Moon Phase = Somewhere 'round newWeather = Sunny, Cool and
comfortable. Finally. 		Current reading = Excerpts from Initiations, Human and Solar by Alice Bailey
Quote: "I never was the girl next door."
- Bettie Page
Artwork © 1998 Dawn Firewolf, Black Horse Studio

September 24, 1998

It's sometime after 1 a.m. and I haven't been back long from Nashville and the chat with the one, the only, the fabulous Bettie Page on the Nashville version of citysearch.com. On the way to Nashville, while I was on Briley Parkway, I could of sworn I saw a space shuttle piggy backed on a jet...

I went into the chat room 30 minutes early to make sure I did get in - and there were 8 auditoriums already! I only made one faux pas - when someone asked if everyone in the room loved Bettie, I accidently hit the 'a' key instead of the 'e' key and called her Ms. Battie...

While I was waiting for the chat to start, I started 'playing' with the buttons to see how everything worked...so I went ahead and sent my question the moderator, thinking that if I was lucky I may be 20, 30 or so down the list...I about fell off my chair when my question was the first one they asked her! Me!! The Fabulous Bondage Goddess herself answered my question first!!! What was that question? It was perfectly innocent - "Is there anything that you wish you did in your life?"

The Fabulous Ms. Bettie's response: "I wish I had followed up on my screen test and been a star. I had to go back to Nashville with my husband when he came back from the war. I also wish that I had children - 2 boys and a girl but the doctors always told me that I had a hormone inbalance."

She answered many questions during the chat and spoke of her goal to live to be 100+ and active and healthy all the way; how she would have liked to have been in a movie with Errol Flynn or Burt Lancaster, her reasons for walking away from modeling...

She had a few choice words for one or two people: Bunny Yeager -"That woman is the stingiest woman God ever put on the face of the earth! She says that I can pay for my own photos like everyone else!" Richard Foster, who wrote The Real Bettie Page, ('the creep' is only one of the words Ms. Bettie used for him got a screen and a half of ire - all because of my other question. It was, "Ms. Bettie - a few months ago I saw a story about a man who said he had a letter from you about your time in Fla. and you were arrested. He is supposedly writing a book about it. Is it true - or more lies??" The Goddess flamed that man up and down. When someone begins a sentence with "Let me tell you about Richard Foster..." you know you're in for an interesting answer. Turns out, he did some digging and made some very private matters very public...and added quite a few lies into the mix. He did have a letter from her because he wrote her, telling her what a fan he was and she 'was in the mood so I answered his questions.' He took that info and ran with it. She even said that he didn't even offer her any money from the book - he's keeping everything for himself. Made me want to kick the guy...just because he got on the wrong side of the Fabulous Goddess.

Karen Essex (who co - wrote Life of a Pin - Up Legend) said in response to a question about whether or not other women got jealous of Ms. Bettie that there were still quite a few gentlemen The Goddess' (my words) age in Nashville whose wives still get furious when Bettie's name is mentioned. I bet it's true! She also jumped in when the Fabulous Ms. Page said that she didn't want anyone to see her as she is now, "No one wants to see an old fat ex-model"..."Bettie's only 20 or 25 pounds overweight!"

Someone asked Ms. Bettie about her fabulous (am I overusing that word? Nah....not when it's Ms. Bettie...) hair and she said that she quit coloring her hair in October of 1978. (She did this several times during the chat - most people would have just said '1978' - because more than likey that would be all they could remember - but The Fabulous Ms. Bettie said both the month and year.) She wasn't working as a secretary anymore and was pretty much retired so she quit. She just didn't see the point. She's worried that she's going to lose her hair though - she said that great gobs of it would come out in the shower. She also cut it about 8 months ago so not many people recognize her anymore.

The biggest surprise - in my mind anyway - was that the Goddess loves my favorite t.v. show - Xena, Warrior Princess! She said that she was very impressed by Lucy Lawless' ability to do all those flips and kicks - especially since Lucy is 6 ft. tall.

The other big surprise was the Fabulous Ms. Bettie's comment just before she signed off, "I hope that you don't look down on me because of the breakdown and some busy body landladies." She went on to say that those matters in that book (The Real Bettie Page) were private and they should have stayed that way. I couldn't resist saying, "Oh Ms. Bettie, I could never look down on you! You're my hero!" She said thank you to me - by name!! She then said, "Kisses and Hugs to you all" and that was it. The Divine Communion...was over.

I GOT TO TALK TO BETTIE PAGE!!!!! Albeit, indirectly but I TALKED TO THE FABULOUS GODDESS!!! It seems kind of surreal - I found the notice for the chat completely by accident (was it? really?) and my question 'just happened' to be the first one asked...and both of my questions got answered...I talked to her!!!! I said it earlier tonight - "Alright, Lord, if it's my time to go then right now would be a good time - I'm ecstatic!"

Later, circa 6:30 p.m....about the shuttle on the jet: turns out - it was exactly that! NASA was sending the shuttle Atlantis from California to Florida and the jet had to turn around and fly to Fort Campbell because of hurricane warnings. WOW! It was a incredible sight - I wish I could have gotten a photo of it. The shuttle is smaller than I thought, just based on its size compared to the jet's and it was just mentioned on the news (where they confirmed that it was indeed the shuttle) that Atlantis only weighs a bit over 100,000 pounds - the same as a full cabin and cargo bay of an airliner. What a day!!!


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Page Copyright 1998 D. Firewolf