The First Two Dozen Playmates

In its first two years of publication, Playboy has filled its pages with a rich variety of sophisticated, masculine entertainment. There have been offbeat stories by some of the world's finest writers; smart, full-color cartoons; regular articles on food and drink, fashion and jazz; unusual picture features; Ribald Classics, Party Jokes, limericks, drinking songs, toasts, humorous verse, and a host of other special material; but the favorite feature, issue after issue, has been the mischievous miss in the center of the magazine: Playboy's provocative Playmate of the Month.

Playboy's Playmates have become, these past two years, the most popular pin-up with our armed forces here and abroad; Playmates hang with college pennants on the walls of fraternity houses across the country; they lie in the desk drawers of the junior clerks and top executives of the nation's biggest businesses; they are sandwiched between "Top Secret" papers in the files of the Pentagon. The Air Force is considering the use of Playmates with their slide lectures to hold the pilots' interest; Playboy's Playmates have become so popular with the men on board the USS New Jersey that the executive officer wrote suggesting that a Miss New Jersey should probably be made a part of the ship's 1955 cruise book; Walter Winchell tipped his Stetson to the Playmate in his nationally syndicated column this past summer; the head of one of the largest midwest network radio-TV stations was so taken with one monthly miss that the station's talent director flew to Hollywood and tried (unsuccessfully) to talk the model into returning with him for a surprise party, to pose on the executive's desk exactly as she had appeared in the magazine.

The Playmate pin-up has been with Playboy from the very beginning, though she wasn't named "Playmate of the Month" till the second issue and didn't become a double-page spread till the third. In the early issues, she wasn't very different from any other pin-up picture, but as the months passed she began to develop a personality distinctively her own; she became more sophisticated; she left a little more to the reader's imagination; and though some kidded her about a new-found bashfulness, they loved her more than ever before.

Some of Playboy's Playmates have been famous, some have been totally unknown; some have been professional models, and some have never modelled before in their lives. Miss December, 1953, was Marilyn Monroe; Miss December, 1955, was Janet Pilgrim, Playboy's subscription manager. There have been an even two dozen Playmates from Marilyn to Janet: one for every month, except March, 1954 (that issue was dated April in order to advance the magazine's on-sale date).

Three models have appeared as Playmates more than once: Margie Harrison (January and June, 1954), Marilyn Waltz (April. 1954 and 1955) and Janet (concluded on page 59) Pilgrim (July and December, 1955). It would be impossible for us to try and pick the most popular Playmate of the twenty-four, but during the first year, Miss February (Margaret Scott), Miss October (Madeline Castle) and Miss December (Terry Ryan) produced the most letters from readers. In Playboy's First Anniversary Issue (December, 1954), model Terry Ryan prefaced her Playmate pose with a six-page picture-story on Photographing the Playmate and the issue had an unprecedented national newsstand sale of 96.5%. In 1955, readers reacted most favorably to Bettie Page (January), Eve Meyer (June), Anne Fleming (September), Barbaia Cameron (November) and our own office Playmate, Janet Pilgrim (July and December). Hal Adams, Bernard of Hollywood, Arthur-James, Tom Kelley, Peter Gowland, Jack Howard, Bunny Yeager and Russ Meyer are just a few of the top photographers who have shot Playmates for the magazine; Bunny Yeager, an attractive female photographer, took Bettie Page as last year's Miss January, and now she would like to pose as a Playmate herself.

So many readers have written requesting additional pictures and particulars on the lovely ladies that we decided a curtain call was in order. So here they are, all the girls who have pleased as Playmates in the first two dozen issues of Playboy.

The First Two Dozen

miss December, 1953—marilyn monroe

Miss January, 1954—margie harrison

Miss February, 1954—margaret scott

Miss March, 1954—dolores del monte

Miss April, 1954—marilyn waltz

Miss May, 1954—joanne arnold

Miss June, 1954—margie harrison

Miss July, 1954—neva gilbert

Miss August, 1954—arline hunter

Miss September, 1954—Jackie rainbow

Miss October, 1954—madeline castle

Miss November, 1954—diane hunter

Miss December, 1954—terry ryan

Miss January, 1955—bettie page

Miss February, 1955—jayne mansfield

Miss April, 1955—marilyn waltz

Miss May, 1955—marguerite empey

Miss June, 1955—eve meyer

Miss July, 1955— janet pilgrim

Miss August, 1955—pat lawler

Miss September, 1955—anne fleming

Miss October, 1955—jean moorehead

Miss November, 1955—barbara cameron

Miss December, 1955—janet pilgrim

Jean Moorehead:a very sophisticated college playmate

Margaret Scott:miss february was a favorite

Arline Hunter:she made like monroe

Neva Gilbert: she posed on a tiger

Jayne Mansfield:now she's a star on broadway

Madeline Castle:a tv exec approved

Marguerite Empey: a beautiful ballerina

Diane Hunter:she relaxed in a canvas chair

Janet Pilgrim:playboy's own office playmate

Pat Lawler:readers asked her lo remove the shirt

Marilyn Waltz:miss april two years in a row

Margie Harrison:twice in one year

Marilyn Monroe:the very first playmate

Terry Ryan:a national newsstand sale of 96.5%

Dolores Del Monte: a honey on a hassock

Joanne Arnold: she also swam in a cool pool

Eve Meyer:walter winchell liked her

Anne Fleming:she teaches ballroom dancing

Bettie Page:she made a very sexy santa

Jackie Rainbow:very sweet by candle-light

Barbara Cameron:we met her in a hi-fi shop