Voted 10th most popular Playmate of the Century by Playboy Magazine
By Steve Sullivan
The time was November 1968. The 13-year old kid in Fairfax, Virginia had nervously purchased his first Playboy with the August issue at the People's Drug Store just a few blocks away, and upon discovering the forbidden world of fantasy females he was hooked for life. The December issue—with its bulging girth and the stunning brunette serving as a human Christmas tree on the cover-looked especially promising. His fumbling fingers made their way to the centerfold. And there she was: the Ultimate Playmate.
Never in my life had I beheld a vision like the December 1968 gatefold, and 26 years later the same statement holds true. Every detail is utter perfection: a breathtaking creature with star-tingly bright, luminous eyes; a face flushed with youth and promise, but also with a sense of nervous excitement; luxuriant dark hair falling down beyond her shoulders; astonishing torpedo-like breasts that jutted out proudly and firmly despite their great size; a provocative yet somehow innocent nude pose kneeling with legs apart (but nothing showing-this was 1968, after all) on a white shag rug, a hand on each knee, and a cute little teddy bear alongside one thigh. It was not a sexual pose but rather suggested (given the issue's timing) a remarkably lovely girl poised with excited expectation just before Christmas presents are about to be unwrapped. Of course, she was herself the most wonderful Christmas gift any man could have possibly imagined.
From the moment I first saw it, it was an image so indelibly imprinted on my mind that no other could displace it. In my eyes, at least, it stands as the greatest pin-up photograph ever taken, and Cynthia Myers as one of the most extraordinary women ever captured for posterity on the printed page. And so when Bob Schultz told me a few days before Glamourcon-3 three months ago that Cynthia Myers was scheduled to be at the show along with several other former Playmates, it was as if a thunderbolt was hurtling across 3,000 miles to strike me on the other end of the line. Out of all the glamour girls still drawing breath on this planet, no one else could have meant more to me.
Of course, one never knows what 26 years will do to a fantasy image, so it was with jittery anticipation that I approached her table at Glamourcon. But even 20 yards away, there could be no doubt: those bright, shining eyes, curvaceous figure, and warm smile were unmistakably those of the Cynthia Myers whose centerfold was the first pin-up to grace my bedroom wall, much to the startled but tolerant amusement of my mother. And as we talked, it became apparent that Cynthia the human being is every bit as warm as the smile that had so mesmerized me years before.
It was to be a comedy of errors before we finally got together. We arranged to meet after the second day of the show, but somehow missed connections and she checked out of the hotel. I was able to contact her through a Playboy intermediary and we spoke by phone several times during the next week. Since I was in L.A. through the following Saturday and she would be appearing at the Hollywood Collectors' Show that weekend, we scheduled a meeting at the Beverly Garland Hotel on Friday night. But (as I learned later) she had traffic problems and arrived three hours late, soon after I had left. Then we were set to get together just after the first day of the Beverly Garland show on Saturday--but the show broke up early and she was gone by the time I returned. As you can imagine, I was contemplating whether the powers that be had brought me to the brink of a dream only to snatch it away. Happily, however, I was able to reach her this time through the hotel desk and we had dinner that evening. Many hours of pleasant phone conversations ensued in the coming weeks, and I came to learn just how special a lady Cynthia Myers truly is.
Cynthia was born on September 12, 1950 in Toledo, Ohio. "My father was killed in a car accident when I was four," she told me. "I was raised by loving grandparents, my mother Mary, and an extension of aunts and uncles. It was a very close-knit, comfortable, middle-class, typical Midwestern family with traditional Midwestern values. My sister Tana and my brother Lance were also very important to me as I grew up."
She began to notice that her startlingly voluptuous figure was attracting male attention "very early," she chuckles. "I knew that I was a little different from the other girls when I first turned 13. I knew that the boys liked it, and the girls didn't like the attention I got. I couldn't help it. I had a lot of boy friends-admirers who were a little infatuated or just liked me. But what I really missed was having a girlfriend growing up, someone to share things and go shopping with. Even if one girl decided she wanted to be my friend, the other girls would get to her and tell her not to be. It was just cruelty I guess.
"So it was lonely. I was too young to date, and I didn't have a girlfriend. So I started riding horses, and showing them in competition. A lot of my extra time was spent at the stables and getting ready for shows. I started in little barn shows, and wanted to move up to bigger shows on the equestrian circuit—hunters and jumpers. If you want to succeed you’ve got to have a good horse, and that costs an awful lot of money. I was showing a horse that was worth about $1500, when a horse being ridden by a girl I knew was worth $62,000, and the horses at the “A” shows could cost upwards of $150,000. That’s when she realized that her days as a competitive equestrian were numbered, although her love for horses continues to this day.
Then I started to get offers to model when I was 14. People noticed that I had a voluptuous figure. I didn’t have the height [5 foot 4] so I wasn’t a fashion type, but they wanted me to model bikinis and other bathing suits. My mother said no, which is what I would say if I had a daughter that age. “It’s a time to keep your mind on your studies.”
It was at age 15 that Cynthia made a decision that would change the course of her life. “So many people had told me, `with your figure and face, if you don’t pose for Playboy, you’re crazy. You’re a natural for them. Just let them know where you are--you’re Playmate material.’ I figured, everyone thinks I should, so maybe I should do it.”
Interestingly, once Cynthia made the decision that she was going to be a Playmate, one of her inspirations was an all time favorite of ours at GG:TAN, June Wilkinson. Cynthia worked part-time as a theatre usher, and when she heard in 1965 that June was coming to town as star of the show “Any Wednesday”. She was eager to see the play and, especially, to meet the woman who had appeared in Playboy more times than anyone else. Unfortunately, her mother said that the play conflicted with her school study schedule, and she had to miss it.
Still, it took a bit of prodding to actually take that crucial step. In 1967, Cynthia did some modeling for a family friend, Jerry Halak, who built custom designed automobiles in Toledo for wealthy clients. “Since Detroit is only 52 miles from Toledo, I modeled for him at a few Detroit auto shows. When I told him about the people who’d suggested I contact Playboy, he sat me down in his living room and helped me write the letter. And just in case I chickened out, he even drove me to the post office to mail it!” Those of us who have enjoyed Cynthia's pictures through the years surely owe Jerry Halak a debt of gratitude. “When I see Jerry now, he tells me, `that one afternoon, we were making history and we didn’t even know it!”
“So I sent them a bathing suit photo with a note to Mr. Hefner. I addressed the letter to Marilyn Grabowski [Playboy’s Assistant Picture Editor], just to be sure it wound up on someone’s desk and didn’t get lost in the shuffle.” Grabowski responded with a letter advising Cynthia to keep in touch until she turned 18. During late 1967 and early ’68, Cynthia and the magazine did stay in touch through letters and phone calls. In a sense, she was the pin-up equivalent of a high school pitching phenom who was too young to come up to the major leagues, but the team with contract rights could eagerly count the day until the extraordinary prospect was ready to be called up.
“Then I had a semester break my senior year at Woodward High School, and I came down with my girlfriend to Miami. A man [Mike Levine] saw me coming out of a swimming pool, and took my picture for the Miami Beach reporter. That photo was the very first published pin-up shot of Cynthia, and a few days later was emblazoned across Page One of the June 20, 1968 edition of the Reporter. During her brief stay in Miami, Cynthia was offered a modeling contract by a major swimsuit manufacturer, but that would quickly be superseded by her dream opportunity.
Playboy History Is Made
Mike Levine told me there was a lady in Miami who’s an extremely talented photographer and specializes in figure flattering photographs—Bunny Yeager. By that time, I’d met a number of people who’d asked me if I had met Bunny. So I figured I must be her type of model. I set up an appointment to meet her. Then, when I called home to my mother, she said that Playboy had called, and wanted to know when I hat to go back to school. They wanted me to come to come to Chicago for a test shoot. They booked me on a plane the very next day. She never got together with Bunny, but Playboy history was about to be made.
When she arrived, “there was a bit of a rush, because the December and January issues were coming up, the two top-selling issue, and they knew that people expect a little bit more in a holiday issue. They already had a girl picked out for December—I don’t know who she was—but Hefner decided that I would be the December Playmate. I always felt a little bad about the other girl, but it was a nice compliment to me.
