The Best Antidote we know for February's wintry blues is a lot of sun shining on a lot of girl -- which we herewith offer in the fine form of Toni Ann Thomas, our February Playmate. A tempting 18 years of age, titian-haired Toni Ann is passing through an appealingly unpredictable stage in her young life: at times she is tomboyishly exuberant and given to wild backyard romps with her two kid brothers; at other times she can, through the alchemy of perfume and peignoir, suddenly transform herself into a delicate charmer with womanly poise. Born and bred in California, Toni Ann lives alone in West Covina in a small, neat apartment furnished in Swedish modern. Her bedroom contains one rarely used TV set ("It bores me to tears"), some 20 stuffed animals of uncertain lineage, and three widely scattered alarm clocks, which most of the time succeed in awakening her for her job as a switchboard operator with a local insurance company. (A recent graduate of Los Angeles' Washington High, Miss February first worked as one of Vic Tanny's more spectacular -- 38-22-36 -- instructresses before switching to the switchboard.) In her spare time, she likes reading short stories with happy endings and being escorted to movie houses featuring light comedies and exciting whodunits. Toni Ann is still girl enough to squeal at football games (she roots passionately for Southern Cal), stuff herself on Mexican and Italian dishes, and leap in the air when she bowls one of her rare strikes. At the same time, she views her life and the men therein with a levelheaded maturity: "My favorite kind of guy is one who is unpretentious and who cares as much about what I think as how I look. The fellows I really turn off are the phonies -- the ones who are fascinated by themselves and want to take me places only as some kind of ornament for their own egos. Also, I'm not too fond of the sly types that keep saying they can help me get ahead in show business. I don't want to be an actress, and I'm not particularly interested in being a model. I'd much prefer marrying a nice guy and raising a big family." Blessed with sultry features and a lushly proportioned 5'5", 120-pound body, Toni Ann naturally draws masculine double takes wherever she goes. "I guess there's no point in fighting nature," she smiles. "I used to be self-conscious. Now, frankly, I enjoy it. You might say it's part of growing up." As proof that Toni Ann has indeed grown up, we refer you to the accompanying photographs of our fun-loving Miss February, a Playmate of whom it clearly can be said: Thank heaven for not-so-little girls.
