Paige Young in Los AngelesSamson De Brier #2 February 2025
Posted on February 25, 2025
Read Samson De Brier #1 first for an introduction.
LAT= Los Angeles Times
More items found in the Samson De Brier archives are listed in this chapter.
I am in the process of ongoing research with several of these names, locations and years.
TV schedule made up by a utility company and sent out to customers. The date is likely when Samson and Paige Young were friends or at least acquaintances. She only had a little over a year left in her life.
6026 1/2 Barton Ave. is Samson’s address. Is Layne Nielson one of his renters?
LAT Jan. 15, 1968
Looks like Layne owned Selective Eye Gallery in the early 1970s.
There is a Selective Eye Gallery in Laguna Nigel by late 1977. Unknown if it was connected to Layne Nielson.
I don’t see much more in the newspaper archives about Nielson from the 1980s and beyond.
If online records are correct, he is alive at 86 and living in Salt Lake City.
Nielson donated his papers and design examples to UCLA; Charles E. Young Research Library. The Rudi Gernreich archives reside at this location as well.
Online Archive of California description of the Layne Nielsen Archives at UCLA:
Layne Nielson is a fashion and graphic designer who designed fashion accessories and stationery for Rudi Gernreich and for his own label. The collection includes fashion samples and accessories, as well as sketches, publicity, stationery, examples of Nielson’s design work in advertising, photographs, publications, and documentation of exhibitions.
Designer Layne Nielson is known for his work designing fashion accessories and stationery for Rudi Gernreich. Nielson’s work reflects a wide range of design, including: graphics, product design, textiles, exhibition design, and interior design.
LAT June 24, 1967
Below we see Samson saved his ticket to the Hullabaloo show.
Originally the Earl Carroll Theatre, “in 1965 (6230 Sunset Blvd. (listed on the card) became Hullabaloo rock-n-roll club welcoming minors and capitalizing on the popularity of the television variety show Hullabaloo. In 1968 it was renamed the Kaleidoscope…..with an emphasis on local bands like the Doors.
From Mike Hume’s Historic Theatre Photography.
The 3 images below are a store guide of antique and thrift stores on Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank. Samson was known for collecting antiques, art, and all kinds of home decor, which he displayed in his home on Barton Way.
Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank is still known as a place for for thrift, vintage clothing and antique stores.
Sidney Skolsky column. A current item on Marilyn Monroe along with his mention of Samson and Kenneth Anger and the famous underground film, The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome.
Detailed description of Renate Druks, from a published article. A Samson friend and fellow salon host, Druks sent several Christmas cards to Samson.
More on Druks in Samson chapter #1.
This image and the next 2 are credits for Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome.
In Samson Part #1 you learned that half of the De Brier archive is a box of Christmas cards. Primarily from the 1950s to 1970s.
Christmas card, I can’t remember from who.
I have found very little so far. The best clue I have is the article below. It contains a one sentence mention of a Donna Burris for a “witchy” type “casting call.”
July 2, 1966 LAT. I have much more information on Animal Huxley and Pamela Woolman. Can’t find anything more on Marti Cone.
These three women had their picture in the LAT to go with this article. They, and every other woman there, are mentioned with only a sentence or two at most.
Donna Burris
is also mentioned with only one sentence, but no photograph.
2nd column, 2nd paragraph.
2 newspaper items found by me in newspaper archives. Los Angeles Mirror Feb. 7, 1961. >>>>>>>>>>>
LAT. Mar. 11, 1966.
Samson De Brier LAT Obituary April 8, 1995
Samson’s close friend Cameron also died in 1995.
More info. to come!
Below is a paragraph from a first- hand account article, by Tosh Berman, the son of artist Wallace.
It’s significant for my research, because I firmly believe that Paige Young would have fit into this category of Samson De Brier’s pretty women friends.
I only went into Samson’s Barton Avenue home once, and that was through an invite from one of his female friends. When I saw Samson at art openings or film events, he was usually with a pretty woman. All of his women were protective of him, and in my view, they were at odds with each other. I was sworn to secrecy not to reveal who took me to the house after Samson passed away. I think it was a day or two after he died. At the time I was the director at Beyond Baroque, the literary/arts center in Venice, California.
by Tosh Berman, Please Kill Me: This is What is Cool.
Linking entire article which I highly recommend.
Permanently Incomplete Character List. 10/19/2025
Posted on February 8, 2024
Originally part of the Start Here/About page.
As a Playboy Playmate, Paige Young experienced a minor type of celebrity status as opposed to what we think of as a Major Hollywood star. The Playmates special type of fame was at its’ highest when the issue was current. Within the same year I would say.
This type of fame Paige experienced lasted for a brief part of her short life.
She was, of course, an actual human being with a life and history besides her association with Playboy.
At times, Paige did associate with people who were more famous than she. They were major celebrities known to the mass public.
This includes (that we know of) Hugh Hefner, John Huston, Andy Warhol, Bill Cosby; Jonathan Winters, men who lived for decades with massive fame that continues outlives them. They are still talked about in 2025.
Bill Cosby is still alive as of this writing.
Others were and are famous to a smaller audience.
On this website, I have written about all these men and Paige’s connection to them.
More characters can be found in the chapter: Names Found in Paige’s Phone Book.
The men famous to a more niche audience includes
Peter Gowland, who you see at left.
Peter is the son of English film actor Gibson Gowland. And an LA native like Paige. Peter and his wife Alice ran a successful pinup and commercial photography business from the late 1940s through the 1990s.
They published dozens of books for the amateur photographer. Alice Gowland was the writer of the books and the business manager.
Paige Young was the team’s last contribution to Playboy magazine in 1968. Alice said she did not care for the more explicit direction of the magazine photographs.
Paige had modeled for Gowland years before Playboy I have learned through Richard Sample.
The only photos one can normally find on the internet of Paige Young, were taken by Peter or Alice.
For a few years, Marvin M. Mitchelson represented Paige Young in her divorce against husband Mark F. Segal in 1964. Mitchelson, a Beverly Hills lawyer was a prominent media personality in the 1970s and 80s and 90s.
