Frank Beacham's Journal

Bettie Page was born 98 years ago today

Bettie Page was born 98 years ago today.

A model who gained a significant profile in the 1950s for her pin-up photos, Page is often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups.” Her jet black hair, blue eyes and trademark bangs have influenced artists for generations.

A native of Nashville, Page lived in California in her early adult years before moving to New York City to pursue work as an actress. There, she began to find work as a pin-up model and posed for dozens of photographers throughout the 1950s. Page was "Miss January, 1955," one of the earliest Playmates of the Month for Playboy magazine.

"I think that she was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society," said Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, to the Associated Press in 2008.

In 1959, Page converted to evangelical Christianity and worked for Billy Graham, studying at Bible colleges in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, with the intent of becoming a missionary. The latter part of Page's life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state psychiatric hospital suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

After years of obscurity, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s. In 2006, Page and Halo Guitars collaborated to produce a limited edition of custom guitars, released at the 2007 Winter NAMM show in southern California.

The total run of one hundred guitars was handmade and designed by luthier Waylon Ford and the art was designed by Pamelina H. It was the only collector guitar series authorized by Bettie Page.

Page’s influence on popular culture was enormous.

Said MTV: "Katy Perry's rocker bangs and throwback skimpy jumpers. Madonna's Sex book and fascination with bondage gear. Rihanna's obsession with all things leather, lace and second-skin binding. Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. The SuicideGirls Web site. The Pussycat Dolls. The entire career of burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and Bernie Dexter" would not have been possible without Page.”

In 2011, Page’s estate made the Forbes annual list of top-earning dead celebrities, earning $6 million and tied with the estates of George Harrison and Andy Warhol, at 13th on the list. In 2014, Forbes estimated that Page's estate earned $10 million in 2013.

Page died on December 11, 2008 at age 85.

Lauren Hutton, the model and actress, is 77 years old today

Lauren Hutton, the model and actress, is 77 years old today.

Born Mary Laurence Hutton in Charleston, South Carolina, Hutton’s parents divorced when she was young. Her mother remarried, and Mary's last name was changed to her step-father's name, Hall, although he never formally adopted her.

Hutton graduated from Chamberlain High School in Tampa, Florida in 1961. She was among the first students to attend the University of South Florida in Tampa in 1960. She later moved with former Tampa disc jockey Pat Chamburs, 19 years her senior, to New York City where she worked at the Playboy Club.

They later moved to New Orleans, where she attended Tulane University, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1964. Hutton returned to New York, changed her name to Lauren Hutton, and became a top fashion model, cover girl (appearing on the cover of American Vogue a record 26 times) and commercial spokesperson.

She was advised to correct the slight gap in her teeth and tried using morticians' wax to cover the gap, cutting a line in the middle of it. Then she used a cap, which she would often swallow, laugh out or misplace. Later, she decided to retain this “imperfection,” which gave her on-camera persona a down-home sensibility that other, "more ethereal models lacked."

In her heyday, Hutton was known as "the fresh American face of fashion." In 1974, Hutton signed a million-dollar contract as the face of Revlon cosmetics.

At age 40, Revlon did not renew their contract with Hutton, and it was not until she was 50 that Hutton would sign a new contract with Revlon to be the representative for Revlon Results moisturizer line. She was presented on the November, 1999 Millennium cover of American Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses.”

Following her recovery from a motorcycle accident in 2000, she became the spokeswoman for her own signature brand of cosmetics, Good Stuff, sold primarily via Lauren Hutton Good Stuff in the USA, as well as through numerous secondary distribution channels throughout Europe and South America.

In October, 2005, at the age of 61, Hutton agreed to pose nude for Big magazine. "I want them (women) not to be ashamed of who they are when they're in bed," Hutton told ABC's Good Morning America.

She is signed to IMG Models in New York City, Paris and London. As an actress, Hutton made her film debut in the Paper Lion (1968), and she won notices for her performances in James Toback's The Gambler (1974), opposite James Caan. She also starred in John Carpenter's TV movie, Someone's Watching Me! (1978), and played the wealthy adventurous adulteress in American Gigolo (1980).

Important roles in major films were relatively few, however, and her acting career diminished during the 1980s, with most of her appearances being in minor European features or American films that fizzled at the box office, such as Lassiter (1984), Once Bitten (1985) and Guilty as Charged (1992).

A motorcycle enthusiast, Hutton made headlines in October, 2000 when, at the age of 56, she was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. She was on a 100-mile ride near Las Vegas with various motorbikers, including actors Dennis Hopper and Jeremy Irons, to celebrate a planned motorcycle exhibit at the Hermitage-Guggenheim museum. Irons reportedly had given Hutton a full-face helmet just minutes before she crashed.

Losing control on a curve, she skidded about 100 feet and then went airborne, ultimately suffering multiple leg and arm fractures, broken ribs, a punctured lung, cuts and bruises.

She has never married, but had a 27-year-long relationship with her manager, Bob Williamson, who squandered some $13 million of her money.

As of March, 2014, Hutton is represented by the IMG Models agency and is one of their "Special Bookings" models. Julianne Moore and Liv Tyler are also represented by IMG under the same category.

"We have to be able to grow up. Our wrinkles are our medals of the passage of life. They are what we have been through and who we want to be. I don't think I will ever cut my face, because once I cut it, I'll never know where I've been," Hutton has been quoted.