Bettie Page: Queen of Curves Hardcover – September 30, 2014

Bunny Yeager Obviously Worked Well With Page There are some very amusing photographs included in this photography collection. There is a photo of Bettie Page posing nude on a Florida beach on page 38. Bunny Yeager is busy running around with her 2 1/4 inch twin-lens reflex Rolliflex and Speed Graphic cameras on tripods and flying above Bettie’s cavorting in the nude, is a blimp loaded with tourists. Once the tourists realized that Bettie was nude, rather than moving on with their tour the blimp simply remained at the location so everyone could watch the rest of the naked shooting session. Another of the most interesting photos in the collection is a double-page spread of Bettie posing for the Miami Beach Camera club. The last picture of the book shows a group of six camera club members forming a human screen to protect Bettie’s change of halter top from the view of other people sitting on the beach. Betty is adjusting her bikini’s top while six guys with cameras have their backs to her and are forming a wall behind which she can change in privacy. On pages 150-151 are two of the book’s planned humorous photos. A leopard skin clad Bettie is tied to a tree while an actor playing a cannibal pretends to be getting ready to spear her. In the other picture in the series Bettie is sitting in a cooking pot while her pretend cannibal attempts to light the fire under the cooking pot. She is laughing about the silly situation. The book contains at least 100 photos of Betty Page. She obviously loved being photographed and her enjoyment and satisfaction is evident in almost every photos. The most famous portrait is the one that appeared in the January 1955 Playboy Magazine. She was nude except for a Santa Cap and her sly smile. Bunny had not even shot the picture with Playboy in mind. After she had finished the coverage, she learned about the new magazine Playboy and decided to submit the photos to publisher Hugh Hefner. He immediately contacted Bunny and bought the photograph for top dollar--$100. The dollar was obviously worth a lot more in those days. Most of the pictures in this volume are black and white images. There were some color shots including a nice series with two live Cheetah’s at a Florida Animal Park. One of them is on the book's cover. In some of the photos Bettie was also wearing a Cheetah skin costume. In many of the photos she was totally nude. In another picture she and Bunny Yeager were both lounging around with the two Animal Park Cheetahs. I kept checking the various photos to see if the Cheetahs were stuffed and not alive. They were real and alive but obviously behaving like pets. The book doesn’t include any of Bettie’s fetish photos. Neither Bettie nor Bunny wanted to violate the obscenity laws of the USA. This is definitely a Bettie Page turner.

This particular book and "Bettie! The Irving Klaw Archives" are must-have books for the Bettie Page enthusiast. This is a large and heavy book - definitely the best quality book I've seen showing Bunny's photos of Bettie Page, and that's exactly why I bought it. To those complaining about a weak book binding, that's nonsense - I'm in the publishing business. This is a 3.5 pound book with a rigid spine binding, ANY book this size is going to tear if you treat it rough - this is NOT a cheaply made book and the paper used throughout is as good as you can get without spending huge dollars for an art photography book and using acid-free paper. Bang for buck, you CANNOT go wrong here.This is not a complete collection of Bunny Yeager's photographs of Bettie, but it is the biggest single collection I've thus far seen in one volume. I have a lot of books about Bettie and a lot of books about retro pin-up photography in general, and I HIGHLY recommend this one. The colorized photos mentioned by some are a bit amateurish by today's standards, but, giving props to the editors, they chose to reproduce the way these photos were colorized back in the 1950's, not how we'd do it today, so, they look like they did when new. I have no issues with that. Besides, 98% of the photos in the book are B/W anyway, so it's not a distraction.There are some variations of some shoots in here I've not seen before, a lot of the standard classic shots, and some that are really out there and were obviously just taken for fun or were bloopers. What you come away with, here, is a darned complete collection of Bettie in her more "natural" beauty state, with photos taken by Bunny, who was a spectacular photographer as well as a model herself. This is a large format book, so you'll see a lot of the photos much bigger than you've ever seen them before, and the clarity and quality of the photos themselves really shines through.Unlike Irving Klaw, Bunny Yeager was a photographer as opposed to a guy who was taking pictures and churning them out as fast as he could. There is a huge difference. I HIGHLY recommend getting the large format book of Klaw's photos of Bettie as well, as these two books go together magnificently, but having them side-by-side really illustrates how fantastic the Bunny Yeager photo shoots were. Buy this one, you will NOT regret it!

I own several books on Bettie Page and was not sure I should get another one, but I think this is one of the best. In the 1950's Bettie Page left modeling in New York for the beautiful sun shine state of Florida and met up with a female photographer Bunny Yeager. Bunny was a icon in her own right as a trail blazing model turned pin up photographer of the 1950's. Bunny Yeager's photo's of Bettie are my favorites especially the outdoor beach and jungle girl photo's. The photo's of Bettie seem timeless as thou they were taken yesterday. Bunny said "I took Bettie out of chains and into the sun light". I agree, I feel that Bettie was more happy on the beach than in her New York Klaw photo's, Bunny's pictures are fun, playful and innocent. I believe it captures the real Bettie and her girl next door quality. Some of the photo's I have seen before but there are many new ones and outtakes also. Bunny describes her lighting and camera settings, also details about Bettie's poses and handmade costumes. Looking at the famous Jungle girl pictures I can't help but wonder why Bettie was not asked to appear in a Tarzan movie! This book also capture's not only the beauty of the female form , but the beauty of Florida, home of the world's most beautiful beaches and relaxed fun loving attitudes. I own Bunny's Darkroom book as well and love them both. Wonderful for Bettie and Bunny fans and anyone interesting in pin up and beach photography. I love the stories of Bunny telling how each picture was made. My father who grew up in the 50's also loved the book, could not take his eyes off Bettie, what a icon!

Este livro apresenta algumas das fotos mais famosas e icônicas de Bettie, ao contrario das fotos fetichistas produzidas por Irving Klaw que tinha acesso a recursos mais reduzidos, temos Bettie exibindo sua beleza em locações abertas, muitas delas em praias e em um 'parque safari' -como a imagem utilizada na capa. Temos também algumas fotos de estudio, algumas das seções etc.O livro em geral traz poucos textos, com informações rápidas, as vezes o local, mas sem identificar a data, etc. Mas acho que 99% dos compradores deste livro devem estar somente interessados nas imagens, e ele - levando em conta o estilo da Bunny vale bem a pena.

The quality of the book is only surpassed by the quality of Bunny's pictures of Bettie. When you look through the book it becomes readily apparent that Bettie's influence is astonishing. Especially when you consider these photos are over 60 years old and she looks like any number of girls you see in your daily life!

Amazing book! Everything I expected. I love Bunny Yeager, and Bettie Page is her best subject. As a fan of Bettie, I can say there are some photos I haven't seen before. I really appreciate that! Very happy about my purchase. I'll cherish this book forever.

some great pictures, but not exactly what I was expecting...wanted to see more nudes

My friend loved it