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Burmel/Selbee and Bettie Page photographer Sam Menning was responsible for
many photographs used by Lenny Burtman, John Willie and others. His
education ceased at the seventh grade. With dreams of defending his country
like many other young men during the 1940s, at the age of sixteen he got
into the Navy by lying about his age . One hellish Christmas was spent out
on a lifeboat floating around somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Even with a
model like Bettie Page standing before him, Sam would focus on the
making the photograph interesting and the lighting dramatic. That is the
reason his photographs turned out so well and why they are memorable. Sam
Menning had a lingerie store in New York City and supplied the Klaws some
with outfits that Bettie Page used and helped them set up a few times. Sam
Menning remembers shooting Bettie Page in 6 heels and a leather outfit.
Sam Menning liked trying new things to keep himself amused with his art
while photographing his models. At one point during his career, he was so
prolific that he was responsible for producing over 90% of Gargoyle
Publications' photographs and did allot of work for Satellite Publications.
Sam Menning is still active and utilizes his talent in movies, TV shows
and commercials as an actor mainly playing old curmudgeons. See Sam
Menning's filmography at
imdb.com,
as it's really interesting! Many updates to scans were added to Sam
Menning's Bettie Page images on Sept. 24 2007 and I am actively seeking a
few more. If any members have better scans of some of the smaller samples,
please submit them!
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