I’ll go with Marilyn. They both but the va-va in my voom but Marilyn does it a bit more than Bettie. Egads, she was totally hot in Some Like it Hot and wore outfits I didn’t think they could get away with back then.
Marc
Really? Have you got any idea what she looks like these days?
I myself don’t prefer either one of them. Dead people give me the creeps.
Bettie for me. I’ve got a couple of Irving Klaw collections reprinted by Taschen stashed away here, somewhere.
What I like about Ms. Page is how much fun she seemed to be having. I’ll bet she would have been a blast to have a beer with. She came across as very genuine. Monroe, not so much.
Marilyn hardly enters into the equation. Bettie vs. Lili St. Cyr, that’s one I’d have to think about for a second. Still Bettie, though. 
Bettie. Mmmm. Bettie. Having hot girl-love for her right now…
I never elaborated on why I like Marilyn.
She seems softer, voluptuous, and a little nuts. Very feminine and lovely. I like that.
I prefer to wield the whip.
Bettie all the way. Not even close. Never understood the fascination with Marilyn. Anyway, blondes aren’t my thing (I do make exceptions, as for Veronica Lake), whereas brunettes, particularly black-haired brunettes, definitely are.
Not certain you meant to imply that Bettie’s dead, but last I heard she was still quite alive.
I knew this day would come when I’d have to choose, but I hoped I wouldn’t be so soon… 
Meh… neither… but Bettie in a pinch; sans the whip, keep the heels, I drive.
Bettie Page.
Marilyn was merely a flash in the pan.
Bettie will be remembered as the looker of the era.
I can’t decide; I’d have to try them both out for a good while to figure out which one I like best.
I guess that since nobody else is going to start the thread drift, I’m going to have to do it…
I’ll pick neither. My fav is Marilyn’s co-star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the lovely, talented, and curvacious Jane Russell.
As a fellow Rocketeer fan, I’m surprised you didn’t vote for Bettie! 
Oh, Bettie is very much alive, and has aged quite gracefully. I have a picture on my computer at home of her in the present day at a Playboy Mansion party, flanked by Pamela Anderson (looking very much in awe, knowing and appreciating who Bettie is) and Anna Nicole Smith (looking bored and vapid).
Marilyn, for me. I can’t think of another woman in history who simultaneous looks so much like a young virgin a fuck your fucking brains pro at the same time.
Let’s rephrase.
Marilyn, for me. I can’t think of another woman in history who simultaneously looks so much like a young virgin a fuck your fucking brains out pro at the same time.
Definitely Bettie. As others have said, her sexiness is more confident, more real. Marilyn was an act, Bettie was sex. Marilyn was Hollywood’s imagination of sexy (and it’s not far from the mark), but Bettie was the horny teenager’s imagination of his friend’s older sister or mother acting kinky.
Dita is WAY too skinny. And her “act” is totally lame. Not worth the premium charged because it’s “her.”
I have spent some time with Persephone and not only does she has an absolutely fabulous collection of vintage lingerie, and she looks HOT in it, but she is a really nice, funny, intelligent person.
Re the OP: I like both and I like Bettie’s style of photography, but overall I’m a Marilyn girl. Va-va-voom baby.
Although I prefer blonds to brunettes (but it’s redheads who really get my blood pumping) I’d have to pick Betty.
As others have said, she’s the real deal while Marilyn was all an act. … and a corsette and whip is almost as good as having red hair…
Definitely Bettie–for the bondage, and her general subversive sexuality, which echoes through comics and music to this day.
Bettie Page is sexy. IMO, Marilyn was a star-fucking dimwit on 3" heels. She was sexy in her own way, but not in the way that appeals to me.
Artists like Coop (WARNING, NOT EVEN REMOTELY WORK OR KID SAFE) aren’t drawing Monroe 50 years later, they’re drawing Bettie Page and all she stood, sat, laid and hung from a trapeze for.
Long Live Bettie Page.
Bettie all the way. It’s not the confidence, so much, as the intelligence. I understand that Marilyn was actually fairly bright, but her persona was too vapid, and that breathy little girl voice is like nails on a chalkboard for me. Bettie always came across as smarter, and a little dangerous. Woof!
You have a point–but think of Jane Russell as having all that Bettie has, but with a 40-inch bust…
That was crass, wasn’t it? Seriously, Jane R shows a lot of charm in every film I’ve seen her in (and I’ve seen a lot), and she was a lot more stable than Marilyn. By all reports she got along very well with MM, being very patient with MM’s quirks and insecurity.
It’s hard to do a good comparison of MM or JR with Bettie, since the only way we know BP (in her prime) is through still photos and a handful of non-speaking cameos in striptease films. So although she just explodes with charm in photos, and may be a very nice lady today, the data simply isn’t as good for the period of interest.