The model of the liquid crystalline blue phases proposed by Alfred Saupe in 1969 is examined in light of the recent, successful theoretical models for these phases. Such an analysis demonstrates that Saupe’s model captures all of the important features of the recent models, differing only in the density of line disclinations. The fact that Saupe proposed this model over ten years before the more recent work and without the benefit of a significant amout of new experimental evidence is testimony for his keen physical insight. Such models continue to be useful as researchers direct their attention to the less understood third blue phase and the transition between it and the isotropic phase.