To: pml1@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PML1] Classic Centerfold: Joyce Nizzari
From: Mark Tomlonson
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 15:19:55 -0400

A smile.

It's our first form of communication. We use it to express some of the 
simplest and most basic emotions and ideas. In the hands of an artistic 
genius like Leonardo da Vinci the smile of an unknown young girl can 
intrigue the world for hundreds of years. What makes the Mona Lisa 
smile? In a Classic Centerfold photographed by a genius like Bunny 
Yeager it can intrigue the world of Playboy for nearly 45 years. What 
makes Joyce Nizzari smile?

This December 1958 centerfold is the fourth of only six with a Bunny 
Yeager credit. Why Playboy hasn't used her work more often, I don't 
know, but I think we could have easily seen much more of her work in Our 
Favorite Magazine and been the richer for it.

The basic technical aspects of this foldout are all top-rate, exactly 
what you would expect from both Bunny Yeager and Playboy. The lighting 
is the "shadowless" style preferred at the time, yet Bunny manages to 
retain Joyce's lovely and appealing skin tone and texture.

The underlying geometric form of the centerfold is stated strongly by 
the railing on the deck where Joyce is sunbathing: a triangle with the 
peak off-center to the left. The longest side of the triangle, running 
from just left of center to lower right, is echoed in Joyce's pose, from 
her head down past her hips to her right foot stretched out on the deck.

Almost all the colors in the centerfold are pastels, with the important 
exception of the bold red and black of Joyce's sweater, her (?) black 
pants laying on the deck in front of her, her black hair and her lips. 
Red is used there to draw our eye to Joyce's killer smile. By 
present-day standards the lipstick is on pretty thick, but in its time 
I'm sure it was absolutely perfect - highlighting the lips and mouth 
without making them so big as to seem grotesque and still on thin enough 
that the form and detail of the lips are apparent.

All in all, a simple picture of a beautiful girl with a lovely, charming 
smile sunning herself on a balcony on a warm winter's day. Another of 
the many great photographs Play7boy has published over the years but 
nothing to write home about (or post an inordinately long essay about).

Or is it?

First, let's look at what Joyce is wearing. The centerfold seems to 
imply that she is on the balcony to catch some mid-winter sun. Since it 
seems to be a private deck, maybe she's even after a bit of an all-over 
tan. (1958 is B.T.P. - Before Tanning Parlors) But she has her pants 
off, not the sweater. It seems to me that generally a woman who was 
after a bit of a mid-winter touch-up would be taking off her shirt to 
allow a variety of necklines to be worn. So why would she be on a 
private balcony with her pants off?

All right, maybe I'm barki8ng up the wrong tree here. She does, after 
all, have a bottle of tanning lotion beside her. Maybe we (the viewer) 
have returned to the apartment/resort room earlier than expected and 
found her touching up some panty lines instead o necklines. But look at 
the light. Shadowless, remember? Like we find on overcast days. (Known 
around here as "Michigan Sunshine") Not really all that good for working 
on a tan - overall or not. So why is she on the balcony with her pants off?

Yeah, but look at her smile. Such sweetness (in an equally sweet face), 
such innocence, such lightness! Whatever reason she has removed her 
pants must be equally sweet and charming. But look at that smile again. 
Do I notice a bit of slyness mixed in with the sweetness? A bit of lift 
in her eyebrows? Do her eyes dance in more than just a pleasant 
greeting? So why is she on the balcony with her pants off?

Could it be that, as I have discovered, a romantic encounter when snow 
is on the ground goes really well (all right a lot better) if my partner 
is wearing a bulky sweater for (her) warmth and (my) access. And that 
leaving your pants beside you doesn't cool you off that fast, especially 
if you're . . . um . . . active?

Or am I being swept away by what used to be called "a woman's charms"? 
Is Miss Nizzari so lovely that thoughts of a sexual encounter spring to 
mind with no effort whatsoever? Those legs, leading to those rounded and 
lovely hips. Than angle of the pelvis, hinting at delights that are 
hidden for what I hope will be only the briefest of moments. And the 
smile again! Does it really reflect a woman with a sense of fun 
identical to mine, or am I just projecting?

The smile belongs to Joyce Nizzari, but it was Bunny Yeager who managed 
to catch it on film the way Leonardo da Vinci managed to catch a similar 
smile on canvas. I'm not saying that Bunny is the equal of Leonardo - as 
far as I know she didn't design any flying machines or discover the 
moons of Jupiter* (but she did design bikinis with a fair amount of 
lift, and some of her work could have been doe in Jupiter FL) but in 
both cases we have artists who managed to capture lightning in a bottle 
- the subtle, enigmatic smile of a beautiful young woman - and in 
Bunny's case, create one of Playboy's Classic Centerfolds

* Yes I know it was Galileo who discovered the moons, but then that 
blows my parallel construction.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI