Summer: Thy Name was Paige Young

Where we live, it has finally become freakin' hot. That's the sign that summer has arrived.

And nothing says "Summer" like a vintage Playboy centerfold with bodacious tan lines and eyebrows.

This is Paige Young, Miss November 1968. I am sure that where we live, come November, we'll be pining for a scene like this to warm things back up.

Sadly, Miss Young died from a sleeping pill overdose in 1974 in Hollywood.

Trying to Keep Up...and Failing!

OK, OK. We know. We've been ignoring you. We never call. We never write. We're like the worst bloggers ever! It's true.

But life gets in the way...so although we can't promise that there will be a weekly post as in the past, rest assured the blog isn't dead, and it's not going away...it's just...adapting. Or something.

Will you forgive us if we share photos of an All-American, wholesome, healthy brunette centerfold? A girl-next-door extraordinaire? You will? Thanks. That means a lot.

Here's Cindy Fuller. In May, 1959 she was Playboy Playmate of the Month. She was 20 years old when the photos were taken by Bunny Yeager. She knows how to smile. And bite a towel.


See you sometime....soon.
 

Throwback Thursday: Garner, Jani, Lawford

From the archives! Back in the day there was....

Geraldine Garner
Ms. Garner couldn't find a bra to match her animal print panties, so she had to walk around holding her boobs up herself. Actually she had a matching bra, which you can see here. She claimed to be "statistically stacked" at 39-24-36, and performed burlesque under the stage name Sequin.


Jean Jani
Ms. Jani was Playboy's July '57 centerfold. The magazine showed her as a United Airlines stewardess, but she actually worked the reservations desk. Now that's what we call "Global Services"! She lost her job over the racy magazine spread, but went on to a successful nude modeling career for men's magazines in the 1960s.


Barbara Ann Lawford
Another Playboy centerfold, this time in February 1961. She was on the cover seven months later. Her turn-ons were "Dogs and hot fudge sundaes." Together? Kinky!

Throwback Thursday, Showcasing Vintage Brows

Over time, we've accumulated a pretty big backlog of vintage photos: pinups, centerfolds, amateurs, models, and actresses. We'll be posting them regularly, starting today, in a series of posts we'll call (drumroll):

Throwback Thursday

At least one each week...sometimes many - and some of them we'll know by name, some of them not.

But all of them have great eyebrows!

Sheila Rudy
She needs a bra that matches those awesome panties...but who would own such a thing?


Lari Lane gets wet in Playboy, 1958:


The "woman next door":


Edy Williams
She hasn't been seen since her 1995 appearance in Snatch Masters 6!:


Anna Noble
Her claim to fame was as a faux-Bond girl, appearing only during the credit sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me.


And a classic vintage pin-up:


More next week!! And every Thursday...

Greek Baring Gifts: Really, Playboy?

Back in 1965, Playboy broke new ground, with a centerfold who wasn't from the good ol' US of A.

Jessica St. George was from Greece. Unfortunately, the best the editors could manage for a headline was Greek Baring Gifts.

Fine. Fortunately, the title was accurate. As for the personal aspect, when asked to list the people she admired, Ms. St. George name-checked Helen of Troy and JFK.

Youthful Sidebutt

Back in February we met 1958's youthful centerfold sensation Elizabeth Ann Roberts.

Here's another peek, notable for a few reasons:

• She's adorable
• The :"hi fi" equipment is awesome
• The leather butterfly chair is awesome
• We are suddenly aware of a new erotic phenomenon:
  

Side butt.

Another Vintage Blonde

We saw Marilyn in black and white. Here's threetime Playboy Playmate of the Month Janet Pilgrim in glorious color.

July, 1955...An all-American dreamgirl at 36-24-36, 5 foot 6, and 115 pounds.

Centerfold: Pat Russo

Uh. Yeah.

Pat Russo in Playboy. November 1965.

The only possible context in which these tan lines are OK.

Fresh....Face

California's Lisa Lefebre surfaced in Playboy's "Fresh Faces" group. We're not sure what that is, but come on – who, besides us, is looking at her face?

No one.

Vintage Centerfold Beauty With a Secret

Um, they broke the mold on this one, folks. January 1958 centerfold Elizabeth Ann Roberts. Here she is as Playboy's Playmate of the Month.

Now, Ms. Roberts was underage when the photos were taken, and word got around...

Ooops.

The story goes that she literally had a note from her mother, giving her permission to pose, but the publications of these photos led to the arrest of both Hef and young Elizabeth Ann's mom. And yet the charges were dropped because the evidence was confusing at best, and nobody could be absolutely sure that Hef knew the model's age.

Hmmm.

Doesn't matter. We love everything about her. Everything.

Jaime Hammer?

We hardly know her!

What? We've never used that joke before. Much.

Here's Jaime Hammer. This young lady is a Playboy and Penthouse type model.

From an eyebrovial point of view (we just made up that word this second) she's great. The rest of her is not so much our type: 5 feet tall 96 pounds, which is fine, but the 32DD bra size is a bizarre addition to those stats. As a random aside, the generous reader who sent us to her provided these stats and told us "she's my friend on MySpace!" Way to go dude. Way to go.

Playbow Magazine? Anouck Lepere

Last June Belgian model Anouck Lepere graced the cover of French Playboy.

And she did it well.


But inside the magazine she appeared with a giant plaid bow on top of her head.


Luckily she wore a top that was one size too small, so nobody would notice the bow.

Tennis Pro Ashley Harkleroad, Nude

We're not fans of pro tennis. But a few years ago Ashley Harkleroad caught our attention, for being a sassy and relentless self-promoter. And for being hot. In a "girl next door" way. If you live next door to a tennis court.

Behold! She is now in Playboy. Some teasers for you...

Game, set, match.

Folded in the Center

These mid-1950s Playboy centerfolds have "a lot going on." Including eyebrows.

Here's Miss January 1956, Lily Turner, evidently engaged on the losing end of a strip-backgammon game:


In November of '56 Betty Blue had a smoke. You might think the weird thing is that she's wearing just a bed sheet. But I think it's weirder that she's accepting a light from an off-camera guy with very dirty hands. Maybe it's Jake Peavy.

By the way, we are pretty sure this is not the Betty Blue who freaks out in that French art film.


July 1955, Janet Pilgrim was showing off again (the answer to that trivia question about three-time centerfolds):


Unfair of her to make the butler stand in the corner back there.

Brows on the Couch: Playboy, 1964

Where were you in 1964? I know where I was, but I ain't tellin'.

And thanks to Blubrow, you can find out where these beautifully-browed Playboy Magazine centerfolds were: on the couch! We've peeped vintage centerfolds before (and we'll do it again).

Behold this time, Miss February (Nancy Jo Hooper),


Miss April (Ashlyn Martin), and


Miss September (Astrid Schulz):


Scroll-down reminder: Don't forget the other stuff that was going on in 1964!

Swiss Model Julie Ordon in Playboy

In December Julie Ordon, Geneva-born model (and one time actress) appeared in French Playboy.

We don't have a problem with her. In fact we like her eyebrows a lot.







Scroll-down neutrality bonus: Can't get enough of Swiss models? Check out DoubleViking.

Playboy Aliases: Margaret or Marilyn?

I mentioned the other day that I was going to go through the vintage Playboy centerfolds to see what goodies might be there. Here's Miss February 1954: Margaret Scott.

Now here's the funny thing. Margaret is also the Playmate of the month just two months later, April 1954. But this time she's using the name Marilyn Waltz. And she's blonder, I think:


And a year later, guess what? Marilyn Waltz returned, to become the first of only two three-time Playmates of the Month (and our second Playmate named Marilyn in a single weekend):


Who was the other three-time centerfold? Well if her eyebrows were any good, you'll find out soon. Stay tuned.

Retro Playmate Marilyn Hanold

Gather 'round for a history lesson, little ones.

In the summer of 1959 there were all kinds of interesting things happening in America.

• Sandy Koufax followed Norm Sherry's advice and "took the grunt out of his fastball." The result? He struck out 18 hated San Francisco Giants in a single game.
  
  
• Hawaii became the 50th State in the union, launching "Kamanawanalea" as a punchline for dumb jokes to this very day.
  
  
• And Playboy Magazine, which had burst on the scene in late 1953 with Marilyn Monroe in the buff, featured another smoldering glamgirl, also named Marilyn. Marilyn Hanold was its Miss June centerfold.

Whoa. In 1965 she would appear as the evil Princess Marcuzan of Mars, in Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster. The plot? An oldie but a goodie: Martians have blown themselves up in an atomic war and land in Puerto Rico to steal Earthwomen for...procreational purposes.

Pretty goddamn great:


I think that the Playboy Playmate archives might yield a few more eyebrow gems. I'll report back when I've, uh, done some research. Meanwhile, check out Ms. Hanold's interesting life achievements over at Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen.