BYE BYE, BETTIE PAGE

Retro pin-up queen Bettie Page died in Los Angeles at the age of 85. Bettie was the quintessential 1950s stripper elevated to icon status, the scantily clad babe who dominated (snap!) nudie magazines and 8 mm bondage reels and inspired biographies, fan clubs, and countless retro hairdos on hipster chicks who may not even know where those ubiquitous bangs originated. A full-scale Hollywood biopic was released in 2006, "The Notorious Bettie Page," starring Gretchen Moll as naughty Bettie.

TEASERAMA!

Teaserama! This cheesy movie trailer advertises a burlesque film from 1955. Innocent by today's standards, this "shocker" contains several famous striptease queens of that bygone era, including Tempest Storm and Bettie Page. Perhaps as a reaction against an all-out, no-holds-barred porn industry that leaves little to the imagination, burlesque is enjoying a resurgent popularity! Called Neo-Burlesque, or New Burlesque these days, the emphasis is on naughty and humorous rather then raw sex.