[Atompunk] The Soviet Bettie Page

[Bruce Sterling]

*One has to wonder if it gets any more atompunk than Bettie Page.
Imagine being a mentally-ill born-again Christian 50s pinup.

*A *Soviet* Bettie Page.  Why was the world denied a Soviet
Bettie Page?  What would it take to engineer one?

http://pixarra.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=2291


Ex-Pinup Bettie Page 'Critically Ill' In Hospital

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven- 
haired bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in  
intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.

"She's critically ill," Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide told The  
Associated Press.

He said the 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three  
weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the  
heart attack Tuesday. Page was transferred to another hospital in Los  
Angeles and remained in intensive care Friday.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to  
confirm, Roesler said, "I would not deny that," but he would not  
comment further on her condition.

Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the  
stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She  
attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her  
sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.

Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then- 
fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic  
poses.

Page later spent decades away from the public eye, and during that  
time battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian...