Bettie!

Book excerpt: BETTIE! : The Incomparable Bettie Page Archives of Irving Klaw is a very carefully curated collection of exquisitely reproduced photographs. Never before have so many of Klaw's photographs been published in a single book. The photographs include some of the most iconic photographs ever taken of Bettie as well as some never before published photographs of the legendary 1950's pinup queen.The photographer, Irving Klaw, was noted as one of America's first fetish photographers and Bettie as America's first famous bondage model. From 1952 through 1958 the pair worked together weekly in Irving's New York studio. Irving was played by Chris Bauer opposite Gretchen Mol in the 2005 film, "The Notorious Bettie Page". The Kefauver Hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1957 marked the beginning of the end of Irving's mail-order photography business in New York. The investigation tried to link pornography to juvenile delinquency. The McCarthy-style hearings branded Irving as a degenerate pornographer and ushered in a new wave of media censorship. Bettie was also summoned to the hearings but was never called to testify (parts of the hearings are recreated in the film The Notorious Bettie Page). She retired from modeling soon afterwards. Because of the political, social and legal pressures he faced, Irving closed his storefront business and burned many of his negatives. It is estimated that more than 80% of the negatives were destroyed. However, his sister Paula secretly kept some of the better images, which are now reproduced like never before in this exclusive book.