Since "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in" took firm hold of the Nielsen ratings, "beautiful downtown Burbank"--as that California metropolis is sarcastically referred to on the show--has become the butt of countless quips by people who have never even approached the city's limits. Indeed, Burbank was strictly a laughing matter for us (conditioned reflex) until we met honey-haired Jill Taylor, at which point our respect for the place increased a hundredfold. For Jill, however, life itself is but an extended laugh-in, and she couldn't care less what Dan Rowan, Dick Martin and their viewers have to say of her home town. A recent graduate of Burbank High School, where she was chosen senior-class queen, 18-year-old Jill is proof that not all of America's young people are clawing at the social structure or trying to find their own bag--and then crawl into it. She's in no hurry to commit herself to a course of action, be it employment or further schooling; she's convinced that our present nation in flux will straighten itself out in due time; and, while she admits the possibility is ever-present, she doesn't believe that California is about to tumble into the ocean. However, Jill would never claim to be an authority on politics--nor geology. Her thing is having fun in the sun with her friends and, in moments of solitude, amusing herself by sketching fanciful outfits: "If I ever do settle on a career, it'll have to be designing or modeling fashions--or maybe both. But for now, I'm more interested in having a good time." One reason that Jill isn't in a hurry to become a professional designer is that the current unisex craze turns her off: "I'm old-fashioned about things like that--I appreciate the difference." So do we, and we were glad, indeed, that Jill didn't prove to be old-fashioned when we asked her to grace our January gatefold.
