The polls remain open in our special election for the ten Playmates of the Decade, all of whom will appear in a December Readers' Choice pictorial. The 1962 roster of candidates, herein pictured, validates the ancient adage that good things come in pairs. Before our ninth year of publication, we had never photographed a Canadian Playmate; that year we reached north of the border for two, Pamela Anne Gordon (March) and Unne Terjesen (July), who was born in Odda, Norway, before migrating west. Another double premiere was personified by Jan Roberts (August) and Mickey Winters (September): Until their arrival on the gatefold scene, 24 girls had transited from Playmate to Bunny, but Jan and Mickey were discovered in cottontails at the Chicago Club, and, in a neat switch, went from Bunny to Playmate. Then, in December, June Cochran became the 25th beauty to go the other way, when she followed up twin beauty-contest victories (she won the Indiana State title in both the Miss World and Miss Universe contests) with a stunning centerfold appearance, then became--and still is--one of the Windy City's most popular Bunnies, as well as 1963's Playmate of the Year. We also introduced a brace of cinema hopefuls in 1962 who have since taken their first steps up the stardom ladder: Merle Pertile (January) recently signed a contract with Universal, and Marya Carter (May), a regular on the Jackie Gleason show last year, will soon appear in Columbia's The New Interns. Next month, Playboy will revisit 1963's candidates, after which the ballot box will be unsealed and the ballots tallied. If you've already chosen your slate of ten favorites from December 1953 through December 1963, you may cast your votes now.
