Playmate Hopefuls Ready to Bare All ...
but not to be Interviewed

All reporters get one of these types every now and then: the subject who won’t talk.

The funny thing was that while my subjects weren’t willing to reveal their identities for a local publication, they were here vying to pose nude for a mainstream magazine.

“Most of them don’t feel comfortable talking to the press,” said Theresa Hennessey, Playboy’s publicist. “But, I’ll try to find one for you to interview.”

Hennessey was referring to the young women who were trying out Thursday, May 8, to be in Playboy.

On May 7 and 8, Playboy held auditions at their headquarters, 680 N. Lake Shore Drive, as part of their nationwide search for the 50th Anniversary Playmate. The model search, spanning from April through July, will include 20 cities tour across America and Canada. Playboy’s lucky lady will be crowned Miss January 2004 and receive a $50,000 modeling fee.

According to Hennessey, approximately100 women made appointments to stop into the magazine’s Chicago office and she estimated another 75 women were walk-ins. She predicts that the number of candidates in Chicago, the hometown of the men’s “entertainment” magazine, will be a bit higher than in the other cities.

Asked what sort of candidates comes from the Windy City, Hennessey replied, “I think the Chicago girls are more fresh-faced.”

Informed by my girlfriend Sylvia about the audition, the two of us headed downtown to check out what Sylvia teasingly dubbed “the Playboy strip search.” We each had our agendas. I was going to cover the tryouts; she was thinking about trying out.

“Well, we’ll see what it’s like when we get there,” she said. “ I want to scope out the situation first.”

As the two of us sat in the Playboy lobby awaiting word from Hennessey, several of the contestants passed us on their way out. A few of the girls played the part of the Playboy bunny: blonde, busty, but with a Barbie-doll waist. We noticed a reserved, modestly dressed Asian girl waiting in the lobby with us. Looking as if she didn’t belong there, she caught the attention of Sylvia and me.

“She couldn’t possibly be trying out,” whispered Sylvia. A Playboy representative then came into the lobby and called the girl’s number.

A few minutes later Hennessey emerged with Tai Smith of Calumet City, who agreed to be interviewed.

“My parents don’t know about this,” admitted Smith. However, she agreed to an interview after hearing the Lerner Community Newspapers name -- and not recognizing it.

“I just don’t want my parents to find out, unless I actually make it,” she told me. “If I do win, I’ll have a lot of money, and so they won’t argue."

Smith, 24, is an accounting student at Roosevelt University and an amateur model. Her favorite part of her body? “My brain,” she replied matter-of-factly. “I spend so much money on it with school.”

If she wins the $50,000, Smith said, she plans to spend $15,000 on a car and invest the rest.

“I just want something to come easy,” said the aspiring Playboy covergirl. Smith dreams of becoming a professional model one day, and says that posing for Playboy might be her ticket.

Also, added Smith, “My boyfriend loves it.”

As for my friend Sylvia, she decided to forgo the audition. Her boyfriend, she explained, wouldn’t have approved.

© Copyright 2000 Holidayness.com All rights reserved