Here we go again! Time to bang the "not Bettie bangs" drum!

In preparation, please repeat this mantra with me:

Black hair and bangs are not necessarily Bettie Page bangs!

Black hair and bangs are not necessarily Bettie Page bangs!

Black hair and bangs are not necessarily Bettie Page bangs!



Now that we have our mantra filling the air, we must ponder a discussion about pigtails I fell over while popping around assorted websites. Someone dragged NCIS co-star Pauley Perrette (Abby) into the discussion. And because that character has black hair and bangs, it became a mandate for the poster to describe them as Bettie Page bangs. Well, they can't be. They're cut straight across.

Patti - You seem to be concerned with a strict interpretation of whether bangs attributed to Bettie's style are true replicas or not. I like to look at it the other way around. People are so taken with and inspired by Bettie that they want to identify with her and they're using artistic license in creating a version of Bettie's bangs for themselves. Either that or people are trying to use Bettie's names to promote themselves. In either case, it's a testament to Bettie's stylistic influence that people see her bangs as a touchstone 55 years later!

You're posing issues that are way too complex for a Forum! We're stuck with a Reader's Digest overview:

People glomming onto Bettie's "look"

All too often, it's akin to the dynamic you see with a hit TV show being copied because of desperation maneuvers, instead of creators trying to find a novel path to carve out. What worked with an "original" becomes a pale shadow of itself when cloned. Way too many Bettie emulations and inspirations are little more than people's inability to find their own way.

Granted, some intentional copycat exceptions landed the copycat in the middle of a lucrative career. Dita Von Teese comes to mind, but she transcended Bettie long ago.

Some people are inspired by Bettie, but they use that inspiration to carve out unique paths. Vyxsin is one such person. Based on my discussion with her, Bettie keeps her inspiration pilot light fueled, yet you'd never know it to look at Vyxsin. (Hope you noticed her during one of the recent Jimmy Kimmel openings. If not, the clip is embedded in her Forum thread.)

Then, there are people like Bernie Dexter. She posted to the Bettie Scouts that when she was starting, Bettie wasn't even in her thoughts. Other people kept telling her that she looked like Bettie. The paradox is that Bernie is about as close as one can get to a cookie cutter Bettie image.

Mostly, we find people who are clueless and latch desperately onto Bettie. I'm sorry to say that when I talk with such people, I'm left with the impression that the size of their melons exceeds their gray matter and creativity, not to mention self-concept challenges.


People seeing Bettie where she doesn't exist

Wishful seeing is everywhere. And so is overwhelming ignorance due to inability to name other people with black hair and bangs, combined with a perceived need to assign labels.

Bottom line: Why can't someone with black hair decide to have bangs -- unrelated to Bettie?

Had to dig up Dita's explanation. It's always better to get it from the horse's mouth!

From Dita Von Teese's interview for the May, 2002 issue (Vol. 11 No 5/6) of Femme Fatales:

“I started with a red 1950s hairstyle then moved onto a 1920′s black bob and then onto full-force Bettie Page. When I felt I had done Bettie as best as it could be done, I decided I should make a name for myself with my own unique style as a raven haired 1930-40s pinup. I had always loved that era and it’s what I know best! I love the WWII Technicolor musicals, so I take much inspiration for my burlesque shows from them.”

Nigel Lythgoe (Executive Producer/Judge on "So You Think You Can Dance") was talking about the plastic fantastic ways people try to promote themselves. This was during one of his appearances on "The Bonnie Hunt Show." He noted that celebrity has taken the place of being stars.

Some people seek out any spotlight they can direct at themselves; while they don't know what they want to do (translation: little to no talent/creativity), they try anything to become a celebrity. In other words, they try to grab attention as publicity seekers.

How does this apply to Bettie? Though she's FAR from famous, she has a devoted cult following. People who are desperate for a piece of such adoration try to snag it by creating supposed Bettie emulations.

What such people don't realize is that Bettie wasn't trying to be anyone but herself.

Had to go digging and dust off some cobwebs to unearth the attached magazine cover. It's a wonderful example of the Bettie bangs categorization dilemma.

Had this magazine been printed during the 1950s, some people would be insisting that the image on the cover reflects Bettie bangs. Some might even try to claim that the cover looks like Uma Thurman's hair in PULP FICTION; we'll discuss her bob further in a separate post, since some people have wrongly linked it to Bettie's 'do.

When we look at the issue's date (January, 1946), it's apparent that Bettie wasn't a gleam in anyone's eye as a model. She was living in San Francisco and was years away from creating bangs.