Mitchelson is credited for introducing the term “Palimony” into divorce court and to the general public. He represented Michelle Triola Marvin in a financial claim against actor Lee Marvin.
Lee Marvin dumped live-in lover Michelle without a penny, or tried to. Marvin Mitchelson became famous representing her. Michelle wanted compensation for the loss of her career as a singer.
M.M.M. is all but forgotten in 2022.
The Hon. Desmond Guinness, is frequently how his name is written, is from the famous Irish beer brand family but also a highly titled, wealthy, socially elite and sometimes controversial family. Legendary photographer Slim Aarons produced some iconic photos of Desmond Guinness, one in particular with his very young children. The photo has probably been seen by more people than know the identity of Desmond Guinness.
He died in August of 2020.
DeWain Valentine, Colorado born, Venice Beach based sculptor-artist, is one of the founding members of the “Light and Space movement” or “Finish Fetish” school which was born in Venice Beach, California in the 1960s. He dated Paige for a while according to his 1st wife Darlene Valentine, who also knew Paige.
Valentine died in February of 2022.
Michael Butler was listed in Paige’s phone book, of which I have seen a portion.
The names and numbers were written down by someone else. Butler was the producer of Hair the Broadway musical. He was also part of the Santa Barbara crowd that Desmond Guinness hung around when he was in town. (One time we know, Paige Young was along as his date.)
Paige Young and her family’s journey encompass both the industry and town of Hollywood. Their experience includes WW2 and post-war Los Angeles. Their/Her journey includes places like Franklin Hills and Gardena, San Fernando Valley in the 1950s, representing the prototypical suburban middle class existence for the nation. Malibu and Topanga Canyon, Venice Beach and Westwood, in the 1960s and 70s, and the scope of the Entertainment industry throughout the 3 decades she lived.
It’s the old story of time and place and people.
Research Methods
My (ongoing) research consisted of obtaining various LA County public records like birth and death certificates, viewing City of LA building permit documents, (online), perusing telephone directories in the DTLA public library, voting records, marriage, divorce, and military records on ancestry.com.
I have spoken with a few firsthand sources. Several others refused to speak with me. I couldn’t locate some sources. At this point, many are dead. And the living people who know, aren’t talking, with the exception of the few I have written about on this blog.
Names in Paige’s Phone Book: Desmond & Jonathan Guinness, Michael Butler of “Hair,” Hef & Joni, Cosby, Feminist Women’s Health Care Center, Samson DeBrier. Last Home. 12/10/2025.* Very LONG.
Posted on October 6, 2023
This entry will make more sense if you have read at least the 2nd half of this website.
I was in Los Angeles in April of 2023. I visited with Melanie Myers from the 2014 Daily Mail story. She also appeared in the 2022 Secrets of Playboy documentary on the A&E channel.
During our interview, Melanie showed me an old piece of paper with phone numbers and names written on it. She had copied these from Paige’s personal phone directory after her suicide.
Melanie and B.J. Royale were preparing to share the task of calling Paige’s friends to tell them the news of her suicide.
And to tell them that Paige wanted them to have a certain of her paintings or other personal art objects.
Basically, a will.
B.J. Royale and Melanie lived in a duplex in front of Paige’s garage apartment in 1974.
The 3 shared a yard where Paige walked around nude or topless and Melanie “did not like it. ”
She added, “Paige and B.J. were pretty good friends,” but that she herself was not close with Paige.
Even so, Melanie said she ended up hearing an earful from Paige about a “sex tape” involving “Cici Huston‘s brother.” (David Shane)
B.J. Royale was a niece of actress Loretta Young, star of Hollywood films and TV in its’ Golden Age.
Royale, aka Betty J. Hermann, has a film credit for The Trouble with Angels, 1966. IMDB
This film was a box office hit. It stars Hayley Mills, a Disney actress. She was a bonafide box office star in the 1960s. I remember it shown on TV in the early 1970s.
Melanie made me a copy of her original notes and I took photos.
The names I saw on Paige’s phone list gave me clues and provide some insight into the last years of her life.
Both Desmond and his brother Jonathan were in Paige’s phone book upon her death. Jonathan is the older of the two and outlived his younger brother. Jonathan is a well-known author and alive as of November 2025.
I learned that Foster is a niece of Loretta Young.
Her mother was Loretta’s sister, actress Sally Blane.
Paige’s neighbor B.J. Royale, Hermann and Gretchen Foster were cousins.
B.J. or Betty Jane Hermann, was the daughter of Loretta’s sister Polly Ann Young.
Melanie told me she met and knew Gretchen Foster due to knowing B.J.
Melanie had no idea that Paige had also known Gretchen.
Paige and BJ were fairly good friends, according to Melanie, so this must be the connection.
BJ Royale died a few years ago. She did not speak with the directors of Secrets of Playboy. I know they reached out to her.
Melanie said she got the impression that B.J. had zero interest in talking about Paige, and one reason may be that she “married and moved to Bakersfield where she was in high society.”
According to Melanie, Paige “willed a beautiful large pastel-colored painting, of horses,” to B.J. . But that Mrs. Hermann never wanted to talk about Paige.
Betty June was contacted by Secrets of Playboy. B.J. told them “I wasn’t there the weekend of the suicide.” And begged out of speaking on camera.
(I was told this by a researcher on the series. Too bad, because there was so much to ask Betty June besides the suicide weekend.)
This lady took whatever she knew, or remembered to her grave. Melanie and B. J. and Paige attended were at a Playboy mansion party together where they although Paige went separately.
Betty Jane Royale doing the starlet routine, Van Nuys News March 7, 1968
Her name was in a few gossip columns of the day, one of them as being a member of an exclusive club: The Daisy
Joni-(Hefner)
She is Hugh Hefner’s longtime assistant and personal secretary from the Chicago mansion days.
In my opinion, Joni Mattis took actions to “cover up” Paige’s suicide and scene and notes and letters left at her home, only a 10-minute car drive from the Playboy Mansion.
Perhaps Joni initiated the cover up by anticipating what Hef would want.
Another scenario is Joni contacted Hef and he told her what to do.