“So they had to start taking a lot of pictures right away to get me into the December issue. I shot mornings and nights.” The photographer was the great Pompeo Posar, the most renowned all Playboy’s staff photographers. “He knows how to make you feel relaxed, that you are a little frightened. But he is also talented at capturing that innocence and naiveté in the photos—he doesn’t miss that opportunity. He knows that six months from now, she’ll have a more experienced, sophisticated look, and knows exactly how to get the first photos that a lot of men like. There’s a scared, helpless look—like, I put myself in your hands. All of those mixed emotions are there. A lot of men find that desirable. The sense of innocence, you’ve never done this before, you’re scared, like a little fawn that has been captured and is not with his parents or his surroundings anymore. You can see that look in my eyes in the centerfold.
“I really didn’t know what to expect—I had nothing to compare it to. There were a lot of technical people around—lighting, wardrobe, set decorators. I would’ve preferred that there not be so many people, but they were necessary. Pompeo was so expert and tactful in handling a girl who walks in and is scared to death. He knows you trust him, and he doesn’t abuse that. I knew that it would all be very professional, and I knew I didn’t have to worry about the quality of the photos. These people have been taking the finest photographs of women the world, they’re there to make you look your best and enhance your beauty.”
There’s no question that the innocent, frightened-fawn look can be seen in Posar’s magnificent centerfold of Cynthia. But as noted previously, the shimmering look in her eyes and the flush of her cheeks also suggests a nervous excitement. When I told Cynthia about Bunny’s comment to me that the experience of a girl who’s modeling nude for the first time is much like making love the first time, she smiled. “I never thought of it that way, bur she’s right! That’s a very good analogy”
When Cynthia first saw the centerfold shot, what was her reaction? “I didn’t realize that my boobs were that big!” “I’d never seen them from that angle. Wow! No wonder people were looking at me that way! It must have been hard for all those boys when we were walking down the school hallway, for them to keep their mind on math and geography! Really! No wonder the girls hated me. My goodness, they must have thought, if that’s normal, how in the world am I going to grow that much in six months or a year? I definitely didn’t set the norm for female figures!”
The shooting schedule became less intense once the centerfold shot was completed. “Once the gatefold is in the can, so to speak, everything becomes a little more relaxed.” After the supporting pictures were wrapped up, Cynthia returned home and finished high school, although graduation did not take place until later. “I was too young to be published, so Mr. Hefner would have to hold my photographs until I was of legal age.”
Also because she was still 17, there was the matter of legal consent from a parent or guardian. “My mother had already enrolled me in a Catholic school for that fall to continue my education, and at first she didn’t want to give the consent. So it was my grandmother who actually signed the release.” Soon thereafter, however, her mother—always Cynthia’s most important supporter—came around to back up her actions. Cynthia would earn $5,000 for her Playmate shooting—half up front, half upon publication—plus additional modeling fees for each day she appeared at auto shows, boat shows, and the like.
She was soon back at the Playboy Mansion for some Holiday-themed photos, including the “living Christmas tree” shot used for the December cover. And she was invited to move into an apartment at the mansion. “After I got my diploma from high school, I went home and packed. My mother cried and asked me to stay. I think she wanted me to marry the boy next door, and she was upset that I didn’t go on to college. I said, “Mom, if I don’t do this, I’ll always wonder how my life would have been.” And she said, “you’re probably right. Be careful and call me every day.” Then everything started to happen so fast.”
Cynthia moved into a ground floor apartment at the mansion in July. “I began working at the Chicago Playboy Club just to have something to do when they weren’t taking photographs of me. I was too young to serve cocktails, so they put me at the door to greet card holders”
She recalls that when she first met Hugh Hefner, “he complimented me, saying ‘what an extraordinary figure.’ Then he asked how they had found me. I told him, ‘you didn’t find me, I found you! I explained my story to him and he took it very seriously—he even had a staff meeting about it, because he had never received the letter or photo I’d sent. This disturbed him a great deal, so he sent out a memo that from then on, he would religiously check all amateur photos sent in by boyfriends, husbands, or the girls themselves. He even proved it to me one day when he had set aside on his desk all the mail with snapshots and Polaroid's that had been sent. He said, ‘I wouldn’t want to miss out on another find like you.’ That made me feel really good.”
