Playboy's Playmate House Party

if you thought the tv special was fun, you should have been there the following day

We're always looking for an excuse to take pictures of beautiful women who happen to have left their clothes somewhere else. And last spring we found an excellent one: when the ABC-TV Thursday Night Special premiered Playboy's Playmate Party. New meaning was given to the term boob tube, as Editor-Publisher Hugh M. Hefner played host to a Mansion full of comely, curvaceous house guests. It was enough to boggle the mind (a boggled mind is the condition that results when the blood rushes to other parts of the body). Needless to say, the show was a great success, pulling the highest Nielsen rating ever recorded for The Thursday Night Special and warranting a rerun in early November. We had dispatched a photographer to the Mansion to record the televised Party, then had him stick around the next day to shoot the party after the Party --; for posterity and our own immediate pleasure. That shooting was also a success. Our photographer managed to catch a few candids before the lens of his camera melted. Take a look: You won't be seeing sights like these on TV for years to come.

Not that we wish to detract from the show itself, mind you. Who can knock the televised crowning of the Playmate of the Year, especially when that Playmate is Patti McGuire? And especially when that ceremony is held at Playboy Mansion West, Hefner's sumptuous work-and-play home hidden away in Los Angeles' exclusive Holm-by Hills? (Playboy readers got a full treatment of the Mansion in the January 1975 issue.)

Comedian Dick Martin, himself married to Playmate (May 1966) and former London Bunny Dolly Read, presided (text continued on page 162) over the festivities with appropriate and undisguised glee as TV screens were filled with a parade of Playmates (actress Claudia Jennings, our November 1969 Playmate, helped Dick interview the gatefold girls), celebrities from the world of entertainment and a crowd of uninhibited partygoers. They had all gathered for several days of taped-for-the-tube relaxation and revelry. So many of the Playmates, celebrities and other guests who appeared on the show were personal friends that Hef, at one point during the three days of video taping, remarked, "This is like shooting a $200,000 home movie."

No Hollywood set would have been better suited to this particular production. And even though much of the action was scripted for the TV cameras, how do you write a party for 200 people? One of the more fascinating experiments in crowd control involved a volleyball game refereed by comedian Bill Cosby, featuring bikinied players coached by basketball great Wilt Chamberlain. The girls showed championship form.

Playboy nostalgia buffs had a field day with so many Playmates from years past in attendance. Boy evangelist turned actor Marjoe Gortner joined Hef in the interviewing of two of them--Joyce Nizzari (December 1958), who had flown in from Hawaii for the occasion, and Joni Mattis (November 1960). Joyce and Joni were not only Playmates but also two of the original Bunnies in the first Chicago Playboy Club. Joni has been Hef's West Coast secretary since 1968; Joyce was delighted to see ex-roommate Janice Pennington (May 1971), now a regular on the television game show The Price Is Right. Readers will remember Janice as the first of the Pennington sisters to become a Playmate. In fact, she and her sister Ann (March 1976) are the first siblings to appear in Playboy's centerfold (that's not counting the Collinson twins, who bowed in a single issue). Marjoe was squiring his own personal Playmate, January 1975's Lynnda Kimball.

Even the kibitzers were special on this special. It seemed like everybody in Hollywood with a pair of eyes had turned out to watch the festivities. Among the not-so-innocent bystanders were Mansion regulars Peter Bogdanovich, Buck Henry, Robert Culp and Mel Tormé. Sports stars Jimmy Connors and Jim Brown--active types--worked out on the disco floor and comedian Jay Leno and singers Johnnie Taylor and Barbara Mandrell provided the programed entertainment. (Off-the-cuff yoks were served up by Red Buttons, who had a meaningful dialog with a bottle that he knew had been bugged by the video crew.)

One of the Party's high points was the showing of a special film pastiche by Gary Rocklen on the history of Playboy's Playmates. Another film segment took viewers behind the scenes for a look at the photographing of Sondra Theodore for her appearance as our July 1977 Playmate.

