Playboy's Playmate Review
January, 1965
Nancy Scott Miss March
"If eyes were made for seeing," wrote Emerson, "then beauty is its own excuse for being." Following Emerson's lead, we offer no other reason than the eye-filling beauty of our past year's Playmates for asking you to choose your nominee for Playmate of the Year. Our quest for centerfolddom's perfect dozen took us last year to such varied habitats as a sports-car agency, a meat market, an insurance company, a Hollywood film lot, the campus of a British university and---in four fortunate instances---the familiar environs of our own Playboy Clubs. The ides of March were made less foreboding by the presence of Nancy Scott, whose face and form adorn the opening page of this portfolio. Nancy was working as a medical technician for a Los Angeles doctor when we first diagnosed her Playmate potential, and, as you can see, still displays a charming beachside manner. This year, Nancy will mix cottontails with chemistry by moonlighting at the L. A. Playboy Club.
China Lee Miss August
Our Occident-prone August Playmate, China Lee, a 22-year-old Training Bunny who covers the four corners of the Playboy Club empire, has proven herself a sportswoman of some stature (35-22-35). A 200-plus bowler and prize-winning equestrienne, China's Bunny-hopping takes her to all Playboy Club openings and barely leaves time for her promising career as an actress and chanteuse. As a result of her Playmate appearance, she's cut two LPs for Ava Records and will soon appear in a new Tommy Noonan movie currently being filmed in Hollywood. When she's finished her day at the studio, China works the night shift at the L. A. hutch.
Kai Brendlinger Miss November
Hiking and skiing enthusiast Kai Brendlinger, a 21-year-old Bunny hutched at the Chicago Playboy Club, took us along on her annual Denver homecoming last November. Although she readily admitted that her heart was in the highlands of her native Colorado, our resourceful (35-23-35) mountaineer Playmate told us she had so many good friends in Chicago that she'd hate to leave. Our 5'3" winsome Westerner prefers men of outdoor persuasion who will appreciate her few little idiosyncrasies ("I like spaghetti for breakfast") and show their real intelligence by "not always trying to prove how bright they are."
Ashlyn Martin Miss April
Though she qualifies for the role of ingénue among our past year's Playmates, 18-year-old Ashlyn Martin refuses to be typecast in this or any other category as she searches for herself and, for the present, a potential career as a serious actress. A native Floridian with a yen to travel, auburn-haired Ashlyn has already landed roles in a pair of Hollywood films and appeared on network television---Burke's Law, The Joey Bishop Show---since her recent migration to the celluloid capital. Her latest project is learning to knit, a deceptively sedentary avocation for one who hopes to be on her way to Europe by spring.
Nancy Jo Hooper Miss February
A 21-year-old Southern belle who hails from a small rural town in Georgia ("Six visitors could cause a traffic jam"), Nancy Jo Hooper made her first trip north of the Mason-Dixon when we flew her to Chicago to become our Valentine Playmate. Since then, our hazel-eyed Georgia peach has been too occupied with personal appearances and Playmate promotions to settle down and find that "understanding and sophisticated guy with smalltown habits." Nancy's an avid swimmer and water-skier, which helps explain how she can indulge in her weakness for lasagna and lobster and remain a striking example of rural electrification.
Astrid Schulz Miss September
Our quadrilingual Dutch treat, Astrid Schulz, whose impressive European background as a ballet student, opera singer and London fashion model has undoubtedly enhanced her career in American films---The Art of Love and A House Is Not a Home---is now on her way to becoming another of playboy's theatrically eminent Playmates. Currently in Europe for a long-awaited visit with her family, Astrid has just completed a three-week tour of the U. S. for Paramount ("I was amazed at how many people recognized me as the September Playmate") and her first video test for a role on the Kraft Suspense Theater.
Melba Ogle Miss July
A delectable smorgasbord of beauty, brains and business acumen, Melba Ogle's career has taken on new dimensions since she appeared as our July Playmate with an unusual dual talent for modeling and meat cutting. Shortly after our readers first became aware of this 5'2" Nordic beauty's impressive gifts (39-22-35), she sold her interest in the meat market and bought into a new West Coast cosmetics firm. When she's not busy coming up with new ideas on how to improve the firm's beauty products, Melba, her own firm's best advertisement, doubles as a part-time mannequin and will soon do a series of TV commercials.
Sharon Rogers Miss January
Since her laudable appearance as our New Year's Playmate, our erstwhile editorial assistant has departed for sunnier climes and a crack at the acting career she's always hoped to pursue. Now firmly ensconced in her own Hollywood apartment, Sharon Rogers is still as industrious as ever, triple-timing her way through acting classes, TV and film roles, plus Bunny promotion for the L. A. Playboy Club. So we haven't lost an employee: she's just found a new hutch from which to uphold her title as our Triple Treat Playmate. She made her TV debut in a recent Burke's Law teleplay, and will make her cinematic bow in The Candidate.
Rosemarie Hillcrest Miss October
This well-endowed subject of both the British Crown and our October centerfold is now back at Exeter getting her degree in economics after taking a coast-to-coast tour of the United States via Greyhound bus. "Quite a place to visit, and I might even like to live here," remarked Rosemarie before jetting back to Devon, England, for a final scholastic fling. If all goes well this year for our economy-minded candidate, she'll graduate with honors and then allocate her generous supply of feminine charms (41-25-38) to Bunnydom for a while. A master with foil and épée, she digs jazz, sun, horses, dancing and masterful men.
Lori Winston Miss June
Twenty-year-old Lori Winston has made considerable progress in two directions since her June Playmate appearance. She was anxious to pursue an artistic career and equally hooked on the nautical life of Southern California. In short, she was hopelessly caught between the easel and the deep blue sea---an unfortunate dilemma for such a seeworthy lass. After enrolling in an evening course in art history at Long Beach State College, Lori found a solution to her conflicting interests by using her Playmate money to buy an 18-foot day-sailer. Now, when she's finished her weekday chores, our able-bodied mate heads out to sea.
Terri Kimball Miss May
The mail deliveries to Terri Kimball at the Chicago Bunny Dormitory have been large and lucrative since we covered her Cape Cod homecoming last May. In addition to her voluminous fan mail---including letters from most of the male frosh at Rhode Island University, where brother Biff won a scholarship---our blue-eyed Bunny has been receiving quarterly dividends from stocks she bought with her Playmate money, plus modeling fees from such advertisers as Chris-Craft and Mogen David. "My first dividend check was for $518," says the freckled financier. "That's pretty good form for a beginner." The statistics (36-23-36) agree.
Jo Collins Miss December
December Playmate Jo Collins is a movable feast of yuletide bounty (36-24-36) who grew up in Seattle, played a season of summer stock in Portland, currently resides in Hollywood (where she models teen fashions, makes video commercials, and works with an amateur acting group), and plans to migrate to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. Her penchant for sailing provides her with a year-round tan that belies her avid indoor interest in painting, photography and the care and tuning of her fuel-injected Chevy. In the long run, 19-year-old Jo plans an offstage career with an "untheatrical-type guy."
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