The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held that august in Chicago, and the Playboy Mansion saw a procession of political and literary celebrities every day. “When I was up in the morning for breakfast or later for lunch, there was Adlai Stevenson or Barry Goldwater. I was 17 years old, a girl from Toledo practically off the farm, and there was all these public figures asking me for my political views! Art Buchwald was there, George Plimpton was staying in the apartment next to mine. I was meeting all the worldly, sophisticated people. I just sat back and listened”
During this period, “Hef still had his reputation for staying in pajamas, rarely going outside, the ever-present Pepsi in his hand. He was a real night owl—he stayed up all night and slept during the day. He was a huge movie buff. He even had a full-time employee to maintain, research and categorize the most extensive film collection in the world, I was told.” Cynthia says she didn’t sample the collection—“I’m sure they would’ve made me blush.” “Hef knew I loved horror movies, so I was able to see all the original classic Frankenstein and Dracula movies there. He’d be working in his quarters while I watched, and every once in awhile he’d stop by and say, ‘I remember that scene.”
While living at the mansion, Cynthia says she didn’t really get to know any of the other Playmates, although she and Donna Michelle (1963-64 Playmate of the Year) would later become close friends and roommates. “At first, it’s a scary place to go. You’re assigned an apartment, you’re introduced to people, but you don’t really know what’s happening. Will you be working with this person, or is that the girl who’s Hefner’s particular favorite that month? I was so busy—I was either shooting photos, or working at the Club, or fishing on Lake Michigan, or filming ‘Playboy After Dark.’ You don’t have to go in there defensively, but you have to understand that all the girls are in there vying for some kind of position”
How was Cynthia’s relationship with Hefner? “He became a platonic pal. We were both movie buffs, so we had that in common. There was never any pressure. He always seemed genuinely pleased to have my company…Remember that I was only 17, and he was almost fatherly with me. I felt a sense of protectiveness.”
Back in Toledo, the old fogy faction was raising a fuss. Cynthia had already seen evidence of this backlash, when she had been overwhelmingly voted Woodward High’s Homecoming Queen but was denied the top honor by school officials when they learned of her activities in Chicago. The reaction went still further, however. “When the word got out, at first they didn’t want to let me graduate even though I had already finished my courses with high grades. There was a pretty big uproar.” She ultimately graduated from school soon after her appearance in the magazine.
“My mother always traded at the same grocery store, and they snubbed her because of Playboy. I flew back and told them, ’don’t you do anything to hurt my mother. If there’s a problem because of something I did, talk to me about it.’ I wanted to protect her—my mother’s my heart. So I straightened things out.” “Toledo’s a pretty big city, but it still had Midwestern morals.” America was going through a big change then—women burning bras, hippies smoking marijuana. Finally people began to lighten up and realize, ‘she’s not a bad girl just because she let someone take a beautiful picture of her.’
“The year after, they came over the loudspeaker in Woodward High while my sister was there, and talked about all the celebrities who had graduated from there, and if you study hard you can be like them. There was Danny Thomas, Helen O’Connell, Jamie Farr—and Cynthia Myers! And I felt like saying, ‘I didn’t have to study too hard to pose for Playboy!” she laughs. “But it was nice. They were too afraid to accept [what I had done] until everyone else began to lighten up. Until then, they gave us a rough time. I felt ‘don’t anybody ever look at me as if I should be ashamed, or that I should feel dirty or cheap.’ More than likely 99 percent of the men who were looking at me that way would have given their eye teeth to spend the evening with a Playmate, and 99 percent of the women would have felt the same to look like one. So the hypocrisy made me mad.”
When the December issue came out, Cynthia’s Playmate layout (“Wholly Toledo!”) created a volcanic reaction. In the magazine’s entire history, only one other Playmate spread, that of 1967’s De De Lind (who has become a very dear friend of Cynthia’s) generated such a flood of mail. “ I heard around the magazine that they were getting bombarded with an extraordinary amount of mail. For the men in Vietnam isolated from their homeland, a Playmate was the ultimate fantasy of what they could have. An ex-soldier came up to me a Glamourcon show and told me, ‘you were the girl we left behind, the one we were desperately trying to come home to.’ One man told me he had left everything behind when he shipped out but stuffed my centerfold in his shirt. Comments like that make me feel very proud.
