Rating: 
Summary: I wish there were a zero stars rating...
Review: ..because that's what this tabloid trash in book form deserves. The fact that he went against Bettie Page's wishes when writing it makes it even more reprehensible. From a style standpoint, I have seen stories in the Globe tabloid that were better written. I second the reviewer who recommended "Bettie Page: Life of a Pin-Up Legend."
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating Story
Review: As someone who has only been peripherally aware of Bettie Page as a bondage pinup, I must say that only the revelation that she was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and had a history of time spent in prisons and asylums only made her a far more interesting character than if she had led a spotless, boring past. I thought the author made every attempt to sympathize with Bettie's past, even to the point of whitewashing it. The latter part of the book repeatedly refers to Bettie's popularity as due to her status as "the most beautiful woman in the world," which I think, is laying it on a bit thick -- it is also pointed out that she has become a byword for S&M and fetish fans, and I think of course that THAT is the true secret of her popularity. I wonder how many young fans today can possibly comprehend the level of obscenity she was representative of in her day. Try thinking of the most "obscene" sex star you know of today - and picturing them 50 years from now as a role model for your grandkids... Bettie has transcended her time, but I don't think she did it wittingly. She remains for all time a sad example of an exploited sex object, and the female fans who emulate her crave the same hollow, ephemeral power. Better they should emulate the likes of Colette, Madonna, or even Seka (the porn star).
Rating:
Summary: "She was always a very, very intense person."
Review: Bettie Page is an icon--no argument about that. In Richard Foster's book, "The Real Bettie Page," the author reveals the unknown history of the 50s pin-up model. Bettie's career was sadly all too brief, but many outstanding photographs and films remain. Bettie Page's unstable and unhappy childhood was fraught with poverty. She always dreamed of being an actress and stumbled accidentally into modelling in 1950. Initially posing for photography groups, Bettie soon became an extremely popular model for amateur photographers. In the early 50s, Bettie began working for Irving Klaw, and together they produced such classics as "Teaserama " and "Jungle Girl Tied to Trees." An FBI investigation of Klaw's business put an end to the relationship between Bettie and Klaw--and Bettie's brief modelling career ended as she sank into oblivion.Foster's book brings Bettie Page back into the public eye, but I would probably guess that she wouldn't be too thrilled about it. Foster tracks Bettie's religious conversation and an almost 20 year odyssey through mental institutions for numerous charges(including attempted murder). It really doesn't make for pretty reading, and after reading the book, I was left with a feeling of overwhelming sadness. Bettie Page was a very controversial figure in the 50s, and yet her relationships with men were really rather unremarkable. While she was married 3 times, she turned down many offers to the 'casting couch'--even though she was quite aware that she had the opportunity to 'advance' her career. I would imagine that the author's exhaustive research would have uncovered all of Bettie's lovers--and again, the 50s goddess had remarkably few. At the end of the book, the author has included numerous Bettie Page websites, and a "Catalogue of Curves"--a list which includes the films Bettie made, books about Bettie, and Bettie Page magazines layouts. "The Real Bettie Page" also included many photographs of Bettie too. Foster spends some time weighing the possibilities that Bettie posed for "additional shots," and there is some significance to this question as certain shots would be judged obscene by 1950s FBI standards. The author weighs evidence for and against these additional shots and other career-related rumours. It seems such a tragedy that Bettie profited so little from her work. Foster admires Bettie Page--that's clear, and the creation of the book was no simple task. But the book isn't a homage, it's an expose--displacedhuman.
Rating:
Summary: "She was always a very, very intense person."
Review: Bettie Page is an icon--no argument about that. In Richard Foster's book, "The Real Bettie Page," the author reveals the unknown history of the 50s pin-up model. Bettie's career was sadly all too brief, but many outstanding photographs and films remain. Bettie Page's unstable and unhappy childhood was fraught with poverty. She always dreamed of being an actress and stumbled accidentally into modelling in 1950. Initially posing for photography groups, Bettie soon became an extremely popular model for amateur photographers. In the early 50s, Bettie began working for Irving Klaw, and together they produced such classics as "Teaserama " and "Jungle Girl Tied to Trees." An FBI investigation of Klaw's business put an end to the relationship between Bettie and Klaw--and Bettie's brief modelling career ended as she sank into oblivion. Foster's book brings Bettie Page back into the public eye, but I would probably guess that she wouldn't be too thrilled about it. Foster tracks Bettie's religious conversation and an almost 20 year odyssey through mental institutions for numerous charges(including attempted murder). It really doesn't make for pretty reading, and after reading the book, I was left with a feeling of overwhelming sadness. Bettie Page was a very controversial figure in the 50s, and yet her relationships with men were really rather unremarkable. While she was married 3 times, she turned down many offers to the 'casting couch'--even though she was quite aware that she had the opportunity to 'advance' her career. I would imagine that the author's exhaustive research would have uncovered all of Bettie's lovers--and again, the 50s goddess had remarkably few. At the end of the book, the author has included numerous Bettie Page websites, and a "Catalogue of Curves"--a list which includes the films Bettie made, books about Bettie, and Bettie Page magazines layouts. "The Real Bettie Page" also included many photographs of Bettie too. Foster spends some time weighing the possibilities that Bettie posed for "additional shots," and there is some significance to this question as certain shots would be judged obscene by 1950s FBI standards. The author weighs evidence for and against these additional shots and other career-related rumours. It seems such a tragedy that Bettie profited so little from her work. Foster admires Bettie Page--that's clear, and the creation of the book was no simple task. But the book isn't a homage, it's an expose--displacedhuman.
