“First Playmate” is a trivia question that will win you many bar bets. Most people think it was Marilyn Monroe. You can also win bets on the first centerfold, also not Marilyn. You all know that Marilyn appeared in Playboy #1 in December of 1953, but the magazine never applied the term “Playmate” to her (MM was the “Sweetheart of the Month”), and she was not a centerfold, having appeared on pages 17-19. The main color picture was presented vertically, as shown in the link above.
- An obscure model/actress named Margie Harrison became the first “Playmate” when she was so called in the second-ever issue of the Bunny-oriented publication. Margie also became the first woman chosen as a Playmate twice, when the magazine pictured her again a few months later in the June, 1954 edition. Unfortunately for her, the picture was not identified as Margie at the time. It was not until two years after her appearance in Playboy #2 that Playboy’s readers learned her identity.
Brainscan covered her in Lil From Brazil in part 4 of his brilliant overview of Grindhouse Films.
- The first actual centerfold (two-page) was Janet Pilgrim (Miss July for 1955)
- The model for the first three-panel fold-out centerfold was Marian Stafford, Miss March for 1956.
Find more Playmate trivia here.
One site pictures every one of them!
By the way, you can find a replica of that first Playboy online. It was primitive!
The second issue was somewhat more professional in appearance, but was still rudimentary, and was still predominantly black-and-white.