Betty herself was never really that dark, other than her hair-color. No matter what she did, she still projected an aura of innocence and fun, like what she was doing was perfectly normal, even when it was getting tied up or having a staged cat fight with another model.

However, one of the main jobs that paid her bills and made her famous was her modeling for Irving Klaw. He produced fetish photographs and sold them via mail-order. Bettie can be seen getting dressed in fantastic fetish heels, getting tied up, or having a cat fight in his images. As much as her mainstream work in magazines like Playboy got her broad attention, in the 40s and 50s, she was the Queen of the fetish underground.

Eventually, Klaw was investigated for obscenity, which ruined his business. Bettie herself was investigated and although no charges were brought against her, her growing religious side and the rumors that she had actually appeared in a sexually-explicit film was what made her retired in the late 1950s.

Her image has endured and has influenced modern fetish models such as Dita Von Teese.

In 1954, Bettie first met photographer Bunny Yeager. By that time, Page was the top model in NYC. Yeager, who had been a beauty queen and model herself, was branching out into creating the images and not just posing for them.

The two ladies created many images which truly propelled Page's modelling career and it was Yeager's pictures that captured the attention of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.

The ones which really stood out where taken at a now-defunct tourist/safari park called Africa USA, where Bettie posed nude with a pair of cheetahs.

image © Bunny Yeager

The Playmate of the Month for January 1955 was none other than Bettie Page. Photographer Bunny Yeager had sent pictures of Bettie to Hugh Hefner, and he immediately wanted her for his magazine.

Years later, when Bettie was on the brink of bankruptcy, it was Hugh who came to her financial rescue.

image © Playboy.

Bettie did a lot of film loops during her career, but there was one thing that she never did. She never actually made a porn movie, that is to say, she never did had sex on film.

There are tons of short clips that show her dancing, getting dressed, wrestling, stripping, being tied up, spanking another girl, or gettin spanked but she was the one who drew the line at having sex on camera. Bettie just felt that wasn't nice.