Bettie Page , the notorious Southern gal-turned-dominatrix-turned pin-up-queen-turned born again Christian , died Thursday at age 85 .
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bettie page notorious southern gal-turned-dominatrix-turne pin-up-queen-turne bear christian die thursday age 85
Bettie Page , the notorious Southern gal-turned-dominatrix-turned pin-up-queen-turned born again Christian , <m> died </m> Thursday at age 85 .
She was the wholesome face of America 's kinky secret -- even if no one saw that face for half a century .
Bettie Page , the notorious Southern gal-turned-dominatrix-turned pin-up-queen-turned born again Christian , <m> died </m> Thursday at age 85 .
The details of her death are known:
She had been hospitalized in Los Angeles for four weeks due to pneumonia , only to suffer from a heart attack .
Far less is known of her life -- at least the last five decades of it .
In 1957 , Page disappeared from the flash of the cameras and the public spotlight .
She 'd found religion , became a recluse , and lost contact with friends and associates .
But in the short time she donned panties and garters , brandished a whip and a whip-smart attitude , she was the queen of kink .
Page , you see , was to erotica what Elvis was to rock 'n ' roll .
No , she was n't the first pin-up .
She was n't even the best looking .
But she had `` that thing '' that could take what was once a dark art form into the American mainstream .
Unlike Elvis , though , Page never got bloated .
She checked out in her prime .
She did n't even allow to have her photo taken .
She remained frozen in time .
Yet , her image continues to strut its black stilettos through pop culture .
`` Bettie Page '' remains short-hand for a haircut , an image and a cult that includes everyone and everything -- from designer Vivienne Westwood to rockabilly hounds to hot-rodders , comic books , Madonna , Goths , neo-burlesque performers and devil-may-care types .
The Nashville , Tenn. , girl never imagined she 'd ever stir such a fuss .
`` She looked so fresh and wholesome , '' said Bunny Yeager , whose photographs of Page appeared in virtually every men 's magazine in the nineteen fifties .
`` She was n't trying to be seductive ; she was the girl next door . ''
One big difference between Page and most neighbors , said Yeager:
`` She felt more comfortable in the nude than in clothes . ''
Her story of unintentional notoriety began in 1950 , when she boarded a Greyhound bound for Manhattan .
Within months , her innocent face and curvy body made her the hit of the `` camera-club circuit . ''
`` Back then , you 'd have a bunch of guys with cameras travel by bus to private houses to photograph girls , '' Yeager said .
An aesthetic was born , one that mixed mundane suburbia with raw sexuality .
By 1952 , Page was breaking taboos , posing with a ball strapped in her mouth , whip in hand and devilish look on face -- in photos and movies that featured stripping , spanking and faux lesbianism that straddled burlesque and pornography .
Page was hardly tawdry , though , Yeager said .
`` She was so at ease , so wholesome . ''
The traits made a Page a natural in natural settings captured by Yeager , who met Page in 1954 .
Yeager 's shots of her in a jungle swimsuit with two cheetahs are '50s exotica par excellence : a mix of the innocence and the wild that shot through the veins of American sexuality , not to mention pin-up art , hot-rod aesthetics and tiki culture .
Playboy magazine not only featured Page pictorials ; it adopted her `` girl next door '' charm as its manifesto .
Page 's good-girl-bad-deed notoriety turned her into a Marilyn Monroe with black , wicked hair .
Too wicked for the U.S. government , which condemned photos of her taken by Irving Klaw as `` obscene and lewd . ''
The controversy drove Page from modeling and into the arms of Jesus .
`` One night while walking the beach she saw a neon cross on a church and walked inside , '' Yeager said .
She never walked out : Page became born again , moved to California , and disappeared from the pages and the public eye .
But her image never stopped titillating .
You see it in rock clubs , roller derby games , fashion shows .
And you see it in an America 's own sexual conflicts -- a nation with a Puritanical past and a closet full of sin .
Even in death , Bettie Page is the missing link between the two .