Generously configured Fran Gerard is a girl for the stars. She works with them--as an astrologer's assistant in sunny Southern Cal--and lives by them. Born under the sign of Aries, Fran should be warm, outgoing, charming and strong-willed--and she is. And, living as she does under her planet, Mars, she has been instilled with "a great deal of natural courage, a love of pioneering, testing, experimenting, investigating"--at least, according to her sign. "I guess that's why I've always liked the science," says the pretty assistant stargazer who tends the office for a Hollywood astrology teacher. "We're forever searching the cosmos for new meanings." Our plenipotent Playmate is as versant with combos as with cosmos: "Charlie Parker's Ornithology was the greatest single ever made," says Fran, "and I think E. S. P. by Miles Davis is the best LP." Sinatra is her favorite singer ("especially on Cottage for Sale"). "Actually," she says, "I have lots of favorites, like artists Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali. They capture so much of the glory of the universe in their work, but don't think I'm being stuffy; I like Batman, too." Fran credits another favorite, a book, with being the source of all this happiness and satisfaction. "It's The Magic of Believing by C. M. Bristol. It helps you to think positively." The positively smashing Miss Gerard's idea of a perfect man? Clark Gable. "Remember him as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind? He was too much," says Fran appreciatively. In an athletic mood, she is apt to try her hand at skiing or swimming. "I think you have to keep fit," she says. Our agile astrologer tends to put mind over matter, even though in this case the latter (39-24-36) must be described as heavenly: "I like to think the stars are right about me," says Fran, gesturing toward the mystic chart. "It tells me here, for instance, 'Much of your beauty is centered in your natural poise, in the way you hold your head, sometimes tossing it high in defiance, at other times bringing your piercing gaze to bear on the speaker. You are a natural-born leader, work well with other people and always know how to achieve group ends.' I hope I don't sound too immodest if I say I think that's true."
