It's a fact that the world is run by secretaries. Without them, thousands of seemingly important men would spend most of their time hunting down pieces of paper and punching out letters on the typewriter with two fingers. And, as anyone who has one knows, a secretary who's not only skilled but pretty is more than valuable; she's priceless---far better than coffee to get one's eyes open in the A.M. With that in mind, we went to Phoenix, Denver and Cleveland and asked three local radio stations to help us conduct a search for those cities' prettiest secretaries. Rules were simple: Any secretary (or someone in a similar occupation) could send her name, a photograph and a brief biography to a cosponsoring station (KXKX in Denver, WMMS in Cleveland (text concluded on page 190) and KRIZ in Phoenix). Each entry was screened by photographer Nicholas De Sciose and finalists were chosen in each city. The finalists were then test-photographed and treated to dinner with the disc jockey who had held the search (KXKX' Waylon Walker, KRIZ' Bruce Miles and WMMS' Jeff Kinzbach). From the finalists, Playboy photo editors selected the ones who appear in this pictorial. (There was also a drawing in each city that offered a weekend vacation for two at a Playboy hotel or resort; the winners were Dawn L. Vilmar, Cleveland; Gail Turner, Phoenix; and Denver's Nancy Jean Collins.)
A total of 500 secretaries responded, but De Sciose suffered little eyestrain because, as we suspected, there are quite a few lovely girls Friday out there.
"It was one of the most interesting jobs I've ever done," said De Sciose. "The vast majority of entrants were over 25 and they were more modest than the younger girls I've been shooting lately. I'd say about half of them actually blushed when they first undressed. On the other hand, I sensed a more mature sexuality in these women than in college-age girls. It was also interesting to me that few of these women see themselves as secretaries for life. They all have dreams of going on to something else---becoming a model or the next Streisand or the next Ali MacGraw. A few of them will probably make it. Monica Rio could be a successful singer; she's really very good. Nina Blackwood is also a tremendous musical talent. Betty Tidwell has great potential as a photographer."
The thoughtful reader may, at this point, be asking why we chose Phoenix, Denver and Cleveland (Cleveland?) for our initial pictorial on secretaries (you don't think we're going to stop there, do you?). Well, Denver because there is a theory that high altitudes produce prettier women; Phoenix because nobody says much about Phoenix these days; and Cleveland because it's there. As it turned out, Cleveland proved to be a veritable gold mine of beautiful secretaries, typists, receptionists and file clerks, a secret no doubt jealously guarded till now by Cleveland men. If the photos we received from all three cities are any indication, their office buildings are nine-to-five nesting places for flocks of the most beautiful women in the world.
Unfortunately, some of them are too shy to pose for the camera. But fortunately for Playboy readers, many of them are not. Why, Miss Pennyweather, when you take off your glasses, you're beautiful!
