Myra Van Heck is involved in the world of gambling, by nature as well as by profession. Occupationally, the 23-year-old British beauty is a roulette croupier at the London Playboy Club. But contests of all kinds are her forte, because her clearly stated ambition is to be rich and famous and to retire early. Since beauty contests have a way of bringing their winners precisely those rewards that Myra professes to seek, she entered the Miss England Contest. "I went for a giggle with all the other girls," she said. But the blue-eyed brunette was soon smiling brightly in all her Britannic majesty as the queen of the event. "I never dreamed of entering a beauty competition before that," said the regal Bunny. "Though it started as a lark, it turned out to be a serious thing--and hard work when, the competition actually began." As a result of her victory, there was more work in store for Myra. She became one of the 62 girls representing their respective homelands in the 18th annual Miss Universe Pageant at Miami Beach. Though she didn't carry the crown away after that event, Myra did emerge as the most candid contestant of the hour. When asked about the tight schedule of activities the entrants were required to attend, Myra snapped: "They don't even give us time to go to the bloody bathroom." But when one of the pageant's chaperones told a television reporter that the girls had no time to watch TV, Myra reversed field. "She's fibbing," Myra said of the chaperone. "We watch the telly every night to see if we're on." Upbraided for her bluntness, the lovely Myra said, "I'm not going to change the way I talk for any beauty pageant." After the contest, Myra returned to Bunnydom and her gig at the gaming tables. "It's as interesting as any job can be," she says. "And it takes a certain amount of intelligence to control all the action at the board. You have to watch the spinning wheel, the ivory ball, the stack of chips and the bettors--all at the same time. It's really a challenge." After becoming one of the crowned heads of the Commonwealth, there followed an inevitable increase in Myra's responsibilities around the Bunny hutch. In addition to other new duties, she began working days as a teaching assistant for the director and general manager of the London Playboy Club, Peter Ryan, who lectures on business management at a nearby polytechnical school. The subject of his course is a matter for close scrutiny to the many British businessmen who attend: It's a study of the growth of Editor-Publisher Hugh M. Hefner's Playboy empire. Though Ryan does most of the talking, Myra is a capital asset in keeping the class attentive. Queen Myra may not be wealthy or famous enough to retire just yet, but when she does take her turn at the leisurely life, we'll be the first to agree that she's entitled to rest on her royalties.
