In almost 11 years of unveiling feminine charm, we've discovered our Playmates in small-town shops, in big-city banks, in our own offices, in beauty contests, in various facets of showbiz, on college campuses, and in our Playboy Clubs. Though for the most part we've discovered them, occasionally our Playmates have turned the tables, introducing themselves through letters with snapshots enclosed, as did Nancy Jo Hooper, our February 1964 Playmate. Our prize for the most refreshingly direct approach to date, however, goes to Rosemarie Hillcrest, the statuesque British beauty who graces our gatefold this month. A 21-year-old student at the Sceptered Isle's prestigious Exeter University, Rosemarie jetted 4000 miles from Devon, England, to Chicago, U.S.A., for the express purpose of placing her name and numerals (41-25-38) in nomination for Playmate laurels. Rosemarie has long been a Playboy fan (though a copy of Playboy costs $1.20 in the United Kingdom, it's still the largest-selling American magazine there) and Playboy's popularity on the Exeter campus further kindled her long-cherished dreams of becoming a gatefold girl. "I knew I had the wherewithal to be a Playmate," Rosemarie later told us, "but I was hesitant to travel all the way to America, because I was afraid I might not even get an interview." With some urging from school chums, however, Rosemarie decided to visit the United States during her summer vacation--with a scheduled stop at Playboy's home base in the Windy City. Thus it was that one afternoon in the summer of 1963 she appeared on the marble doorstep of The Playboy Mansion, on Chicago's Near North Side, requesting to see Editor-Publisher Hugh M. Hefner, who happened to be at home that afternoon. She was shown in. Understandably impressed, Hef arranged Playmate test shots, the results of which were, as the British might understate, a bit of all right; so much so that a few months after Rosemarie had returned to England, we arranged to fly her back to the U.S. (between semesters) to pose for her official Playmate photos in the Playboy Studio. Rosemarie was so taken with America and with the Playboy world that she plans to come back after graduation to work as a Playboy Club Bunny. As far as we know, when she dons her satin ears she'll be the first Bunny-aristocrat: Her ancestry, which traces back to the England of William the Conqueror, entitles her to a coat of arms. Her intellectual escutcheon is equally prepossessing: She reads deeply in the works of such British novelists as Anthony Trollope, George Eliot and Jane Austen. But her abiding interest is economics, a subject in which she will soon hold a bachelor's degree. A disciple of the British economist John Maynard Keynes, Rosemarie thinks that America's economy should be more closely planned, says she believes the late J.F.K.'s greatest domestic achievement was consciously applying deficit spending to boost prosperity. Our 5?6? Miss October is also an accomplished equestrienne and first-rate swordswoman. Except for TW3, she finds television "a terrible bore, which I blamed on Britain until my first visit to America, when I learned that the only thing worse than British television is American television." She also can't tolerate the Beatles or their fans, reserves special contempt for affected men. But she's not hypercritical, she avers: She digs show horses, showbiz folks, sunshine, rose-period Picasso athletes, progressive jazz and masterful men. "Though deep down I'm a sensible girl, I'm sometimes rather too spontaneous for my own good," she admits candidly. "Which explains why I do outrageous things, like coming to America--that have wonderful results, like becoming a Playmate." The wonderful result of Rosemarie's spontaneity is--in this instance--undeniable; skeptics can refer to the gatefold for additional evidence, and for further insights into our beauteous and bounteous bundle from Britain.
