When Bettie Page Met Bunny Yeager:
When Bunny Yeager started shooting Bettie Page in 1954 she thought Bettie Page would be a perfect model for calendar art. Bunny Yeager sewed a Santa hat for Bettie Page to wear and posed Bettie Page in nothing but the Santa hat by a small artificial white Christmas tree. In this very famous photograph, Bunny Yeager posed Bettie Page nude on her knees on a white shag rug, placing a decoration on the tree. At that time, Bunny Yeager knew calendar companies would only look at color transparencies 4x5" or larger, so using a Speed Graphic camera (like Newspaper Photographers in the movies always used), Bunny Yeager shot Bettie Page in her studio. Bunny Yeager only had 5 4x5" film holders, so she could only take 10 shots in one session. 4x5 color film came in a box of 10 sheets of color transparency film. After the photographs of Bettie Page were developed, Bunny Yeager wanted to send them to a calendar company but she didn't have any of the companies’ addresses. Then Bunny Yeager thought of sending the photographs to Playboy Magazine, a brand new men's magazine. Bunny Yeager sent the photographs directly to the Editor in Chief, Hugh Hefner, Hugh Hefner called Bunny Yeager the minute he received the photographs and told her he wanted to use them in Playboy for the Holiday issue, making Bettie Page Miss January, 1955. Hugh Hefner asked Bunny Yeager if she would accept $100 to use one photograph. Bunny Yeager thought it seemed like a fair offer, and she accepted. Because Playboy was such a successful magazine from the very start, this contributed to Bettie Page's popularity all over the U.S. during the 1950’s. Bunny Yeager continued to shoot more photos of Bettie Page and almost everything she shot was published in men's magazines. Bettie Page's name started to be recognized more and more because of her exposure in these magazines.
Bettie's Final Resting Place (Click for larger view)Photo taken April 22, 2010 - Bettie's Birthday
Bunny Yeager’s Memories of Bettie Page:
I miss Bettie Page. I’ve been missing her since the last time I photographed her in 1954. She was the best model because she not only had perfect facial features, but a great body and wasn’t ashamed to show it. It was impossible to take a bad photo of her. Bettie Page was always ready for the camera’s eye. When Bettie Page called me to see if I would hire her as a model in 1954, I jumped at the chance to shoot a real New York professional model, sight unseen. I had just transitioned from being a professional model to a professional photographer and I had never photographed a professional model before. Bettie Page had a sweet disposition and was willing to follow my instructions on what poses to take. Having been a model, I knew what I wanted. Bettie never tried to “take over” the photo session because of her experience. She seemed to love all the things I ordered her to do. It was important that our personalities didn’t ever clash. It seemed natural, like we had known each other a long time. I would order her to run and jump on the beach and give me a dozen different expressions on cue. I could see she enjoyed herself working with me, because she never got tired or complained about me shooting so fast. I could see that she wouldn’t mind posing all, day but I could only afford to pay her for a couple hours of work. We seemed to leave each other looking forward to another session, another day. The last time I shot her we talked about her future. She said that Lili St. Cyr, a famous burlesque dancer, had a manager that was interested in putting together an act for Bettie Page to open in Las Vegas. She seemed very excited about it. The only thing that worried her was that the manager wanted Bettie Page to sing and dance. “She knew how to dance but admitted she “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket”. I suggested to her that maybe taking some lessons could help her. Instead of going to Las Vegas, she went to Key West, where she fell in love and got married. -Bunny Yeager, Photographer