Megan Schmidt / Linda Schmidt / Eleanor
Playboy Playmates
A Playmate is a female model featured in Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month (or PMOM). The Playmate's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, as well as a short biography and the "Playmate Data Sheet", which lists her birthdate, measurements, and likes and dislikes. At the end of the year, one of the twelve Playmates of the Month is named Playmate of the Year (or PMOY). Playmates are paid $25,000 USD and the Playmate of the Year receives an additional $100,000 USD plus a car. In addition, Anniversary Playmates are usually chosen to celebrate a milestone year of the magazine. As of August 2005, 622 women have been Playmates, the majority of whom were in their early twenties when their pictorial was taken.
Playmates are chosen from every social strata, having different professions, countries and backgrounds. Playboy encourages potential Playmates to send photos for consideration; others may submit photos of Playmate candidates, and are eligible for a $2,500 USD finder's fee if their model is selected.
Readers are encouraged to send in pictures of their girlfriends and wives with the "girl next door" appeal. The Playboy photographers and Hugh Hefner then decide who are the lucky candidates. The Playmate of the Year is chosen personally by Hugh Hefner, taking into account an annual readers poll.
Playmate of the Month
The first model called a Playmate of the Month was Margie Harrison, Miss January 1954 (the second issue of Playboy). (Marilyn Monroe, who was featured in the first issue, was "Sweetheart of the Month") The first fold-out centerfold was in March 1956 with Marian Stafford. The first Playmate to show pubic hair in a pictorial was Liv Lindeland, Miss January 1971 (the first appearance of pubic hair in Playboy was in an August 1969 pictorial featuring actress Paula Kelly) A correction here: Marguerite Empey, aka Diane Webber, showed pubic hair in her second pictorial in February, 1956, and it isn't just a little peek. The photos were taken by Russ Meyer and the pubic hair photo was taken underwater in a pool. From then on wisps of pubic hair could be seen throughout the 60s until the 70s when full-frontal was more commonly accepted. Liv Lindeland may have been the first Playmate to show her publc hair in the fold-out centerfold. The trend of playmates showing full pubic hair would continue in the 80s and 90s when the trend started shifting towards shaving and waxing of pubic hair. By 2005, most playmates appeared in the magazine with no or minimal pubic hair.
Generally a woman may only appear once as a Playmate, but in the early years of the magazine some models were featured multiple times. Margaret Scott (February 1954, April 1954, April 1955 - the latter two appearances were as Marilyn Waltz) and Janet Pilgrim (July 1955, December 1955, and October 1956) are tied for the most appearances. Margie Harrison (January 1954, June 1954) and Marguerite Empey (aka Diane Webber) (May 1955, February 1956) are the only other women to appear more than once as Playmates.
Multiple women, usually twins, have also appeared as a single month's Playmate. Misses October 1970 were Mary and Madeleine Collinson; Misses September 1989 were Karin and Mirjam van Breeschooten; Misses December 1998 were triplets Erica, Nicole, and Jaclyn Dahm, and Misses January 2000 were Carol and Darlene Bernaola. Misses October 1958, Pat Sheehan and Mara Corday, were unrelated.
Traditionally, PMOYs are announced to the world in May of each year at a media luncheon at the Playboy Mansion. Each year's Playmate of the Year appears on the cover of her PMOY issue - the issue in which her PMOY pictorial is featured, usually the June issue of the next year after her first appearance in the magazine, sometimes the July issue. However, since 2003, PMOYs no longer appear on the covers of their PMOY issues. Instead, celebrities appearing in celebrity pictorials in the PMOY issues have appeared on the covers.
Playboy points out [1] that there are no "former" Playmates: "Once a Playmate, always a Playmate".
In 2002, Hugh Hefner purchased a house across the street from the Playboy Mansion specifically for use by the Playmates. The four-bedroom split-level home has a mid-century-modern decor.
Copyright: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on Playboy Playmates.