25 Beautiful Years

We're Not Sure that such a poll has ever been taken, but we'd bet that if readers were asked to give the first phrase they thought of in association with Playboy, that phrase most often would be: "Women. Beautiful women." After all, way back in 1960, an editorial in that distinctly nonerotic London publication The Architects' Journal called our Playmates "one of America's greatest gifts to Western culture." We'll buy that, but we'd also like to point out--as most of you already know--that the Playmates form only part of the, ah, body of our contribution to the worldwide pastime of girl watching. Some of this generation's most famous movie goddesses have appeared in Playboy; the magazine got its start, in fact, with one such legend, Marilyn Monroe. When we began making plans for this silver-anniversary issue, we found it difficult to choose which beautiful women to feature. (Everyone should have such troubles.) If you don't find your personal favorite among those shown, you have our sincerest regrets, but that's also a tribute to the wealth of gorgeous ladies who've made the pages of Playboy such a joy to behold.