I can’t find out if Hefner was in the LA mansion on the dates of Paige’s suicide or in the Chicago mansion or somewhere else. Articles and Hollywood columns and Melanie’s story suggest he was present in the months leading up to Paige Young’s suicide and gave several parties. This was clear from items published in newspapers.
Joni and Hef/Playboy took actions. Their goal was to prevent the sensational news of Paige Young’s suicide from going anywhere near the press.
This action would have required cooperation from LAPD. Please see chapter of LAPD report and death certificate.
Melanie in Daily Mail-“police read some of the note to me… most vitriol for Hugh Hefner and John Huston.”
Melanie told me that that Paige’s mother (Donna) and sister (Constance) came the next day to pack up her belongings including paintings. “Connie” appears on Melanie’s list of phone numbers, identified as Paige’s sister. Melanie did not remember their names.
The Playboy corporate headquarters remained in Chicago until 2012. Hefner’s ” constant companion” and mansion finder and partial decorator Barbi Benton, parted sometime in 1976.
Hef then started a relationship in 1977 with his next #1 girlfriend:19-year-old Sondra Theodore from San Bernardino.
The Proximity Factor
Paige lived in Westwood, a 10 minute car drive to Holmby Hills. The local police had a friendly relationship with Hefner and the mansion employees.
Many former LAPD officers became Mansion security according to Secrets of Playboy. (PJ Masten) I believe Masten dated one of them at one time.
Hefner received reports on a regular basis from employees. They informed him about goings on at the mansion. This included employees and visitors, said PJ Masten.
The LAPD certainly knew who the hell Hugh Hefner was when they were greeted by Paige’s mural at her suicide scene 2 miles from the Playboy mansion.
As I continue to read about the history of the LAPD, I realize their Mythic status is based on historic facts. It has been a corrupt institution from the beginning. This fact is well expressed in the movie L.A. Confidential.
So really, it is not surprising that information unflattering to Hugh Hefner could be buried and made up to be like it just didn’t happen.
I am not in any way saying Hugh Hefner is directly responsible for Paige Young’s suicide.
But it is about the image.
Particularly at this date.
Bobbie Arnstein was arrested in Chicago, only 9 days before Paige’s suicide, on highly exaggerated cocaine charges.
Joni and Hef could have sincerely believed that by burying Paige’s story they were helping Bobbie and Hef from unjust prosecution. ( And persecution.)
There was more motivation than usual to justify hiding, burying and lying about Paige’s suicide (and everything she left behind incriminating Hugh Hefner, his friends and other men.)
PJ Masten in Secrets of Playboy talked about “an awareness that negative press was to be avoided.”
Jennifer Saginor, Secrets of Playboy and author of the book Playground said on a podcast Power,“Hef was always image conscious.” Hefner had the power to have Saginor’s book tour interviews suddenly canceled as she has recounted.
Jim Ellis, a former body guard for Hefner, early 1980s, said in Secrets of Playboy, his “job was not only protecting his clients physical being, but also their reputation.”
I believe that there was an opportunity for Playboy to shut this whole Paige Young thing down.
And the opportunity was quickly grabbed.
Hugh Hefner and Joni felt relieved I imagine.
Why does Paige Young’s entry in the Playmate Book, say “drug overdose” ?If they knowingly made that up, why that manner of death was chosen is beyond me.
END
Michael Brandon, too many. Cindy Manay brings nothing.
Looking at the list, so far have not found anything on Larry Fisher.
Steve Moress, listed below Joni-Hefner, opened a museum and shop of acrylic arts in 1974 at 2360 S. Robertson Blvd. It was open for several decades selling to interior decorators, but is now closed. I called several numbers for a “Stephen Moress” but none of them were working numbers. He’s about 80 years old now.
The following screenshots are from a real estate website. They show the interior of Paige’s carriage house/apartment over a garage in Westwood. It is located down the street from the Mormon Temple. The apartment was built over a garage in 1940. It is where Paige lived the last years of her life. She committed suicide there. Among her belongings was a suicide note mentioning names she said were complicit in her downfall. There was also a will. A mural proclaimed “Hugh Hefner is the devil.” Her belongings included many of her paintings. A few unfinished. All her personal belongings.
These real estate photos are all the world has left of this particular place of what is “old Los Angeles.”
In this case, a carriage house over a garage. It was built in 1940 by Kathryn Eddy, who appeared in walk-on parts in silent movies.
Unless there are photographs lying in some attic or in a landfill placed decades ago?
All original built-ins, since gutted. Paige had a large black refrigerator a man bought for her and called it a “coffin,” said Melanie. This visit reminded me of another LA trip.
The place Paige was born as Diana Lee Cotterell is 1933 Griffith Park Blvd. It was originally a Christian Science Maternity center. The building was being torn down on the day I was visited. (See related chapter)
The builts-in of the 800 sq. foot apartment were being ripped out the day I visited; the place was being completely renovated.
UPDATE* I found Samson and it is the infamous LA character SAMSON DE BRIER.* PLEASE SEE RELATED CHAPTER
The next section provides information on the Michael Butler entry found in Paige’s phone book. . Top right below sister Connie Smashey’s contact information.
I am confident he is the same Michael Butler most famous as the millionaire producer of Hair: the famous “Tribal Love Rock” musical.
Butler brought Hair to Broadway where it was a smash hit.
Dubbed by the media as a “hippie-millionaire”
A detailed description of Michael Butler and his upper crust background in the article below by Eugenia Sheppard. It appeared in newspapers across the country in 1968, the year Hair opened. Also the year Paige Young was a Vietnam–era Playboy Playmate.
Mary Blume wrote an eye-opening article about Butler in the LAT. Oct. 11, 1970.
Three marriages so far and a production company in LA “Natoma” And an avid polo player.
Page 1
It’s been several incarnations over the decades. The building was repainted this look for the filming of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
Page #3 of the LAT article. Butler was and avid polo player and played the sport with the wealthy elite around the world. Including Santa Barbara County as seen in the next articles.
San Fran Examiner June 25, 1971
San Francisco Examiner, May 1, 1972
Last I checked, this Butler website was being maintained well. You can see the entry about his good friend Celeste Huston.
Like Paige Young and John Huston and Celeste, there was the “horse connection.”