“I got so much mail, my apartment at the mansion couldn’t hold it all—they had to put it into storage units. I wrote every soldier back. I didn’t have a desk large enough to organize everything, so I bought a picnic table, laid everything out and took five hours every evening to write letters and tried to say something personal to each one. I wanted to do it, since they were there fighting for us.” Of course, not all the mail was on such an elevated level. “I’d be fibbing if I said I never got a letter requesting one of my bras. God, I could have gone into the bra business!”
Not surprisingly, everyone at the mansion during that period was quite taken with Cynthia, including some well-known personalities. “I met Eddie Fisher during the Democratic convention. Somebody had told me, ‘you’ve got to meet Eddie Fisher.’ I guess I was his type. He was always a gentleman, and genuinely loved ladies. He seemed to really enjoy my company, although our relationship was strictly platonic. Once he was reading a book, I walked into the room, and he just looked across the room at me and said, ‘you have breasts just like Elizabeth’s! Don’t be offended, I’m paying you a compliment!” Fisher was so enchanted by Cynthia that “he gave me my first mink coat and the wedding ring that Elizabeth Taylor had given him when they were married. I thought, my goodness, how can I accept this? But when he kept insisting, I finally took it.” Upon learning of her love for horses, fisher also bought her “a beautiful thoroughbred filly, sired by champion bloodlines. But then ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls’ came along, and I never went back to pick up the horse. He didn’t want me to do movies, and told me, ‘I’ll take care of you.’” When she responded that she wanted to pursue a film career, he was disappointed but then laughed and said ‘oh well, another love lost.’”
Toledo Girl in Hollywood
Cynthia’s Hollywood period was launched during the summer of 1968 when Hefner had begun his second syndicated television series, “Playboy after Dark.” “He said, ‘Cynthia, I’d love for you to appear on the show.’ So we flew out to California to do the shows, going back and forth from Chicago.” Like other Playmates of models on the show, Cynthia was primarily on hand to beautify the surroundings—sitting on the couch at “Hef’s party” chatting with other guests, watching the guest stars, and on occasion being introduced by Hef and answering a question or two. “Being a Midwestern girl, California was unique, with the ocean and the mountains.”
“Shortly after doing the first ‘Playboy after Dark’ show, I was introduced to Burt Lancaster through a girlfriend in Hollywood. What a wonderful man! Of course, I’d been a movie buff since I was a little girl. My after-school job was being an usher in theatres, and I didn’t care how often I saw a movie, I just loved being around movies. I remember on our first date, I was so in awe, but I was trying to be nonchalant as best I could. He was the sweetest, nicest, most talented man—he was everything I expected, and more. “He said, ‘a friend of mine is doing a film for Warner Brothers, director Sidney Pollack, and would you be interested in being in the film?” Of course, I said, “I’d love it.’ The film was ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t they?’ It was such a unique experience; I would have paid them to let me go to work there every day!
“They gave me a role as one of the marathon dancers during the Depression. The shooting of the film took almost three and a half months. Not bad for my first picture, where most people get one or two days work! All these talented people—Jane Fonda, Red Buttons, and Gig Young really impressed me.” Unfortunately, since the picture was running long, Cynthia’s speaking scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.
“But everything is a a stepping stone, and so many other things can come about. Bruce Dern was one of the dancers in the film. He said to me, ‘are you really serious about being an actress?’ I said, ‘boy, I sure am.’ But I had a drawback—because of the Playboy thing, I didn’t want people to think, ‘she went for the obvious face and figure because she can’t act her way out of a paper bag. ’I told him, I really am serious. Even if I had a figure like a stick and a plain face, I’d still want to do film work.’ “He said, ‘I’m teaching acting at the Actors and Directors’ Lab. If you are serious, you’ll be there.’ I was very fortunate and studied with him. While we were doing Shakespeare and the classics I was also able to learn cold reading of scripts, because I was going out on interviews and I needed all the experience I could get.” Cynthia also studied acting with Jeff Corey, whose students in the 1950’s had included James Dean.
Also in 1969, Cynthia appeared on a Bob Hope TV special in which Ann Margret was featured. She was one of five girls who danced on the show—“they had picked four blondes, so they chose me as the only brunette”—and she was interviewed briefly by Hope in one segment.
