While visiting her sister in Los Angeles, Waukegan, Illinois' Eleanor Bradley was discovered on the beach by photographer Ron Vogel. "I just submitted one of her test shots," Vogel recalls, "and the magazine ran it as a centerfold. There was a certain amount of luck involved in getting a sharp enough picture on small film instead of the eight-by-ten sheets normally used for a centerfold." 

When she returned home to Waukegan, Eleanor was greeted by some adverse reaction to her Playmate unveiling. So she moved to Chicago and went to work as a Playboy receptionist; later she became a regular on Hefner's "Playboy's Penthouse" television show. She modeled professionally for 13 years, managed boutiques and restaurants, performed onstage and booked talent for conventions, and co-founded the Park Ridge (Illinois) Fine Arts Society, which is now in its 38th year. 

These days Eleanor, who still lives in the Chicago area, does a good deal of volunteer work. "I'm working with a partnership group that gets businesses and schools together. We contact the schools to see what their most urgent needs are. For instance, one might have a science lab and, because of budget cuts, have no one to teach it. So we approach a scientific type of business and get some free advice. They send in someone to teach the kids science or donate equipment. 

"My grandbabies, two little girls, keep me busy, and I'm also taking care of my husband's centenarian father. We bought an apartment for him and I've decorated it. 

"I love to dance and go out dancing every week. I'm kind of into Country and Western right now. I'm married to a great guy -- it's been 15 years now -- and we have our own company manufacturing printed circuit boards."


PLAYBOY APPEARANCES: Centerfold, February 1959; "Playmate Review -- 1959," January 1960; "TV Penthouse," March 1960; "Silverstein's History of Playboy," February 1964; "Playmates Revisited," July 1964; "Playmates Forever," December 1979; "Playmate Reunion," April 1980.

PLAYBOY NEWSSTAND SPECIALS: "Playmates: The First 15 Years," 1983.

PLAYBOY VIDEO CREDITS: "Playmates: The Early Years," January 1991.