It appears Michael Butler lived a long and fulfilling life full of adventure and artistic creation.
I’ve read that he was comfortable as an “out” bi-sexual for most of his life.
What I found from this 1960s and 1970’s era, was that he was quite the “Ladies (only) Man.” This can be seen in the articles I’ve posted.
The Playboy Club moved from the classic 1960s Sunset Strip location and relocated to the new ABC Entertainment Center, set in new, modern, latest Century City.
At some point in the 1970s, the Playboy Clubs were starting to seem passe. I’m not sure exactly when. By 1974, the “pubic wars” were played out by the media. Penthouse magazine won by outselling Playboy magazine. On the stand or subscription, I don’t know but Playboy’s profits started to slide probably around this time.
Paige lived about a 3 minute drive from Century City. When you have time, this is the best resource for the history of Century City.
https://martinostimemachine.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-old-century-city-mall.html
Celeste Shane Huston and Paige Young had 5 people in common: John Huston, Bill Gardner, Samson DeBrier, David Shane and Michael Butler.
Nothing comes up for Gus Prall at the top left.
Note below that David Shane is listed right below a Geo. Roberts on the left hand column, an X through it.
Shane is an important character from several other chapters. He was a man with a large 1970s mustache like Michael Butler, business owner set up by his successful Beverly Hills rental car owner father, and the brother of Cici Shane (Mrs.John) Huston.
Shane was a visitor to the LA Mansion and possible holder or keeper, and partner in Paige’s “sex tape.”
See chapters with Shane in the title, and Secrets of Playboy, episode 8.
LAT Nov. 1, 1973. I think the CC Playboy Club opened earlier in the fall. Paige lived about a 3 minute drive from Century City. There is no record of Paige as a Bunny at either club in Los Angeles. Richard Sample says she did some kind work at the Playboy Club on the Sunset Strip in the mid-1960s. but he never saw her in the Bunny costume. Paige lived close to Century City and the Playboy mansion was close by as well.
Charity performance of Cabaret was performed at the opening. It has since been demolished.
*Notice the advert below for the Classic Cat. They too, present Cabaret to an audience. (June 1973)
Playboy Club Move announcement, and for the Classic Cat Performance of Cabaret and A mexican restaurant actually named speedy Gonzales.
Marty Tregman is a long time realtor in Santa Monica, he doesn’t remember Paige. Jon Von Newman…. came up with nothing. Brian Wilson is a common name so I can’t say this with the genius writer of the Beach Boys music group.
And right below Brian Wilson,
I was intrigued with the entry “Feminist Women’s Health Center 746 Crenshaw”
And I found many articles in the newspaper archives.
Turns out this Health care center played an important, but under recognized role in the 2nd Wave Feminist movement.
There were many services that Paige might have used at the “Feminist Women’s Health Center 746 Crenshaw” (FWHC)
You will see evidence of this through newspaper articles written at the time, both local and national.
This FWHC was one of, if not the first, women’s self-help health centers in the nation.
A brief context of the times is important and mostly forgotten.
“The Women’s Lib Movement” was in the mainstream news and discussions at home and parodied on TV shows.
I can remember this when I was in 6th grade.
Feminism/ Women’s Liberation was more active in the early 1970s.
More so, than the 1960s.
I say this despite the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan in 1963. The movement flourished in a main-stream way in the early 1970s.
Let’s review some history to show you what I mean:
1972: The Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced. 22 states, quickly ratified. This same year Title 9 was made a law.
Domestic violence safe houses, rape crisis centers, help lines and self-defense classes for women proliferated in the 1970s.
There were Media reports and editorials about equal pay for equal work and sexual harassment in the workplace.
There were reports about limited job opportunity and gender discrimination in housing and credit. Another topic was the implementation of subsidized childcare and wages for housework.
1973: The Roe V.Wade case. A woman’s right to an abortion become national law in January of 1973.
One exception was California:
Abortion was legalized in California in 1967 with the passage of the Therapeutic Abortion Act. This law allowed abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s physical or mental health was in danger. In 1969, the California Supreme Court further ruled that women had a constitutional right to privacy, which included the right to an abortion. This was before the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade decision. credit Google AI
<<<<<<<Article by Linda Zink in Long Beach, explains what the Feminist Women’s Health Care Center was about. Excerpts from this article are throughout this section.
1974 – Housing discrimination on the basis of sex and credit discrimination against women is outlawed by Congress.
1975: An influential book about sexual violence and rape, “Against Our Will” by Susan Brownmiller was published.
In this environment many women were exhausted yet fed up with their treatment by almost always male doctors.
OB/Gyns were considered the experts and authorities on female bodies. This caused anger and resentment by women of all ages.
They turned the anger into public activism.
The health and reproductive branch of “Women’s Liberation” is symbolized by the worldwide success of the book “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” The book’s influence is significant. The book was published in 1970 and is now on its’ 9th edition.
You or someone you know probably own a copy. Or seen it somewhere. It’s probably been banned somewhere.
Our Bodies, Ourselves originally sprang from feminist “consciousness-raising” courses held in Boston in the late 1960s. Group members gave presentations about topics considered taboo at the time, like masturbation, postpartum struggles, and birth control — which was then illegal for unmarried women in Massachusetts. NPR website 4-8-2018
2 women who became activists lived in Los Angeles and Orange County were mothers:
Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman. Together, they started the Los Angeles Feminist W0men’s Health Clinic. They taught classes to women on how to be the expert on their own reproductive health. This includes fertility control with the method called “menstrual extraction”
August 25th 1972 Long Beach Newspaper.
Quote below from Los Angeles Conservancy, an historic architecture preservation society.
It is from their website as part of their nomination for historic status of the FWHC building at 1027 Crenshaw.
“Women’s Self-Help One clinic was the first in the nation and consequently placed the Crenshaw Women’s Center at the genesis point of the women’s self-help movement. Founded by Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman, the clinic became a model for the national movement. In 1972, the Center was raided by police. Ms. Downer had applied yogurt as a cure for a yeast infection and was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. She was acquitted and the platform and publicity of The Great Yogurt Conspiracy raised the consciousness of the nation and helped make woman’s clinics a national movement.”
