BETTIE PAGE REMIXED - Music by Reid Rosefelt

I edited this version from Irving Klaw's 1955 film, TEASERAMA, a series of performances by striptease burlesque artists and comics. Bettie plays the maid to the star, Tempest Storm, and brings out the easel cards for all the stripteasers--as well as her own card.

The idea of a 50s striptease artist is hard to look at in 2022 without bringing in all the preconceptions of today, particularly somebody like Bettie Page, who also did bondage pinup photos. But in this, it seems clear to me that she is having a lot of fun dancing for herself and is self-aware about the pinup poses she puts on for the customers. She's in control and there's always a self-aware wink. She's funny. The fact that her life ended in a very sad way takes nothing away from her power as an entertainer and the fact that she created an enduring style that is still imitated today. That's what interests me and it's why I didn't reference anything about the more lurid or sad parts of her life. To me, she's a hero and that's all.

As a musician I was trying out a lot of things that I've never done before. I wanted the music to alternate between percussive and musical passages. Just be constantly changing in abrupt ways. For the rhythm, I started out using software by XLN Audio called XO, with an expansion by Delhia de France. The thing that's great about that software is that I wasn't just using loops by her, but I was able to really change things up, bringing in my own noises and sound FX. But she's a great artist and gave me a great starting point for this. Another big thing was Realitone's Blue, which I used for the "Betty" sound. You can't sing anything with Blue, but you can sing "Beh-tee," and I'm grateful for Mike Greene of Realitone for making it. The other big thing is a vocal virtual instrument called Bronte (featuring the voice of Bronte Horder) made by Evolution Series. I used that vocal in my previous video, NAIAD, and it's the best thing in both of them. Going to be using it a lot in the future! : )

Finally, I've been fooling around with Binaural mixing. While I didn't use that for this video, this is all over the map spatially. Good to listen to with headphones.

The movie has fallen into public domain and you can watch the whole thing here on YouTube, if you're curious. Or you can rent it to see better quality.

But PLEASE buy as much officially licensed merch as you possibly can. https://www.bettiepage.com/ Maybe Bettie's estate won't come after me, as I worked two weeks on this thing!

One person who is amazing is illustrator Olivia Berardinis, who just does the best Bettie Page drawings ever. https://www.bettiepage.com/olivia-de-...
In a weird coincidence, I used to live in the same Riverside Drive apartment in New York that de Berardinis did. I knew she was an illustrator, but I only found out what kind of illustrator she was years later when I found her work online. She never brought out her portfolio in the elevator!