When it came time for the presentation ceremony, Hef--with an able assist from Alice Cooper--introduced 1976 Playmate of the Year Lillian Müller, who presented a bouquet of roses and her personal congratulations to the new Playmate of the Year, Patti McGuire. The choice of the radiant Patti was obviously a popular one.

Camera crews were kept busy for three clays filming the 90-minute special. Though what they were doing could hardly be classified as work, it also wasn't what you'd call easy. There was lighting and sound equipment to set up, camera angles to check, principals to round up, last-minute changes to make--and, of course, the constant distraction of some of the most beautiful women in the world. In the end, however, art won out. The camera assistants had, in fact, remembered to put film in the cameras and the film editor had been coaxed away from the Captain Fantastic pinball machine long enough to begin putting it all together.

Through it all, the participants--not the least of whom was Hef himself--had remained remarkably calm. Indeed, Hef hadn't complained at all as the film crew turned the grounds into a maze of wires. He uttered nary a word when Arnold (Pumping Iron) Schwarzenegger literally picked up a pair of Playmates and carried them off. And he simply looked on in mild amusement at the ineptness of the attempted interview of Patti by a rodeo cowboy who's made some movies under the name Jimmy Caan. The would-be Howard Cosell broke up the crew when he turned to the camera and adlibbed, "I have to do this or Hef won't let me hang out here anymore."

But after the equipment had been packed away, the crew disbanded and the guests departed, nightfall found Hef and the Playmates exhausted. It had been a productive but hectic experience. They agreed that the next day would be theirs to relax and enjoy the Mansion and its delights. That was enough to set the gears in a Playboy editor's head turning. Here was yet another chance to indulge in what Time referred to as the "narcissistic preoccupation with Hefner's Playboy Mansion." Hef could even do his famous "dour sybarite" act while surrounded by "young beauties." It was too good a chance to pass up.

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It's almost noon when the Southern California sun finally wins out over the sleeping revelers.

Hef can hear singing wafting in from the Master Bathroom. The voice belongs to Sondra, who is about to disappear into a huge marble tub full of bubbles.

You met Sondra in the July issue of Playboy in the pictorial tided Baby Blue. Hef met her over a year ago at a party at the Mansion. They hit it off immediately and now Sondra is what Hef refers to as "my special lady." She is a budding actress with at least five TV shows and three movies to her credit. You may have seen her in Barnaby Jones or in an episode of the Kids front C.A.P.E.R. She appeared in the recent TV miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors, had a part in the movie Skateboard and has a featured role in the upcoming film Stingray.

Bright and outgoing, Sondra doesn't conceal her admiration and affection for Hef. "He has a combination of youthful spirit and manly charm that I love. I've learned a lot from him. It's like I've had three years of college since I've been here. I couldn't have landed in a better spot."

The "spot" Sondra is in this morning is up to her neck in soap bubbles, and it's there that Hef tells her that he'll be spending the afternoon with producer Michael Trikilis, discussing the editing of the special, and that he'll meet her and the other Playmates in the Game House when he's finished.

Meanwhile, the rest of the girls--well, most of them--are up and moving. Susan Kiger, who has appointed herself camp bugler, goes from door to door, rousing the stragglers. She's a genuine California girl, not to mention Miss January of 1977, and an inveterate sun worshiper.

She finds Laura Lyons, our 1976 Miss February, trying to sneak a few extra winks. "No way," says Susan, bounding in and making enough noise to get one sleepy Lyons eye open. Laura has flown in from London for the filming. Even though she has been West Coasting for several days, she's still suffering from jet lag. But she's not one to spend the day in bed, either, at least not without good cause, and she and Susan hop next door to check on Lisa Sohm, Playboy's 1977 Miss April and presently a New York model.

Folks from the Big Apple are early risers and Lisa's no exception. Susan and Laura find an empty bed that has already been made up. Lisa's together in more ways than one. Laura and Susan head down to the Mediterranean Room for brunch.