Historic status was denied.
The raid happened at 1027 Crenshaw Now I am not so sure. Press articles give the address as 746 Crenshaw as seen below. I am now thinking both locations were raided.
The Women’s Center opened at 1027 S. Crenshaw. LAT Jan. 9, 1970
Many classes and lectures were taught at this location.
This location was nominated for historic status.
Screen shot from Summer of 2024 of 1026 Crenshaw.
The Great Yogurt Conspiracy received wide press coverage due to its’ humorous title and the absurdity of the charges. This article explains more what it is:
“Carol Downer revolutionized the women’s health movement, learning how to perform abortions and vaginal self-examinations, and teaching other women how to, as well. From the website Feminist Current, an interview with Carol Downer conducted about 3 years ago.
Last column in Zink article. 5/13/73 Mentions support from Gloria Steinem and others for the Great Yogurt Conspiracy, and happiness after the acquittal:
The “yogurt conspiracy,” arrest and acquittal caught the attention of cultural icons like Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug and Dr. Benjamin Spock, bringing national attention to the LA activists.
“Lorraine Rothman was a founding member of the feminist centered Self-Help Clinic movement and a major mover of many successful behind-the-scenes projects. With Carol Downer, she worked on the concept of menstrual extraction as a viable women’s home health care technique; and, in 1971, she invented the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit, which was patented n 1974……… Rothman’s collaborative relationship with Downer and the self-help clinic movement began when she attended an April 7, 1971 meeting organized by Downer to discuss women’s reproductive rights and abortion. At the second meeting, one week later, Rothman shared her idea of a safe home health care tool, demonstrating the prototype of the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit. Shortly afterwards, Downer and Rothman founded the Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) in Los Angeles; Rothman went on to open a second FWHC in Orange County, closer to her home and family. Over the next two decades, Rothman traveled widely, taking the Self-Help Clinic concept to women’s groups both in and outside the US....”Archived interview subject description at CSU Long Beach.
746 Crenshaw, the address Paige had in her phone book, location was demolished in the 1980s and replaced with this monstrosity.
Carol Downer continues to lives in Eagle Rock and has been working in disability and immigration law for many years. She has lived a life of activism in women’s reproductive rights and the international peace movement.
She believes that women should not depend on the current legal status of a woman’s right to an abortion. .
Downer still advocates for women to learn the self-care or self-help method of abortion. She wrote a book on the topic in the 1990s.
For more details, see the Carol Downer entry in the Embryo Project Encyclopedia.
END
She wishes to remain anonymous so I will refer to her as “Veronica.”
Veronica told me she heard Paige’s death announced on the car radio as she was driving. What she heard caused her to pull over, too shocked to continue driving. She tried later to call the radio station but couldn’t get through.
Veronica met Paige at the Malibu beach home she shared with husband Frank.
Paige had been brought to the home by Joe Rank, an art lover collector, he worked in radio and lived nearby.
Veronica never saw them together again. Paige and Joe remained friends. She thinks Joe possibly knew about Paige’s background and family.
By the end of the 1970s Rank was the founder of a very successful clothing company. (More details at the end.)
Veronica said that Joe Rank knew Paige quite well and I should contact him.
I have tried, unfortunately, with no luck. He would be in his 80s or 90s now.
The only place Joe or Joseph Rank turns up in newspaper archives is as a Spanish language radio station owner.
And this is probably the same Joe Rank who knew Paige Young; Veronica said he was in radio at the time he brought Paige to the house.
Veronica said it was during Paige’s “Playboy days,”
The two women stayed in touch until the end of Paige’s life.
Veronica said Paige told her that Bill Cosby was an “art patron.” He was helping her to stay in her Topanga Canyon cabin home and art studio.
Veronica thought it was “nice of Bill Cosby to help her out.” She thought nothing sinister about it. Paige did not say anything sinister about Bill or the arrangement.
Veronica concurred with others I have interviewed, that Paige often walked around topless or nude. She remembers Paige being naked or topless and playing in volleyball games. The “the beach boys” who hung around “were very pleased.”
Veronica thought it might be explained by Paige’s personality which could be described as “high and low” or “hi-lo.”
Veronica told me about an occasion that Paige used LSD and experienced a “bad trip.” Veronica stayed with Paige and helped her through the ordeal. Veronica was motherly to many of the young people who showed up at her home even though she was still young herself, in her 30s and had a husband and two young daughters.
Her husband Frank enjoyed “collecting people,” wrote Veronica. And many young people would hang around their beach house socializing and playing games.
I’m grateful to Veronica for her permission to use this image.
Veronica remembers buying groceries for Paige, at a store located at the bottom of “Fernwood & Topanga Canyon Dr.”
And the Safeway on Sunset & PCH, later Vons.
This happened about once a month for quite a while. The “2 friends would chit chat and catch up on news.” Paige never wanted more food than she could physically carry.
This was before her move to Westwood. After that Veronica didn’t see Paige as much but they talked often on the phone.
She remembers just vaguely that Paige mentioned her about her own art studio in Venice Beach, a block away from the beach. (See 2 chapters: Venice Beach, Richard Sample.)
(Dennis Hopper has a connection to Paige as he knew the artists that Paige knew, Larry Bell and in the same building: DeWain Valentine. Robert Irwin lived across the street at this time in Venice. Veronica remembers Hopper at events around town)
Paige sometimes expressed her suicide ideation in phone conversations with Veronica.
She did not discuss Hugh Hefner or John Huston, David Shane, Desmond Guinness or a”sex tape.”(See related chapters)
Several times Paige needed a ride to visit her sister, but Veronica never met the sister: Constance/Connie.
The last time the friends had a phone conversation, Veronica noted an “echoey sound in the background, sounded like Paige was in a bathroom.” Veronica tried to lighten the mood by asking her about the echoey sound and said,”Paige are you already in heaven?” Paige laughed and they hung up the phone with Veronica feeling Paige was in a better space.
Paige one time had checked herself into the UCLA Psych Center but was released in a just a few days.
Once Paige told Veronica “she said she had cured all the patients at the ward.”
Veronica said she never believed that Paige would actually go through with suicide.