Russ Meyer Girl
In the fall of 1969, Cynthia was contacted by Russ Meyer and invited to co-star in his first ever big-budget studio epic. “Russ had been trying to contact me for over a year. I think he may have wanted me to test for ‘Vixen.” Filmed in late 1968, “Vixen” had immediately catapulted Meyer from beloved cult favorite to industry phenomenon by grossing more than $6 million at a cost of only $72,000, partially on the strength of Erica Gavin’s overpoweringly sensuous lead performance. As a result, 20th Century Fox studio chief Richard Zanuck signed Meyer to direct and produce “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” on a budget of $1.5 million.
“Russ had contacted Playboy’s publicity department in Chicago, specifically asking for Cynthia Myers. But even though he and Hef were old friends, the magazine didn’t seem to make an effort to put us in touch, or it just slipped off someone's desk. I’ve been told that I’m the prototype of a Russ Meyer girl. When we met, I said, ‘I guess I’m your kind of girl, huh?’ And he just gave out a big belly laugh and said, ‘I’m glad to finally meet you. Cynthia Myers--that’s a pretty good last name, isn’t it?’
“Here was a man who had practically filmed in his back yard and now a major studio hires him…Fox had taken a beating with ‘Tora, Tora, Tora,’ and ‘Myra Breckinridge’ [destined to be another big-budget flop] was being shot at the same time.” Therefore, some studio execs—even those initially aghast at hiring a skin-flick director—were looking to Meyer as Fox’s financial savior. “He was quite intense, full of energy, and I realized that it was a big responsibility for him to come to a major studio that pretty much said, ‘okay, show us your stuff. You’ve made a lot of money, now do it for us.’ He was under tremendous pressure to pull everyone together and come in under budget, and of course everyone wants miracles.
“He had the whole cast over to his high-rise apartment in Century City in early evenings. We had to start right away. He said, ‘we need to do your screen test next Tuesday.’ I said, ‘holy macaroni!’ Maybe we didn’t all know what we were doing, but we put it together and it was a fun learning experience.”
“Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (co-written by Meyer and his friend movie critic Roger Ebert) is a propulsive energetic film tracing the adventurous and tragic rise to fame of an all-girl rock band, the Carrie Nations. Playboy Playmate Dolly Read is lead singer Kelly, Cynthia portrays guitarist Casey, and lovely black model Marcia McBroom plays drummer Petranella. In typically manic and satiric Meyer fashion, the story boils down to the loss of innocence as the girls venture to the big time in Hollywood and plunge headlong into a cynical new world of sex, drugs, and violence.
As Casey, Cynthia finds herself increasingly embittered by men while Kelly enters into an affair with strapping blond gigolo Lance rock and Marcia too finds romance. One night, when the group’s former manager Harris (David Gurian) comes to her for comfort after being shoved aside in their rise to fame—and after being sexually rejected and humiliated by Edy Williams as voracious porn queen Ashley St. John—Casey sleeps with him. Afterward, she angrily throws him out, but later discovers that she’s pregnant with his child.
Already drawn into a growing friendship with fashion designer Roxanne (Erica Gavin) who had eyes for her from the start, Casey tearfully confides her dilemma, and Roxanne takes her to have an abortion. Afterward, the two women share an afternoon in the countryside, and they kiss tenderly after Casey expresses gratitude for her friend’s kindness.
The film’s denouement is a bizarre costume party at the home of the group’s flamboyant new mastermind “Z-Man” (John Lazar). That night at his mansion, Casey and Roxanne bed down together and have one final, very romantic and sensuous sequence. Soon thereafter, Z-Man (who turns out to be a woman) wigs out and goes on a murderous spree through the house. Casey runs for her life in a diaphanous black nightgown and desperately phones her band mates for help, but is gunned down just as they arrive. The film concludes with Harris’ miraculous recovery from an attempted suicide, his romantic reunion with Kelly, and a triple wedding, topped off by a narrator’s voice intoning what it all supposedly means.
Few major films have been met with such a wildly contrasting critical response as “BVD.” Some reviled it for gratuitous violence, while others hailed its tremendous pace and Meyer’s masterful editing; indeed, a couple of critics subsequently listed it as one of the 10 best films of the 1970s. Whether you love it or hate it, Cynthia’s performance is outstanding, capturing Casey’s essential innocence and disillusionment. Some of her Playboy fans were probably disappointed at the film’s minimal nudity, as her unclad form is simply silhouetted in the dark during the final bedroom sequence. It’s also interesting to compare the lesbian scenes here with the one in “Vixen.” In the earlier film, Erica Gavin’s lovemaking session with a female partner is one of the most exceptionally steamy in the entire picture; by contrast, the “BVD” scenes between Cynthia and Erica are not outwardly erotic but primarily tender and romantic.
