Pamela Jean, Miss April, 1978

Those of You with eagle eyes and elephant memories will recognize Pamela Jean Bryant as one of the coeds featured in our September 1977 pictorial Girls of the Big Ten. She almost didn't make it: The story of how Miss April came to our attention demonstrates the truth of the old adage that some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you. Relates Pamela: "I have never regarded myself as particularly beautiful. I didn't think anyone else did, either. Only a few days before Playboy Photographer David Chan showed up on the campus of Indiana University, in fact, I had applied for a modeling job in a local fashion show and had been turned down. But I refuse to let setbacks get to me, so I responded to the ad David had put in the student newspaper, asking for girls to try out for a Girls of the Big Ten feature. I was very surprised when, during our interview, he suggested that I was Playmate material."

Over the next few months, as we became better acquainted with Pamela, we grew to respect her resilience, her self-determination. "I've always been an optimist," she says. "I never give in to other people's opinions. I had a rather mixed-up childhood, shuttled from one foster home to another. I had seven mothers and seven fathers, and all of them told me my faults, my guilts, their idea of who I was. I've been told I'm lost and lonely by lost and lonely people. I've stopped listening to others and started listening to myself. I'm proud of the dent I've made in the world to date. I'm glad that I'm young and have a career to look forward to. I'm going to strut my stuff and get by on the good times I give myself."

At the end of her freshman year, Pamela decided she could learn more about herself outside school. She packed as many of her belongings as would fit into a station wagon and set out for Florida. ("I had to leave behind my collection of stuffed animals, one from each foster home.") She found a place to live in Palm Beach and, under the tutelage of a screenwriter friend, has begun piecing together her own life story. "I get up every morning and sit at the typewriter for two hours. I'm reliving my childhood and creating a new person."

The screenwriter connection has opened a new career for Pam. She has hooked small parts in films. "I'm strong-minded but very open. My emotions are very much on the surface. That's why I know I'll make a good actress someday." With that kind of attitude, we know tomorrow is bound to be a day Pam eats the bear.

Playmate Data Sheet

Name: Pamela Jean Bryant

Bust: 35

Waist: 24

Hips: 35

Height: 5'5"

Weight: 115

Sign: aquarius

Birth Date: 2/8/59

Birthplace: Indianapolis

Goals: To finish college and further my career as an actress moreover, I would like to develop my talents to perfection and lead a happy life.

Turn-Ons: Sincere, uninhibited people, good music, the beach at sunrise, traveling, good friends.

Turn-Offs: Insensitive, shallow people, jealous, possessive men. Unwanted advice & opinions.

Favorite Films: The Spy who Loved Me, Oh, God!, Heroes

Favorite Foods: Seafood, fresh fruits & vegetables

Favorite Sports: Gymnastics, diving, tennis

Ideal Evening: Really enjoying myself with a man who enjoyed my company just as much.

Secret Dream: To someday have the book I am writing become a best seller and eventually made into a motion picture.

"Posing nude gives you the most beautiful feeling: being alone with a photographer and camera, knowing each glance is being recorded. Since this shooting, I've taken to going naked around the house. Here is how I really am when I'm alone."

"I've always been a dreamer. When things were bad, my fantasies were the only things that kept me going."

"I like being alone. When I was in high school, I used to spend hours by myself working out on a balance beam that I had set up in my next-door neighbor's garage. I would lose myself in gymnastics: slow-motion ballet. Now I spend time at the beach or chain myself to my desk, just writing in my journal."

"I remember my first overnight date. I showed up in kids' pajamas—the kind with feet in them. Boy, have I changed."

"I'm looking for someone who can be a father, brother, lover and friend."

"I came to Florida to get healthy. Now I enjoy the sun, the deep-sea fishing and the Palm Beach perverts. It's a gas."