Separately, Melanie told me about one time driving Paige to the UCLA Psych Ward. She remembers Paige “returning from the ward with a very strange man who worked at the hospital.”
He lunged at Melanie, Paige suddenly appeared with a gun and he bolted. Without pants on she said and added “it was the same gun she used on herself.”
Paige probably took advantage of the 51/50 law, which began in California in 1967.
“In California we have a law (5150) that the police (or yourself if you may harm yourself) can commit you for 3 days to a hospital for psych care. If you are pronounced no longer liable to harm yourself or others or decide you want to leave voluntarily you can after three days.”
Veronica does remember Paige’s expressing she did not have enough money for paint.
She told her to just wait a few days and would help her out with that.
Paige was dead before that happened.
Lack of money was a recurring problem for Paige.
She did not know Paige to own a car, says Veronica.
Paige did not talk of her past or any future plans. She seemed to always exist and speak in the present moment.
Melanie said does not remember Paige owning a car.
I personally think Paige sold her yellow Mustang seen by Sample in Malibu 64-67. Also seen by her cousin Christian/Chris in Sherman Oaks in 1964 as described to me. Paige made Chris a cup of coffee during his visit to her apartment. She told him about her divorce from Mark F. Segal.
Paige did not mention the violence and threats I viewed in her divorce papers. I told Chris about and he said “Oh, she would not have put up with that.”
No one I’ve communicated with who knew Paige say they can remember a time when she talked about her childhood. She never mentioned her family or her background. Veronica says Joe Rank may have known something of Paige’s family members.
Chris said he and his mother were contacted by Connie Smashey, Paige’s sister, to tell them the bad news of Paige’s suicide. Chris told me that Connie had a seemingly indifferent attitude about Paige’s death and he got the impression of “good riddance.” Chris said this made he and his mother sick to their stomach and angry and they did not stay in touch with Connie.
Aca Joe History
“Joe Rank, a Los Angeles broadcasting executive who had managed KMEX-TV, the Spanish language TV station in Los Angeles, moved to Mexico in 1973 to establish a printed tee shirt business on the beach resorts which were booming with international tourism. By 1978, Rank had shops in 75 stores in Acapulco, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Mexico City, plus tee shirt shops in 15 of the popular Carlos n’ Charlie’s bars and restaurants throughout Mexico.
In 1983, the name was changed to Aca Joe and product distribution was limited only to Aca Joe owned or franchised stores. The line was expanded to include pants, jackets, sweaters, and more than just tee shirts. After changing to this more exclusive distribution of the product, the stores were swamped with customers. Lines were formed in front of the stores with people waiting to get in at all hours of the day.
The success of Aca Joe did not go without notice by international investors, and soon a deal was made with American partners for the expansion of Aca Joe outside of Mexico. William Meyer became Rank’s partner in Aca Joe International and the first stores in the U.S. were opened in the Bay Area of San Francisco, with shops in Union Square, Sausalito, and the Stanford Shopping Center.
The U.S. shops were very successful, and to provide financing for expansion, the new U.S. company filed for listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Prospects for the future of the stores were bright, and in 1985 Aca Joe International was the fastest rising stock on NASDAQ” From the ACA Joe website.
Joe left LA and had moved to Mexico in 1973, before Paige killed herself.
Below are some photos of Paige’s over-a-garage apartment and where she stage her death.
Away from the backyard and duplex.
I’m looking up from the alley. This window faces the building next door. There is a bit of yard between trees house and fence, I did not see that part. It’s where Paige kept the Akitas she wanted to breed and Melanie complained about them barking. LAPD reports talks about a man named DeWitt to whom Paige wrote instructions to take her dogs. (See chapter on death certificate.) Veronica thinks Paige was going to try and make money from breeding the Akitas.
These windows face the alley. Garage had storage in it but no cars says Melanie. The window on far left is likely Paige’s bedroom.
Paige Young and Bill Cosby 1970 (and before). El Paso, Malibu, Sunset Strip. 10/5/2025
Posted on February 9, 2023
In this chapter, I have gathered all the accounts of witnesses to Bill Cosby and Paige Young’s relationship. Witnesses who either saw these events with their own eyes or Paige told them directly.
Tamara Green’s account was published in the Dailymail.com Dec. of 2014. She is quoted at length below. (This is the article that started my investigation into the life of, and people, times and events surrounding Paige Young.)
Article by Ryan Parry.
Modeling shot of Tamara Green, late 1960s. Dailymail.com
“One of Cosby’s victims, attorney Tamara Green, knew Paige from modeling circles and recalls seeing the pair together.
Tamara Green recalls that she ran into Paige while in El Paso, Texas around 1970.
‘I was there seeing my boyfriend. Paige called me and said Bill was on tour. She was traveling with him.
‘They picked me up at my friend’s house and I remember sitting in the back of a stretched black limo with them both and Bill wanted to score some drugs.
I called around and found a bag of pot some place on the edge of El Paso.’
El Paso Times Feb. 22, 1970.
Bill Cosby was in El Paso at the time Tamara said he was.
‘Paige was in to her drugs and Bill wanted to get her some, she was along on the trip like his pet dog, she was a very subdued person, more like moon on the water in terms of her personality.
El Paso Herald Feb. 21st. 1970. Cosby was in El Paso at the time Tamara Green recalls the encounter with him and Paige.
‘They were clearly well acquainted with each other, it didn’t seem like a new thing. As far as I know they dated for a while.
‘Paige always seemed in a stupor, a daze, like he was controlling her. All I remember is that their relationship wasn’t healthy.’
‘Paige was a young thing who was very much taken advantage of by the men of Hollywood, she was intelligent and talented, it’s a tragedy what happened to her.'”
Cosby – whom has recently become the subject of at least 17 sex attack allegations dating back to the late 60s and 70s – was obsessed with Young who had caught his eye during his many visits to the glitzy Playboy Club where she worked on Hollywood’s Sunset strip.
Cosby was also a regular at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles as he and Hugh Hefner began working on many projects together.”
END
A few years ago, I posted the image you see below, on a private Malibu Facebook group.
The members either lived or grew up in Malibu, generally from the 1940s-1990s.