“Erica was very nervous about doing the scene,” recalls Cynthia. This was partly due to her tense relationship with Russ Meyer, and the director’s quite vocal unhappiness that his voluptuous “Vixen” star had lost weight and become notable less bosomy. “We were good friends, and I thought, thank goodness I’m at least going to do it with a girl I likes. Also, it was a lovely scene. She was so upset that I came to talk with her about it. I said, ‘Erica, it’s going to be fine. Is there anything I can do to make it more comfortable?” Thanks in part to Cynthia’s gentle comforting, these scenes are among the finest in the movie.
In addition to her close friendship with Erica, Cynthia also became pals with Edy Williams, who would later offer to help out during a tough time in Cynthia’s life. “Edy’s very dear to me,” she says.
The pressures of filming her first major movie role led to a missed opportunity. “Pompeo Posar came to the set and said, ‘Mr. Hefner is going to do a feature article on ‘BVD,’ I’ll stay for a week to shoot between scenes, and I’d like to get some really nice shots of you.’ But I was so nervous about the film and everything else that was going on, I said to Pompeo, ‘I really can’t do it right now.’ I really regret that…Pompeo said Hefner would favor me with extra space in the layout.” Since Posar was unable to take any new shots of Cynthia on the set, the July 1970 Playboy layout on the film included only a few older shot of her.
Playboy also featured Cynthia in its 1970, 1971, and 1972 Playmate Calendars. The ’71 calendar shot is a real favorite of mine; it’s an utterly seductive topless side profile pose as Cynthia stands in a doorway clad in a black bikini bottom, with an uncharacteristically sultry half-smile. Collectors are also advised to seek out the 1983 special publication Playboy’s Playmates: The first 15 Years, which includes a totally spectacular full-page outtake from her gatefold session, viewed from a different angle on that white shag rug.
“BVD” was a solid box office success, grossing $15 million, and to this day it remains Meyer’s proudest achievement; like his fans, he was delighted when Fox finally agreed to release the video in 1993. In 2006 it was released on DVD.
Cynthia in the Westerns
After “Dolls,” Cynthia landed a choice role as the only female in a western called “Devil’s Canyon.” Bob Fuller starred as the town marshal, and Nick Cravatte played an old miner who is trying to protect his gold strike claim. Cynthia was the miner’s daughter who sought to help him. “Nick Cravatte was Burt Lancaster’s old partner and when he learned Burt was a friend of mine he told me all sorts of great stories. I also got to ride a horse during the Indian attack in the film.”
An unusual element of the film was it’s Mormon production company, Iron door films. “They wanted good G-rated entertainment. So there was none of the old, ‘can you please pull your dress front a little lower,” or ‘can’t they rip your skirt off in the fight scene.’ It made me feel good that I could concentrate on acting.”
Unfortunately, the film was never completed. “Bob fuller was called away to begin shooting the TV show “Emergency” with Julie London. The film had already gone way over schedule shooting in Marble Canyon, Arizona. They changed the ending, but it was never finished.” Considering the promise that Cynthia had shown in ‘Dolls,’ it’s a pity that we were unable to see how she handled such a prominent dramatic role.
It was not long before she had one more opportunity, as she was hired for another western. “Vera Miles was looking for a pretty girl to be the love interest of a man she was interested in and I got the job.” In the 1972 film “Molly and Lawless John” Vera plays the neglected wife of the town sheriff, played by veteran actor John Anderson, who takes prisoner Sam Elliott to his jail. Vera is smitten by Elliott and schemes to help him escape with the plan that they will run off together. But Elliott already has a gorgeous girlfriend—Cynthia, as Dolly Kincaid—and once he’s out, he says thanks and goodbye. That proves to be a mistake, a Miles ends up killing him.
