THE MAKING OF

For sixteen weeks last year, BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED ran at Chicago’s Playground Theatre. After eleven rewrites, a year of casting calls and all the things that can go wrong behind the scenes, the show finally went up and entertained audiences, many of whom made repeat visits.

Trying to find the right actress to play Bettie was a major undertaking, perhaps because of my own obsession with Bettie Page.

I was about eleven years old when I saw a photo of Bettie through a friend in the Atlanta Science Fantasy Organization (ASFO). In that group, comic book fans rubbed elbows with Lovecraft readers and strategy-game enthusiasts. It was the early days of what would eventually split into different fandoms, but at that time a lot of cross-pollination occurred between the members with their various areas of enthusiasm. And there was a small good-girl art group, all of whom cherished any photo of Bettie they could see.

It is hard to realize the impact, decades ago, of seeing her looking directly into the camera and at me through the photograph. Bettie said that she looked at the camera as if it were a man she was trying to seduce. All I know is, the dazzle in her eyes and smile hit me directly. There were a lot of models before her, and many more since (Twiggy comes to mind). But there are no new calendars of their work up, no books about their lives, no comics, paintings, trading cards and statuettes of them. Yet an underground model and stripper has buried almost all of them. It was that smile. The idea that you were about to have a lot of fun with a woman who enjoyed fun. Who enjoyed her own nudity. And these pictures were from the 1950s.

There were nothing but rumors about her in those days. And they got pretty outrageous. But she had just vanished and only legends remained.

Finally, through freakish chance, I heard of Elisabeth Oas and auditioned her. Many of the qualities Bettie had in those old photos, Elisabeth embodied herself. And audiences agreed when the play premiered. Sex appeal, personal magnetism, and a sensual warmth connected the audience with Miss Oas (who does indeed spell Elisabeth with an ‘S’) and made the play come alive.

But the play reopens now in the year 2000 and the twelfth rewrite has occurred. People who see the show now will see a different show, and after what may be just four weeks, a different Bettie.

She has returned largely to help reset the role for the next person and appear in a greatly improved show. She leaves some mighty big stiletto-heeled shoes to fill.

Next time I’ll write about the cast we have this go-round, and about the show following BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED that should raise some hell, BRING ME THE HEAD OF DEL CLOSE.

But for right now, I will wait to see Elisabeth on the big screen in Save The Last Dance, and on another stage as May in Fool For Love at the end of summer. And watch the world fall for this wonderful beauty and powerhouse of an actress.

So long, Elisabeth Oas. Knock ‘em dead!

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