The Med Room is what passes for the kitchen table at Mansion West. It's where you can sit, grab a snack or a full meal, collect and disperse the latest gossip, find out who's doing what to whom and watch the passing parade. It's the first (continued on page 268)Playate Party(continued on page 162) stop for anyone entering the house, and that makes it prime for people watching.

By the time Laura and Susan arrive downstairs, most of the girls have already gathered at the table. Patti McGuire, Playboy's newly crowned Playmate of the Year, is watching her all-important figure with a glass of orange juice. Hope Olson, Playboy's October '76 country girl, throws caution to the wind with a large helping of eggs, sausages, toast, coffee--and seconds on everything. Miss April '76, Denise Michele, fresh from Hawaii, munches on a fruit salad, while Sheila "Motor Mouth" Mullen, our 1977 Miss May, filibusters on the floor.

Although they've been together through three days of shooting, the girls really don't know one another as well as they'd like to and they take this time to exchange stories and gossip from their respective parts of the world. Soon it's like old home week and the chatter turns to the day ahead. Sondra tells the group that Hef is going to be tied up for a while with "little details like running the empire," so they all decide to slip into bathing suits and meet at the pool, a unique body of water for unique bodies--complete with a waterfall and rock grotto.

Before long, the calm of the Mansion grounds is broken with the squeals and shouts of the girls at play. The swimsuit idea seemed a good one in the house, but when the California sun and the Edenlike surroundings begin to work their magic, such modesty seems inappropriate. Soon the girls are removing tops, then bottoms, then inhibition.

Sondra takes a dare and finds herself precariously perched on a rock at the top of the waterfall to do her famous imitation of the Acapulco cliff divers. But for Sondra, that means a nose-holding, feet-first, limbs-flying plunge that would have scored zero for style and ten for enthusiasm. (The TV script had called for Sondra's pet pooch, Alex, to conclude a segment by making that same jump from the waterfall. But Alex lacked the required spirit and a "stunt dog" had to be called in.)

The rest of the animal kingdom is well represented. Macbeth, the macaw, is accepting tidbits from Denise at poolside. Denise is a pushover for the wily bird, which has somehow gotten her to peel its grapes. Kinky, the frisky kinkajou, is trying to play King Kong with one of the girls on the lawn, while Horny, the pygmy goat, tries to butt in. Humans should have it so good.

His meeting over, Hef drops by to tell the girls that he'll join them shortly for some heavy pinball in the Game House. Pinball rivals backgammon as the most serious competitive pursuit of the Mansion crowd, and a challenge from the resident Pinball Wizard himself is not to be ignored. So the pool gang packs up and heads for the Bath House for a sauna and shower before the games begin.

The Game House is down a little footpath that winds through the trees. It is decorated in Early Rec Room. In it are a wide variety of pinball machines and electronic games, a pool table, a Foosball table and a vintage jukebox containing, naturally, vintage records--Hef's 78-rpm collection from his high school and college days in the Forties.

When Hef arrives, Laura and Hope are dancing to the strains of Chattanooga Choo Choo. There is a mean game of Foosball going on in the corner with Patti and Susan on one side and Denise and Sheila on the other. Lisa is at the pool table proving she's no Minnesota Fats. Hef and Sondra are soon mano à mano at the Captain Fantastic pinball machine. No scores are being recorded, as this is not a really serious game. If it were, the scores would be entered in Hef's Game House record book, which is kept as dutifully as a corporate-expense ledger.

The atmosphere in the Game House is infectious; everybody is in good spirits. A whoop from the corner indicates that Sheila and Denise have won the Foosball game. Sondra is pouting by the pinball machine. There's no need to ask her what the final score was.

Patti and Sheila plop down onto the long leather couch, put their feet up and begin to chat. Patti says she felt the shooting the previous day was "so disorganized, I didn't think a lot of the reshootings they did were really necessary. But what do I know? I've never been in a situation like that before."

Things haven't been very organized for Patti for a long time. She has uprooted herself from a quiet life in St. Louis and is now waiting for her apartment to be finished in L.A., where she plans to do some modeling and, she hopes, a movie or two. (She was scheduled to do a Starsky and Hutch show within the next few weeks.) Somewhere along the line, she wants to get married and finish college. Eventually, she'd like to teach.