They all seem to have had several experiences of celebrity encounters in the neighborhoods or beaches of Malibu. (People who worked at Malibu watering holes shared hair-raising stories about residents and heavy drinkers Jan-Michael Vincent and Gary Busey.)
I also notice that many members are from long-established families. Their parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents moved to Malibu when it was undeveloped, located “away from it all.”
That’s how the movie stars felt when they settled in the Malibu Colony.
Google AI says:
Movie stars began living at the Malibu Colony in the mid-to-late 1920s, with development starting in earnest in 1926 when real estate developer Harold J. Ferguson began leasing parcels from May Rindge to build cottages for Hollywood’s elite. By 1929, the area was known as the Malibu Movie Colony and was attracting a number of famous actors, including Gloria Swanson, Dolores del Rio, and Bing Crosby. GOOGLE AI.
In those eras, Malibu was certainly not as internationally famous as it later became with Gidget, Beach Party movies, The Beach Boys and Malibu Barbie.
I asked the group if anyone remembered Paige Young from 1965-70, the estimated years she lived there.
Of course, many of the Facebook readers recognized the Malibu tile, but no one recognized Paige.
Peter Gowland was the Playboy photographer who produced Paige’s centerfold issue.
He used many locations in and around Malibu for his pinup shoots which was close to his own area of town by Will Rogers Beach and Rustic Canyon.
Until..
finally, one person who contacted me: Henry G.
.
Henry said he knew Paige from the Malibu art scene and used to hike with her, often in Topanga Canyon. Henry remembers Paige living in a cabin in Topanga. He indicated they were “just friends” and hiking buddies.
Again, it happened around 1970.
Henry told me about one time he was with Paige at her home in Topanga Canyon, when she began to “break down and cry.”
Henry asked her what was wrong and she told him that Bill Cosby had raped her.
Henry worked in the television industry and said to Paige that he “always thought Bill was a nice guy.” Paige replied that he is not nice. She told Henry that Cosby is “a piece of shit,” “scum,” “a bastard” and “don’t even get me started.”
I then asked Henry if Paige indicated that Cosby had drugged her before the rape. Henry said he remembers Paige saying she “came to” and “realized she had been raped.”
Henry said at one point in this conversation Paige “tilted her head in the direction of her dresser. I looked over and saw a check made out to Paige signed by Bill Cosby, it had several zeroes.”
In episode 8 of the 2020 documentary Secrets of Playboy, I am shown working in my home office. My voice over recounts the story Henry told me about the Bill Cosby rape.
I had sent some audio comments to the producers of Secrets of Playboy. It was too late to do another in-person interview after I spoke to Henry.
.
In the episode my comment was edited with a couple of different audios. It’s not completely clear what I am saying.
This may be due to legal issues.
I do hope the story is now comprehensible as to what I was told by Henry.
At some point, Henry knew Paige did not have much money. He offered her a place to stay in one of his rental rooms.
This was in Henry’s house located in the Trancas Beach area of Malibu. It was off of Broad Beach Rd., across from the Trancas Market. “Long since torn down.”
Paige stayed at Henry’s house for “only about 3 months” he said.
She had been complaining that the “isolation” in the area was making her “antsy” and “unable to paint.” (this is odd coming from a self-confessed Nature Lover.)
Paige’s cabin was at the southern end of Topanga Canyon Rd., close to the PCH and beach. She frequented Fernwood Market said her friend Veronica. Fernwood Market is the southern end of Topanga Canyon Rd. Paige moved further west along the coast to Trancas Beach, but she found this area too isolated from LA. (Apologies if the map doesn’t transfer.) Paige is featured in her Playboy issue as being a painter living on Malibu Beach with her dog Joshua. Truthful, but more precisely she was probably living closest to Topanga Beach part of Malibu, and her cabin was north of Hwy. 1
Henry also told me that he didn’t see Paige very much the last 2 or so years of her life. She had become “reclusive.” (Maybe, but she lived in Westwood by this time and another Malibu friend Veronica told me it was more difficult to get together with Paige after she moved.)
I asked Henry if Paige ever mentioned Hugh Hefner, or her Playboy experience. He said she didn’t but that he himself had a Playboy experience of his own.
One evening he found himself at the Playboy mansion. Because his companions were “beautiful, young Malibu girls, Henry and a few other males were allowed entrance the mansion.
Henry said at one moment during that evening he and Hefner locked eyes for a few seconds, enough time to exchange a mutual smile.
The next incident was told to me by Paige’s boyfriend and fellow artist Richard Sample.
I believe this happened before 1970. Paige and Richard were not seeing each so much other by then.
This story also appears in chapter Richard Sample Interview #1.
Richard Sample told me he would occasionally pick up Paige at the Playboy Club, after her shift.
She worked at the club “for about 3 months,” he thinks.
Bill Cosby was a frequent visitor and performer at many Playboy Clubs and a close friend of Hugh Hefner during this era.
“Bill Cosby was always trying to put the make on Paige. She didn’t want anything to do with him, she ignored him.”
Richard Sample
One time, when Richard was waiting in his car for Paige to get off her shift at the Playboy club one evening, he said he was close enough to
witness Bill Cosby acting angry at Paige.
Apparently, she had rebuffed yet another one of his advances.
Richard Sample gives an account of Paige at the Playboy Club in the 2014 Daily Mail article.
Richard said during our interview that Paige “went downhill when she started (her association) with the Hefner gang.”
Bill Cosby’s name was found in Paige’s phone book after she died, which I had access to part of.
Recently, I found even more proof.
I spoke with Darlene J. Valentine. She knew Paige as a casual acquaintance from 1970 until her death in 1974.
Mrs. Valentine mentioned that her ex-husband, artist DeWain Valentine, told her that Paige was “a mistress of Bill Cosby.” DeWain and Paige were dating at the time that she was also Cosby’s mistress. And DeWain was dating a lot of women too.
We know Cosby during this era was already dating while married, pursuing, grooming, drugging and raping women.
Some background on the accusations against Cosby.
Bill Cosby was first publicly accused of a drugging and rape in 2004/2005 by Andrea Constand.
