Marilyn Waltz 

miss april 1954 

Marilyn's 1955 Playmate photo is by veteran photographer Hal Adams, and photo archivists had assumed the shot appearing in the April 1954 issue was his as well. Not so, says Adams; Marilyn's 1954 pose was more revealing than he cared to shoot. "I never showed real nudity," he says. "That's why I used trellises or leotards in my pictures. I'm not prudish or anything like it, but it's just my own feeling that a picture is more erotic when the woman has some clothes on." Marilyn, at the time a popular pin-up model, was one of only four women who've ever had multiple Playmate exposures (it hasn't happened since Janet Pilgrim's third centerfold in 1956). While reviewing photo files in preparation for publication of The Playmate Book, Hefner noted a startling resemblance between Marilyn and February 1954 Playmate Margaret Scott. Could they be the same woman?