the Queen of the Pinups Hardcover - 1997

From the publisher

Most people know Playboy centerfold Bettie Page as America's greatest pin-up girl. She set hearts ablaze in the 1950s with her bombshell curves, black bangs, and girl-next-door smile. Her popularity rivaled that of Marilyn Monroe. Men couldn't get enough of her photos, but in 1957, at the height of her popularity, Bettie disappeared.

Some feared she had been killed by the mob, others said she became a born-again Christian, ashamed of her infamous bondage modeling. But journalist Richard Foster found Page, interviewing her in 1992 for the fanzine, The Bettie Pages. Continuing his research through investigative reporting, Foster has uncovered little-known facts about Page's lives and loves, gathered from many unknown, overlooked, and forgotten sources. Here is the definitive, unauthorized biography of the Queen of Curves, revealing her struggles for fame and love, and her descent into violent obsession and madness. Kept secret for decades, this is the tale of the decline of America's favorite pin-up queen -- of her years behind the closed walls of institutions, her trial for attempted murder, and her spiral into a paranoid, lonely world populated only by her past glories.

In her nearly forty years of self-imposed exile, Bettie's popularity has grown exponentially. There are many fan publications devoted to her, as well as dozens of home pages dedicated to her on the World Wide Web. Her memorabilia form the basis of a million-dollar trade, her at-once innocent and wicked image is etched forever into our memories. Now, for the first time, fans will discover the real Bettie Page -- her dreams and demons, incarcerations, and heartbreaks.w