December 13, 2008

• December Passings

  

  She always looked so innocently lascivious. She's sometimes seen posing with whips and in leather, but she looks like she's having so much fun. The famous wink, immortalized in the Playboy Centerfold for January 1955 (above), seems to tell us that she knows she's buck naked, but it's all in good clean fun.

  Bettie Page, called "the queen of the pinups" by Hugh Hefner, editor of Playboy Magazine, quietly passed away in a Los Angeles hospital on December 11, 2008. She was 85 years old. She suffered a heart attack a week ago, and went into a coma from which she never recovered.

  Bettie has become one of those icons who surpass their mortality. She will live forever in the hearts of pinup lovers and art aficionados everywhere. Her pinup poses, which include not only the famous Bunny Yeager beach and jungle photos, but bondage photos taken by Irving Klaw in the 40s and 50s, are pleasantly innocent, even when she's brandishing a whip, or trussed up in leather.

  Her career spanned about 20 years, and although always embraced by those of us who collect pinup art, she almost disappeared from the pop cultural scene until 1991, when Disney's The Rocketeer was released, starring Jennifer Connelly as a Bettie Page inspired character. Suddenly, her star ascended again, with a raft of magazine articles and appreciations. The "real" Bettie Page had given up posing for nude photos and reformed long ago, becoming a born again Christian, but never completely denounced her fame as a pinup queen. She often wondered why people were still entranced with her photos, which she would autograph well into her later years. Interviewers and interested parties were not allowed to photograph her face as an elderly lady. She wanted to be "known" as she was in her youth, forever winking at the world. Her image will forever be the image of the sultry but sweet "siren next door". Somehow I think it's fitting that I like to collect images of both cartoon siren Betty Boop and leggy Bettie Page. They both embody wholesome sexuality.

  As we "baby boomers" age, we are finally noticing that our cultural icons are fast disappearing. However, their legacies live on and on. Bettie has a website, and her images are forever etched in the public consciousness.

  (Note: I do NOT consider the above pose, in which we can plainly see Bettie in all her glory, as purient. It is the Playboy centerfold from 1955, and I present it as it appeared in the magazine. I could have chosen a photo with her clothed or in a bikini, but since it's Christmas time, and this is a famous image with a Christmas theme, I chose this image as my memorial tribute photo. I certainly hope nobody is offended, and I am rating this blog entry for "basic guidance".)

  www.bettiepage.com,  the official website of Bettie Page

  

  Forrest J. Ackerman, the "Ackermonster", longtime editor of monster magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland", and noted as the man who coined the term "sci-fi", passed away at the age of 92 last week. Millions of baby boomers who grew up inspired by his quirky puns and vast knowledge of horror lore mourn the death of this iconic figure, who took visitors on "tours" of his Los Feliz home, the "Ackermansion" for decades, until he was forced to sell most of collection of memorabilia to pay the bills  following a suit he brought against the editors of the "new" FM magazine early in the last decade.

  In 1960 young boys played marbles, and traded cards at recess and at lunchtime. I can clearly remember trading "Monster" cards, with photos of old Universal horror films, topped with funny captions. Around 1963, when I was in fifth grade and my brother a couple of years behind me, he began to collect "Famous Monsters of Filmland", a cheaply made black and white magazine with bright colorful covers featuring horror movies and stars.

  My brother and I would spend lazy afternoons reading the magazines, and wondering about the movies depicted, sometimes long before we actually saw the films. A lot of boomers my age who loved horror films were introduced to the old Universal movies by Mr. Ackerman by way of the "filmbooks" in his magazine, long before anyone could just go to a video store and check one out. We had to wait for the films to come out on programs like "Chiller" or "Strange Tales of Science Fiction". Both my brother Daniel and I became experts in the horror genre, owing partly to our exposure to Famous Monsters.

  In 1965, Daniel wrote a letter to the "fang mail" section of the magazine, but his letter wasn't printed. However, Forry called our house, and invited the family to tour his home in Los Feliz, up in the Hollywood hills, where he had a massive collection of horror memorabilia, including books, models, and costumes from a variety of old science fiction and horror films. Forry had known actors like Bela Lugosi, who played Dracula, personally, and with his magazine boldly staked out a niche for himself as "Dr. Acula", the go-to guy for genre expertise.

  First my mother thought we were receiving a prank call, and she hung up on Forry, but we got his number and called him back. That afternoon spent in the Ackermansion, which was filled with memorabilia, is a time I still remember explicitly, even though it was over 40 years ago.

  My brother and I were thrilled to actually see Forrest J.Ackerman in person. I would say that he was the very first cultural "icon" I embraced. My brother compiled quite a collection of the magazines, and I don't have any of them, but they can command considerable sums on ebay and in the collector's market.

  When I put up my website in 1999, one of the "photo expeditions" I kept planning was a trip back to Forry's place in Los Feliz to take pictures and to interview him for one of my "MikeVideos". I kept putting it off, and in 2002, Ackerman had to auction off most of his collectibles. He moved to a "mini Ackermansion" and still gave tours of the 10 percent of his collection he kept, but a visit to anything other than the original place I remember from my youth would have been devastating.

  Forrest J. Ackerman will be greatly missed.

  Forrest J. Ackerman's MySpace page

  

  EDIT: 10:09a.m. pst. I'm updating the part of my website dedicated to Betty Boop, The Betty Boop Pages, this week, adding individual pages for each of the over 50 composite artworks I've created for the site, and inserting some new composite artworks as well. One of the older composites, from October 2003, is "VampBoopirella" based on the Vampirella character Forrest J. Ackerman created for the comic book he first published in 1969. Nuttin fancy, just a Frazetta print with Betty's head attached, but another fitting image for this tribute, and also serves to announce the revitalizaion of The Betty Boop Pages. MFN/ppf

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