Being named Playmate of the Year has forced a postponement of a lot of Patti's plans, but she's enjoying the honor. "I thought I had a pretty good chance at it. But let's face it, I was in a pretty good issue. I mean, being in the same month with Jimmy Carter, I had a little more exposure than the other girls."

Sheila jokes, "Who do you think came off better, you or Jimmy?"

Patti answers quickly, "That depends on whether you're a Democrat or a Republican."

Sheila is one of the newest Playmates and is loving every minute of it. About Hef, she says, "I had thought he'd be just the typical Don Juan, 'but he's not that way at all. He's fascinating, charming and intelligent. He just does his own thing. Take this house. Can you believe it's real? But everything in it reflects Hef's taste. It all works."

A session in the Game House can really get your appetite up and right now the whole crew is starved. But they needn't worry; Hef has arranged for a buffet to be set up in the Library.

As it was at the Chicago Mansion a decade ago, the Kitchen on the West Coast is open 24 hours a day. It is possible to order anything from a glass of orange juice to a six-course meal, prepared to order, at a few minutes' notice, any time of the day or night. For the meal in the Library, the Kitchen staff has prepared something especially sumptuous, a seafood buffet with clams, cold lobster stuffed with crab-meat mousse, corn on the cob, a kitsch-flavored fresh-fruit salad and vintage wine.

Soon the Library is filled with smiling faces as the girls drift in and recline on the multicolor pillows surrounding the buffet table. (A single Playmate is often enough to stop traffic, but eight of them together can be awe-inspiring. For Hef, however, it's just a typical evening in his personal Playboy Paradise.) Above them is an elegant Frank Gallo bust of Hef's former number-one lady Barbi Benton. Barbi had made a point of putting in an appearance at the Party the night before to wish Hef well. They remain close friends, despite the breakup, and now Barbi is pursuing her career as a pop / country singer, in search of an identity other than simply "Hefner's girlfriend." To that end, she is starring in an ABC-TV series titled Sugar Time and her latest Playboy album, recorded in London, has just been released. Surrounded by eight beautiful women in the Library, Hef says about Barbi, "We spent eight years together. She is, and always will be, very important to me." Is he likely to enter into a similar relationship in the future? Hef is cagey: "I'm really a romantic at heart, so anything is possible." Right now, however, he seems to be relishing his freedom. "I enjoy most of the advantages of a bachelor's life while managing to avoid most of the disadvantages," he says. "There aren't too many lonely nights."

After the buffet, Hef announces a surprise. He has some unedited tapes of the previous day's shooting and they're ready to roll. Excitement is tinged with apprehension, as the girls remember the madhouse scene of the day before. Could anything good have come out of such a long, hectic scramble?

Hef and the girls settle down in front of the screen. The lights are dimmed and he gives the signal to begin. All apprehension soon fades as they watch themselves and their friends projected larger than life.

When the lights go up, there is a spontaneous round of applause from the girls. The shooting is pronounced a success--and a success worthy of celebration. The suggestion is made that they celebrate in the Jacuzzi in the pool grotto and everyone seconds the motion.

The night is clear and warm as the celebrants troop toward the grotto. The cavelike enclosure is lit with several dozen candles. The water is churning softly as the girls doff their robes and slip into the pool. There are no swimsuits tonight. Hef appears at the entrance, carrying several bottles of chilled champagne, which he deposits in the standing ice buckets before he, too, enters the water. The swirling water massages their bodies. Music from concealed speakers fills the grotto. The first of the champagne bottles is uncorked and the party is under way. "The Jacuzzi cave is undoubtedly the most popular spot on the property," Hef once remarked to a TV interviewer. "I think it has something to do with the emphasis that's placed on health these clays." The girls raise their glasses in a loving toast to a healthy and happy Hefner.

"Kinky, the frisky kinkajou, is trying to play King Kong with one of the girls on the lawn."