Cynthia had some romantic scenes with Elliott, who became a star a few years later in “Lifeguard.” “I had so many petticoats on that when Sam Elliott was trying to undress me in the scene, he said, ‘How in the world can I get all these petticoats off without taking five minutes?’ I fainted once because of the heat [in Las Cruces, New Mexico] and all the clothing, and Vera Miles was so sweet, having them go to the water tank to help revive me.” Once again, she was able to do some of her own horse riding. And this time, the picture was completed and is still shown occasionally on TV.
Little did Cynthia know this would be her last film. “Jimmy Hyde tried to tell me, ‘when you think you’re in love, you’re blind to all sensible things.’” Following “BVD,” she had moved in with co-star Michael Blodgett, and “I put my career on the back burner. But I should have continued studying with Bruce Dern and concentrated on my career. They went their separate ways in 1977.
Cynthia had more than her share of remarkable adventures in Hollywood, which we’ll have to save for another occasion. For now, suffice it to say that she survived a “crazy” environment in the face of many temptations. “I came to so many forks in the road where people were pushing me in one direction or the other. What saved me was my Midwestern upbringing and values. When people would say, ‘if it feels good, do it,’ I would say, ‘no, that’s not the way I was raised.”
Out of the Limelight
After going off on her own, Cynthia moved in for a time with a family who had been very important in her life for over a decade. She had been introduced to Gene Czerwinski and his family by her friend Donna Michelle. Czerwinski is the president and owner of Cerwin-Vega stereo equipment corporation. Cynthia and Donna were roommates during the period when Cynthia filmed “Dolls.” Having moved out of the Playboy Mansion, Cynthia “didn’t want to into a lonely hotel room” so she moved in with Donna. The Czerwinski family had sort of adopted Donna, and she introduced me to them. Not only were they also from Toledo, Gene even went to the same high school and grew up in the same neighborhood. In addition to spending many hours at the Czerwinski home, Cynthia modeled for Cerwin-Vega. She served as the company’s “Miss Earthquake” when Cerwin-Vega developed the Sensurround system for the movies “Earthquake” and “The Towering Inferno.” Her ads in that role ran in many stereo magazines during 1971-72. Cynthia could also be seen in 1972 Cerwin-Vega ads for its sound system at the giant WATTSTAX music festival in Los Angeles. Additionally, she has represented the company as a model at its Las Vegas consumer and electronics conventions.
“Cynthia is one of the kindest, sweetest persons I’ve ever known,” says Connie Czerwinski, Gene’s daughter and a vice president at the company. “I think she may have actually been too nice and too caring to be in show business.”
Cynthia and Donna kept in touch and remained dear friends through all these years until sadly, in 2004, Donna died of a heart attack. The loss still affects Cynthia today.
In 1981, Cynthia decided to set off on an extended car trip to “think about what I wanted to do.” She went to Las Vegas, and planned to drive by the Grand Canyon and then up to Aspen to visit a girlfriend. “ I wasn’t on any schedule--I just wanted to enjoy myself.
Cynthia had been completely away from Playboy and show business for two decades when her girlfriend suggested that she at least let the magazine know she was still alive. So I called their offices in Century City and they were delighted to hear from me. Five days later I got a call from Debra Jo Fondren [former Playmate of the Year] asking me if I would like to sign autographs at a show called Glamourcon. I accepted and it was the most fun I had in a long time. It was such a pleasure to be received so well, and to have so many fans tell me how much I meant to them. After living up in the desert away from the entertainment field for so many years, this has been a real treat.” One of the highlights of Glamourcon for Cynthia was her reunion with Hugh Hefner. “As soon as he saw me, he gave me a big, long hug. He’s a very dear man.”
Now she’s eager to do more shows, including upcoming Glamourcons and Hollywood Collector Show. And the possibility of getting back into acting and modeling, even if only on a part-time basis, is very much a possibility. “I see a lot of actresses now who started out in cheesecake and went on to have great longevity in the business. I’d love to get back into acting if the right opportunity arose.”
In my experience, rarely have the qualities of exceptional beauty and personal sweetness intersected so perfectly as they have with Cynthia Myers. Considering how her photograph so many years ago had really launched me upon my entire glamour-girl endeavors, it almost seems like destiny that we had finally come together. This is one fantasy that has had a very happy ending.
Steve Sullivan, Editor/Writer of Glamour Girls: Then and Now