Stevens, Dave - Bettie Page Magnet Preliminary

Back in November, 1999 Dave emailed me saying, "The third Bettie cover has been on the back-burner for a while, so that I can finish the large "paper doll" painting of her for the refrigerator magnet Dark Horse is producing for next year. It's turning out pretty well. I like it." Well, it didn't take any convincing for me to believe him, or to purchase the original preliminary drawing. Dave was referring to the three covers he drew for the Jim Silke, BETTIE PAGE: QUEEN OF THE NILE series that Dave did the covers for. The piece is 12 1/2 x 17" on vellum. The main image of Bettie is just over 16" tall, so it is one of the larger full figure shots of Bettie that Dave did. By the way, I tend to distinguish between "Betty" no-last-name, who was Cliff Secord's girl friend in THE ROCKETEER, and Bettie Page, the real life model. This drawing is of the real-life woman, and a large portion of the proceeds from the sale of the magnet sets themselves went to her, thanks to Dave and Dark Horse. I added this in honour of Bettie's 85th Birthday, as a tribute by her biggest fan -- the late, great, Dave Stevens. If you note the date, this preliminary was drawn during Bettie's 75th year....