Readers of our August pictorial Bunnies of 1970 could have predicted that the step from cottontail to Playmate was in the cards for Cynthia Hall, a representative of the Bunny brigade from the Playboy Club-Hotel at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Cynthia's own view: "I'm just lucky, I guess. Things seem to have a way of working out for me." Cynthia's determination—as well as her natural assets—helps considerably in making events "work out" for her. Example: After completing a course in dental assistantship, which included a three-month on-the-job-training stint with a dentist in the Chicago suburb of Western Springs, Cynthia found a scarcity of openings for permanent positions in the field. "So I just decided to pack up for my favorite vacation spot, southern Wisconsin, and see if I couldn't find some kind of job there," she reports. At the suggestion of a friend, she applied for employment as a Bunny at Playboy's all-seasons resort at Lake Geneva—and was hired on the spot. Cynthia is enthusiastic about her work. "I think it's been good for me, too," she says. "I used to be shy, but no more. Meeting so many new people has cured me of that. And Lake Geneva is the perfect setting for an outdoor girl like me. I've always been crazy about riding and the stables here at the resort are just fine. I'm also getting a chance to learn a lot more about sailing." Sometimes, though, the pace becomes too hectic. "Every so often," she admits, "I really wish I could just get away and spend some time in a quieter atmosphere. Even though it's great to be able to see top singers or comedians performing every night here, you can begin to feel overexposed to the nonstop entertainment scene. You enjoy it until you realize that you're reaching the point where you're just pretending to have a good time." So when her summer sailing crewmate Jack Galley called to invite her to spend a winter weekend at the comparatively remote—and virtually snowbound—campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, Cynthia accepted enthusiastically. But she confesses having harbored a few misgivings about the trip. "I'd visited college campuses in the Midwest before," she says, "but never an Ivy League school. I was afraid the students would be either very aloof—you know, snobbish socialite types—or a bunch of bearded radicals. Well, I was wrong on both counts. Most of the guys I met, particularly those studying law or pre-med, seemed to be quite concerned about their educational progress; yet they put their books aside on the weekend to relax. They were very friendly and certainly not revolutionaries." Although the Dartmouth campus and its students made a favorable impression, Cynthia was even more struck by the New England countryside. "The woods, the mountains and the lakes, and the slower pace of life there, seem almost Waldenesque," she recalls. "I really think that someday I might consider moving to New Hampshire, or maybe Vermont. Certainly one could find plenty of places there to enjoy a little solitude." But life in rural New England would provide quite a contrast to her present career at a luxurious resort and Cynthia's not sure she really wants to give up the bright lights of Bunnydom. Whether or not she decides to follow in the footsteps of Thoreau, we can't predict; but guests at Playboy's Lake Geneva spa will be rooting for her to remain in Wisconsin.
