To: pml1@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PML1] Classic Centerfold: Dianne Chandler
From: Mark Tomlonson
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 09:59:13 -0500

Over the past 15 to 20 years, Playboy has gradually broken its 
self-imposed age ceiling for models and Playmates. Before Janis Schmidt 
appeared in 1978, no Playmate was ever identified as being more than 25 
years old, even though several were. (E.g. Ester Cordet was 27 in 1974 
when she was PMOM) Nowadays it's not unusual at all for a Playmate to be 
identified in her late twenties or early thirties. And as Playboy has 
well shown, there is a quality of beauty at that age that simply is not 
visible sooner. But by the same token, there is a quality of beauty at 
19 that is lost by 29. Pompeo Posar caught this fleeting bloom of youth 
in the September 1966 Classic Centerfold of Dianne Chandler.

Like many other centerfolds of the sixties, the straightedge geometry of 
this one is a major contributor to its success as an artistic work. 
There is a sharp dividing line between the top and bottom portions of 
the photo, and that line is drawn in straight segments. Dianne is 
propped up on a pillow or bolster, raising her head and torso. Her left 
leg is raised, forming a right angle with her torso. Her right leg is 
straight, continuing the dividing line. A chest of drawers behind the 
bed balances the composition.

The division is further stated with color and shape. Roughly the bottom 
third of the centerfold is taken up with the light tan quilt and the 
not-so-light but somewhat (!) lovelier Dianne - the upper two thirds is 
taken up by dark draperies and a darkly-finished chest of drawers. The 
drapes and the chest are all very straight-lined rectangular forms. The 
stitching and folds of the quilt along with Dianne are organic, curved 
forms that provide contrast.

Because the sky is lighter than the earth, we expect to see light tones 
on the upper part of a picture. By reversing this, Pompeo has created 
tension in the design and drawn our eye to his subject. This tension is 
reinforced by having the largest compositional block in the upper part 
of the photo too. We associate size with weight, and the effect is that 
this weighty dark mass of the drapes looks unbalanced, again drawing our 
eye to the photo.

As if we needed any help being persuaded to notice Dianne!

The implied situation is a bigger contributor to this centerfold's 
success. The story of the foldout continues the story presented in the 
earlier pages of the Playmate feature. Dianne is introduced as a young 
student at the University of Illinois. We met her on campus, and now 
find her reposing in either her room or ours.

So why a campus room?

In our society, first love usually happens in the late teen or early 
twenties. And for a lot of people, including myself, that first love 
happens in a campus setting. Looking at this centerfold takes me back to 
those fall and winter Saturday afternoons when classwork was put on hold 
and an "affair of the heart" meant something entirely different than it 
did in Anatomy 102. This nearly universal fantasy/memory lets Pompeo 
speak to almost all of us, and creates a high degree of intimacy in the 
photo while still maintaining 1960's sensibilities of exposure.

Most important to the success of this centerfold is Dianne Chandler 
herself, and I would submit as evidence the opening photo in the PMOM 
feature. It is just as much a Classic as the foldout. Change the 
clothing and hair styles if you need to, but this photo of Dianne 
defines the term "co-ed". Dianne beams with a fresh, guileless, youthful 
radiance in this and all her Playmate-era shots. (As anyone who has seen 
recent photos of her or met her can attest, she still beams!) In her 
centerfold there isn't a lot of background or clutter, just enough to 
provide clues as to the setting, because frankly, anything else would 
simply be lost in the shadows in comparison to her.

Dianne's centerfold is perfect - I can't think of any other that could 
possibly be more flattering. Elevating and slanting her torso gives an 
outstanding shape to her breasts and highlights their youthful, natural 
form and their caressability. Raising her left leg provides the 
requisite fig leaf, while at the same time giving her leg a delightful 
and sexy shape. And within the limits of the 1960's printing process, 
every inch of skin glows as only a 19-year-old's skin can.

And her smile! Pompeo has managed by some measure of skill or (more 
likely) magic to capture a smile that at the same time speaks of artless 
delight, artless desire and artless youth. This is not a young woman who 
has any intention of breaking our heart or stringing us along on some 
endless mind game, and this makes her all the more dear to us. It's also 
the smile of a young woman who has not yet had her heart broken - and 
woe, woe to us if we're the first!

But Life Happens. College is left behind. Hearts do get broken. Skin 
loses its luster. Body shapes change. Youthful beauty is lost. Dianne 
commented to the List after seeing some of her Playmate-era shots on the 
Playboy Web Site "Was I ever that young?" Fortunately for all of us, she 
was!

Of course, youth itself isn't always lost. One of the best tributes to a 
person I ever heard was "Sarah lived for 85 years but was never 'old' a 
day in her life." Beauty too, is not always lost. But the youth that 
defines a 19-year-old seems to fade all too quickly, especially when 
you're looking back at it. It is to our great benefit and delight that 
Pompeo Posar was able to catch that brief flash of youthful lightning in 
a bottle.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI