13 May 2006

pin-ups past

it was a time when one cdn't download thousands of images in an hour. so we encounterd some photographs in newspapers or magazines which enterd our psyches & remain ageless. the historical ones everyone knows because they continue to be reproducd. but each one of us growing up in the '50s has private images that don't die.

that feeling came flooding back this afternoon as I weatchd Mary Harron's "The Notorious Bettie Page." I have only a vestigial memory of Page. when she was attracting attention I was more interestd in the physique poses of Richard Harrison & Bob Hover. no one calld those pin-ups but of course for many young men they were.

Harron does a terrific job in invoking that era. she's chosen a crackerjack cast & paid close attention to details.

2 comments:

richard lopez said...

that's a film i'm dying to see. i don't own any of page's photos or loops, tho i've seen a few of klaw's work of page thru the years. and she is one of the guiding lights of my super8 series of poems. there is something about her, and louise brooks too in a different way, that generates such wholesomeness that contrasts with images of s/m and leather. it is something to behold.

Alex Gildzen said...

the comparison with Brooks is fascinating. perhaps the black hair with bangs? altho the Page images are potent I've never seen her film work. however Brooks has a powerful screen presence in her best films.