LOS ANGELES - Photos of Betty White taken by a celebrity photographer that reveal the longtime star of stage and screen prefers a night on the town sans undergarments have created a worldwide furor.The photographer, Edwin Merino, took several pictures of Ms. White getting in and out of a car with former Golden Girls co-star Bea Arthur. "Some women would try and hold their skirts down, or something," said Merino. "But Betty wasn't even trying to cover anything up."
Mr. Merino was only able to snap two pictures of Ms. White before his camera malfunctioned. "I accidentally aimed the lens at Ms. Arthur, and the damn thing shattered," he said. Still, the photos made the wire services and the internet minutes after they were taken. Many of Ms. White's fans expressed disappointment upon hearing the news . "This is no way for a grandmother to act, said Bill Leckey, a twenty-two year old Wall Street financier. "I knew something like this was going to happen the minute I heard Betty was running around with that Lindsey Lohan." Mr. Leckey said he believes it's time Ms. White's relatives commit her to an institution.
Other people believe the decision by Ms. White to go out in public without wearing underwear, knowing she would be photographed, was not an early symptom of dementia, but a calculated decision by an aging actress still looking to take risks in an effort to advance her career. "This kind of thing is not without precedent," said Dr. David Corbett, a professor of Television Studies at the University of Dayton . "Doesn't anybody remember the Ellen Corby-Will Geer sex tape scandal of twenty years ago?" A copy of the tape, in the Beta format, recently sold for ten thousand dollars on Ebay.
