Playboy's Playmate Review

a portfolio of the past delightful dozen

If "The Eyes," as Greek sage Heraclitus once opined, "are more exact witnesses than the ears," then the following pictorial review of our past twelvemonth's Playmates leaves little room for doubt over the shapely state of centerfolddom's most recent perfect dozen. Once again, therefore, we have gathered together an annum's worth of gatefold girls for the sole and happy purpose of facilitating your choice of a new nominee for Playmate of the Year. In 1965, our peripatetic lensmen harvested a bumper crop of comely contenders for the crown and, in five fetching instances, their nationwide search for feminine foldouts took them through the familiar portals of our own Playboy Clubs.

Last October, our photographic attention focused on the poolside pulchritude of 22-year-old Allison Parks, an able-bodied aquanaut who teaches tiny tots to swim in her family's Glendale, California, back-yard pool, and an off-hours flying enthusiast who has logged several solo hours aloft since she first adorned these pages. Currently entertaining a host of Hollywood screen-test offers, blonde and blue-eyed Allison also looks forward to a heavy schedule of upcoming Playboy promotion tours.

Pat RussoMiss November

Pretty Pat Russo, a chestnut-haired Connecticut Yankee who migrated to Florida's sunnier shores two years ago to pursue a cottontailed career, earned centerfold honors last November after adding appealing dimensions to our previous month's pictorial coverage of The Bunnies of Miami. A confirmed sun worshiper ("Like most ex-Northerners, the one thing I could never stand was cold weather") who prefers painting to partying and Bach to the Beatles, fashionably framed (5'7") Pat now puts in a full day modeling new styles for Miami couturiers.

March hare Jennifer Jackson, a 20-year-old who was tripling as Chicago Bunny, part-time college undergraduate and free-lance advertising model when we first spotted her Playmate potential, has opted for the role of a Manhattan mannequin. In the evenings, our tall (5'8 1/2") tennis buff furthers her education by majoring in drama at Long Island University ("The play's the thing right now, but I'll probably be hung up on something else next semester") and recently teamed with twin-cottontail Jan for an Ebony feature on matched misses.

Former Chicago cottontail and Playboy College Bureau distaffer Lannie Balcom proved the come-liest of colleagues when she followed up her appearance as last year's April cover girl by adding her august charms to the August gatefold. An off-hours devotee of Steinbeck novels, James Bond flicks and Mexican cookery, this Phoenix-born Playmate recently broke many a home-office heart when she announced her resignation to return to her native Southwest and begin serving a lifetime stint as the matrimonial bonds-mate of a Texas oil millionaire.

Twenty-year-old Dinah was a letter-perfect candidate for center-folddom's holiday honors who wrote us from Hobbs, New Mexico, to inquire if there were "any chance of a small-town girl becoming a Playmate." We invited her to guest at Chicago's Playboy Mansion while staff photogs test-shot the natural-blonde beauty and affirmed our faith in her direct-mail appeal. At presstime, our curvaceous correspondent had just signed a seven-year film contract with Hollywood producer Ned Bosnick and was slated to debut this year in Young Hollywood.

A Baltimore based rabbituette when she received the nod as our New Year's Playmate, 23-year-old Sally Duberson has since returned to her native New York, where she is completing her curriculum at a local school for would-be designing females. Next to fashion, this loveliest of President James Monroe's last living descendants admits a penchant for seafood salads, sensitive men and la vie discothèque, which she contends is "a great way to have plenty of fun and keep in shape at the same time." A fast appraisal of this ex-hutch honey's shape leads us to agree.

September's reigning miss, Patti Reynolds, spent her Playmate prize money on a tour of the European equestrienne scene, where she picked up many a timely tip on how to improve her jumping technique for the upcoming season's schedule of Midwest horse shows. The winner of five gold cups and numerous blue ribbons in recent regional meets, this current toast of Chicago's post-and-paddock set spends most of her free time putting her high-hurdling pet horse, Frankie ("the best four-legged friend a girl could ever ask for"), through his daily paces.

Gorgeous Gaul Maria McBane, a multitalented miss who hails from the south of France, was working as a Los Angeles dental assistant when she first graced these pages last May. An ardent student of both drama and dance, she landed the role of première danseuse in an October production of The King and I at suburban Melody-land and recently auditioned for a leading film role opposite Paul Muni. Weekends, this shipshape sailing enthusiast takes to the waters off Balboa Beach, California, in a trim new 18-foot sloop she bought with her gatefold booty.

Spritely Sue Williams, who became the shortest subject in Playmate history when we uncovered her bantam (4'11") beauty last April, has lost all traces of her latent tomboy tendencies since signing on with American International Studios and taking subsequent cinematic bows in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and Sergeant Deadhead. She's also lost a goodly portion of her golden tresses as a result of Hollywood hair stylist John Peters' plan to feature her in an upcoming fashion photo spread for Glamour. Her next film role: The Girl in the Glass Bikini.

A redheaded California coed with keen hazel eyes for a career in ballet, our pirouetting July Playmate double-times through a daily schedule of art courses at Pierce College and afternoon lessons at Natalia Clare's Ballet School in North Hollywood. On wintry weekends, when she's not busy earning future tuition fees by dancing in Las Vegas night-club revues, Gay likes to head for the slopes at Squaw Valley ("It's the only chance I get to show off all the great new ski sweaters I've been knitting at home all summer"). Schussing was never sweeter.

Belgian-born Hedy Scott, a part-time model for Hollywood fashion designer Charles Gallet and full-time filmic hopeful, made everybody's June more joyous with her Playmate appearance. Between recent roles in What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? and the forthcoming film version of Oh Dad, Poor Dad ("I play the part of a Playboy Club Bunny. How's that for Hollywood-type casting?"), starring Jonathan Winters, travel-happy Hedy has made several Playboy promotional junkets but still found time to finish decorating her new Oriental-modern digs.

Our favorite valentine was a classically constructed native Californian of Greek ancestry, aptly surnamed St. George. Raventressed Jessica had been in hot pursuit of the Terpsichorean muse for most of her 19 years when she came baring gifts for last February's gatefold ("Dad started teaching me Greek folk dances before I could tell my left foot from my right") and has since developed her dancing expertise to the point of giving periodic performances at local benefits and amateur theatrical revues. Her pet peeve: "Dates who go the go-go route."