Playboy February 1978

COVER STORY Ah, yes, it's February, the month of Saint Valentine. Playmate Hope Olson bears no resemblance to any queen of hearts we've ever laid a stack of chips on, but that's because photographer Claude Mougin got his inspiration from a 19th Century playing card he bought in an antique store. Senior Art Director Kerig Pope, who designed the cover, says he and Mougin "really put our hearts into it.- Honest. He said that. 3 PLAYBILL 11 THE WORLD OF PLAYBOY 13 DEAR PLAYBOY 21 PLAYBOY AFTER HOURS 24 BOOKS 26 MOVIES 32B MUSIC 39 COMING ATTRACTIONS 40 THE NEW BODY SNATCHERS NAT HENTOFF Anguish over their children's allegiance to the latest offbeat cults has driven many parents into engaging the services of "deprogramers" who kidnap the young converts and try to brainwash some sense into them. Meanwhile, religious freedom is going down the drain. 41 DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS DAVID BUTLER We've all read those nice, slightly stuffy little capsule biographies of authors at the end of magazine articles. Have you ever wondered how they would sound if they told the truth? Here's how.... 43 THE PLAYBOY ADVISOR 47 PLAYBOY SEX POLL HOWARD SMITH This month's question: Do you find that your lovers get turned on by being talked to while making love? 53 THE PLAYBOY FORUM 59 PLAYBOY INTERVIEW: DON MEREDITH—candid conversation Dandy Don, ex-quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys and now a television teammate of Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford on ABC's N.F.L. Monday Night Football, talks about his life on and off the field. 78 WIRED TO THE TEETH—sports NEIL AMDUR In both professional and amateur sports these days, you can't tell the pills without a score card. Whether they're using cocaine or steroids, a lot of athletes are getting by with a little help from their friends. 83 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FOURTH KIND—pictorial Perhaps the thought of experiencing intergalactic sex has never crossed your mind, but after seeing this pictorial, you may want to go for a drive at night on an Arizona desert with a box of candy and a dozen roses. 88 THE HUMAN FACTOR—fiction GRAHAM GREENE Despite the impersonal nature of the espionage business, conflicts of personality do surface. Particularly if one spy doesn't approve of another spy's wife. 92 BEYOND THE BASICS—attire DAVID PLATT It used to be that all you needed was a blue suit, a sports coat and two pairs of slacks, but today's man needs to stretch his wardrobe. We show you how. 96 PUSHED TO THE EDGE PART ONE: THE ICE CLIMB—article CRAIG VETTER The author, who will admittedly do anything for money, has undertaken the task of doing some of the most frightening things in the world and writing about them for PLAYBOY. On his first venture, he scares himself nearly to death. 98 MEET HER IN ST. LOUIS—playboy's playmate of the month If you're driving through St. Louis and a stunningly beautiful woman driving a Triumph convertible pulls alongside, there's a good chance it's Janis Schmitt, a Bunny at the St. Louis Playboy Club. 110 PLAYBOY'S PARTY JOKES—humor 112 JAMBALAYAl—food THOMAS MARIO It's probably New Orleans' greatest contribution to American cuisine, and you can smell this creole dish's mouth-watering aroma and savor its spicy flavor without going to Louisiana. 113 SAZERAC!—drink EMANUEL GREENBERG You'll need a little something to drink along with your hot jambalaya, so here's how to have a Mardi Gras celebration in your own dining room. 114 THE FEMALE EGO—essay JULES SIEGEL With the sexes firing volleys at each other, the author comes up with a novel solution for the battle-weary man: Change your name to Ms. and pass. 117 WAY DOWN WEST IN MEXICO—travel DAVID STANDISH Some call it the new Riviera; plan now for your own leisurely vacation on Mexico's west coast and avoid the winter tourist rush. 123 THE ALBERT/ALBERT EXCHANGE—humor. RICHARD LIEBMANN-SMITH When the two Nobel Prize-winning Alberts, Einstein and Schweitzer, conducted a historic correspondence, you would expect their letters to have been .full of weighty matters, wouldn't you? Hah! 124 THE END OF THE WORLD—article ....SENATOR GEORGE McGOVERN With our military-industrial complex riding high, it will be a miracle if we aren't blown off the face of the earth before the end of the decade. 127 PLAYMATES INTERNATIONAL—pictorial A delightful international array of some of the most beautiful women to appear in the foreign editions of PLAYBOY. 137 EUREKA! I'M COMING—article JOHN LOBELL Remember the lusty virgin in high school you called a prick tease because she built you up but never gave satisfaction? You should thank her. She was making you more creative all the time. 139 PLAYBOY PAD: LOFTY AMBITIONS—modern living In New York's Soho district, where artists are rehabilitating factory lofts, an architect has the kind of pad we'd like to work and play in. 142 THE VARGAS GIRL—pictorial ALBERTO VARGAS 143 THERE'S ROOM FOR TWO—ribald classic MARQUIS DE SADE 146 GOING TO NEW LENGTHS—modern living Video cassettes are stretching out, timewise, so now you can watch and watch. 148 PLAYBOY FUNNIES—humor 159 PLAYBOY'S PIPELINE Plastic foods, a hi-fi check list, safe-deposit boxes and collecting Detroit cars. 186 THINK TANK The case of the frgzen penis, women and dirty movies, powdered alcoholic drinks, indoor pollution and more. 194 PLAYBOY POTPOURRI 207 PLAYBOY ON- THE SCENE Fancy kitchen gear, personal computers and some different ways to ski.