Rating: 
Summary: Defending Foster's bombshell
Review: Foster's book is, in the truest sense of the term, a bombshell. An easy read and a tough book to put down, except to come up for another gasp before you dive back down again, fans of la Page may want to curse Foster for bursting their bubble...or expanding the myth of the Queen of Curves. I consumed it in an evening along with a massive bowl of popcorn and a lot of tea; the 1972 mugshot alone is worth the cover price of $22, but Amazoned at $15, I got a lot of "wows" for the price of a pizza. Onward: Exploited, cheated, lied to and deceived, Bettie Page emerges not so much as an icon as much as a victim...and Foster is the messenger being shot at because he bears the news: the image of Page as we know it is far more complex than we knew. Page was not, as her earlier book paints, a good girl from a happy family doing naughty photos and disappearing discreetly. Instead, Foster's book shows her as an almost perennial victim from the sexually abused child to the trusting client of one bad promoter or lawyer after another. While Playboy's article seemingly comes to her defense, Foster points out that her issue of Playboy is the second most-requested issue in the magazine's history...and Page got all of $20 for it. When an attorney sued an unauthorized producer of Page materials without her consent, the judge found in favor of the producers and she was left with $85,000 in legal fees; another in a long string of slaps from another low-life. Ironically, in a January 1998 Playboy article, Page calls Foster "a devil" when he may be one of the few straight-forward men she's encountered in her life. One might point to countless cases of abuse victims attacking the people who've come to help them, and that may be the case here. Foster dug deep to produce a newsworthy, terrific read; he did not produce one of the dozens of Bettie Page videos, recordings, books, cigarette lighters or junk that gets listed in he book's epilogue, nor does he throw a single criticism of the numerous web sites devoted to Bettie. Foster's book is definitive investigative writing. Now the uncomfortable question that Page followers will have to face is whether our lust for Bettie is fandom or a further contribution to her continued victimization.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Real Bettie Page" by Richard Foster
Review: I read Richard Foster's book about Bettie Page, and even though I found his book to be interesting, I also have to question his motive in exposing Ms. Page's problems after she left her modeling. He seems to come across as arrogant in his justifications that "the truth will set her free" by exposing the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, her crimes that she committed in later years, and her stays in an asylum for schizophrenia. It was not his truth to expose, but Bettie's.She should be the one to come clean about her past, and not someone like Mr. Foster. He claimed that it was a "personal struggle and dilemma" to write his book on Bettie. Obviously it wasn't. Other than that, this book was quite informitive about Bettie's childhood, her modeling career, and her life up to this point. She should always be remembered as the beautiful woman with the bangs, and not as the out-of-control woman that Mr.Foster portrays her as in his book.
Rating:
Summary: Bettie Page is not just an icon, but a real human
Review: I was interviewed for a book about my idol Bettie Page by a reporter named Richard Foster. Little did I know that this book would be a bombshell of a story. Foster dug up some dirt on the Queen of Curves that made plenty fans scowl in disgust at the author's investigating skills. I was shocked to read about Bettie's abuse as a child and later her mental illness, but then again I was glad to see that she was a real woman with real problems and not just some objectified pin-up girl without a soul. After reading the entire book, I love Bettie even more now, and respect her for her courage and strength to keep on going. I talk in the book about why so many fans love her and what she did as an icon. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Wake up and smell the coffee
Review: Is this book War and Peace? Of course not. So don't expect it. It's a tell-all biography, and as such is written in a tabloid style. Second, for those people who claim that all the information in the book is made up or they don't know what to believe...believe this. Ms. Page continues to deny these things happened, and has said the book is full of lies. Have any of you seen her file a lawsuit for libel? No, you have not. And you know why? As much as she might hate the book, every word in it is true, and truth is an absolute defense against libel. ... Anything that cannot be so supported is taken out. So, again, anything you see in the book you can trust to be accurate. I'm sorry, kids, but as much as you want to not believe the things in this book, it's all true. Terribly sad, but true. And lest you wonder, I am not Richard Foster. I don't even particularly LIKE Richard Foster, or this book. I'm just tired of people crying "LIES!" when they simply don't WANT to believe the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: A primer of Bette
Review: It's all in the book. All the dark and sad moments of Ms. Page's life. I admit a morbid streak which prompted me to read this book, but afterwords there was a sense of why did I need to know this much about her life. Did I enjoy her work more because of this knowledge? No. You may enjoy this book, more than I, if the sensational is your cup of tea. I took one star off because it is written in a 6-8th grade level English and it was annoying. Put your monies down and takes your chances!
Rating:
Summary: Don't Give Richard Foster Your Money
Review: Its unfortunate that I am forced to give this book even ONE star. Richard Foster was privileged enough to receive a 17 page letter from Ms. Page where she outlined what had been going on in her life while she had been away from the public eye. In this letter, she mentioned 'The years 1982 through 1992 I do not want to be made known.' Richard Foster ran with this and using public records and interviewing people who knew her, came up with this terrible book. He never even bothered to contact her beyond that first letter and NEVER GAVE HER THE RIGHT TO TELL HER SIDE OF THE STORY. Her side is VERY different. This book is an evil, evil attempt to make a profit using someone else's misfortune. This book isn't even worth the paper its printed one. If you want a REAL book on Bettie Page that does her justice, you'll read 'Bettie Page: Life of a Pin-Up Legend'. Now THAT is a beautiful book.
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