Constand and Cosby met through her job at Temple University. They formed a friendship there. Cosby had been a supporter of the university and on the board of trustees for decades. Constand was director of operations for Temple’s women’s basketball team.
Andrea considered Cosby a mentor, and was not prepared for what occurred at Cosby’s family home in Connecticut.
Since Tamara Green, who knew Paige, has long said she was drugged and assaulted by Cosby testified about this behind closed doors in support of Andrea Constand in 2005.
She did an interview about it with Matt Lauer of the Today Show in 2005. (The interview seems to be gone from youtube.)
Tamara was one of a dozen “Jane Does” who testified on behalf of Constand in her suit. These women claimed that Bill Cosby drugged and raped them too. Therefore, Constand’s claims could be corroborated.
Cosby and Constand settled out of court.
Life went back to normal for Bill Cosby.
The sexual assault suit and discussion was quickly forgotten in the media and therefore forgotten amongst the general public.
Soon to recap the 2014 suit Constand filed against Cosby.
Then of course the Hannibal Burress video went viral in 2014 and the rest is history. (Please see my Start here/about page.)
Tamara Green’s reputation and character were disparaged by Cosby’s legal team in both 2005 and 2014/15.
I was lucky to find “Veronica,” friend of Paige’s from Malibu.
She told me via email that Paige was a financially struggling oil painter and Paige told her that Bill Cosby was acting as her “art patron.” He was giving some kind of financial assistance to Paige, possibly including rent on the Topanga Canyon cabin.
Veronica wrote that she thought nothing of it, only that it was very nice of Bill Cosby to help Paige, allowing her to pursue her goal of painting for a living.
Bill Cosby’s name was found in Paige’s phone book after her suicide in 1974, so they definitely knew each other.
Paige frequently shopped at the Fernwood Market, Veronica told me, which is located on the southern part of Topanga Canyon Rd. “Paige never took more than she could carry.”
UPDATE: I interviewed Darlene Valentine, ex-wife of prominent LA artist DeWain Valentine.
Mrs. Valentine was acquainted with Paige Young, Richard Sample and his father Charlie Sample.
She was told by her ex DeWain, that Paige was a “mistress” of Bill Cosby. DeWain himself dated Paige during this time she was Cosby’s mistress.
Darlene said she and Paige were friendly; Paige invited her to an all-female tea party at Paige’s house. (Please see related chapter.)
Darlene also told me she knew that Bill Cosby purchased pot from a friend of hers in Venice Beach. So she was long aware that Cosby was not as “squeaky clean,” as he appeared on TV.
Paige Young In Art and On Merchandise. Paintings By Paige Young. Never seen before and Rare Images. Several NSFW.
Posted on December 19, 2020
Please note many images will be NSFW
I found the next 4 slides on ebay.
The seller had purchased a batch of slides through an auction.
A handful were labeled (as taken by) Peter Gowland.
I looked through the lot on Ebay and recognized Paige in a handful of the many slides of topless or naked women.
There are very few images of Paige in circulation that weren’t take by Peter and his partner, wife Alice Gowland. She did most of her modeling work with the couple or Peter alone.
I was interested only in Paige’s photos of course, but had to buy the whole lot. Now I own several slides of unknown women.
I wish I had a few non-nude-modeling images of Paige. Especially the kind taken in a natural environment by family or friends.
Gowland took several non-nude photos of Paige modeling the current fashions of the day.
Never used in US Playboy magazine.
NSFW
These are the slides of Paige that I purchased.
Location is the Gowland’s Property in Rustic Canyon?
Image #1 would be an immediate reject. In fact all of them and the whole lot are rejects and that’s how the slides got on the market, probably.
Thank you for restoring and scanning the slides to: glamourphotographers.yolasite.com
Rosler created a series of collages appropriating images of Playmates from the late 1960s. Rosler used this image of Paige from the January 1969 issue. Original image seen in chapter Playboy 1969.
A cigar is just a cigar?
Mel Ramos. Pop artist known for appropriating images of Playboy Playmates intertwined or wrapped up in, consumer objects.
Ramos’ rendition of Paige Young’s face is a spot-on likeness. Her breast size is not, it’s greatly exaggerated.
Found on internet.
The unique stone pattern of Gowland’s swimming pool was used for numerous photos in his photography instruction books over the decades.
Cover of Playboy magazine in which Paige appeared as Playmate of the month November 1968.
She did not appear on the the cover of “her” issue as some Playmates did. A Femlin touting the election instead.
Party Joke page Femlin character by LeRoy Neiman, she appeared in sculpted clay model form a few times as we see in November of 1968, election month between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. I remember in El Paso finding out at school that Nixon had won.
Playmate Puzzles
LA based author Duke Haney told me about the history of Playmate puzzles.
Playmate Puzzles-Playboy merch.
It was a series and one of them included the centerfold image of Paige Young. Look on ebay and there are several examples.
“The successful Playmate puzzle series was released periodically, in groups of 4 Playmates at a time. Paige’s group included Cynthia Myers, Gwen Wong and DeDe Lind. It was released in 70/71.”
Haney describes the lid of the Playmate puzzle.
“The mini-centerfold measures 3×6.5 and two were included with every puzzle. One was folded so that only the face of the girl was visible through the opaque cap on the can. This was so that the buyer knew which puzzle it was, which Playmate. There are four pictured on the can itself. Then there was another mini-centerfold inside the can. This one wasn’t creased like the one below the lid. These pictures were guides to be referenced while piecing together the puzzle. Only one would have been necessary but hey…”
Author Duke Haney
Haney says Playmates “never received residuals, Playboy owned the photos outright.” And that “The last of the puzzles were released in 1973, so Paige would have certainly been alive when her puzzle was released.”
Thank you Duke Haney for speaking with me, I really appreciate it!
*NOTE* All the images of Paige’s paintings that follow were publicly posted on Pinterest and/or Facebook.
The Laundress
Painting by Paige Young courtesy of Melanie Myers. Myers said that Paige “was a true artist who stretched her own canvases and mixed her own paint.”
Thank you for contacting me S.D. with this information.
Paige’s lawyer was celebrity lawyer Marvin M. Mitchelson of Beverly Hills.
Please Read corresponding chapter about him.
PETER GOWLAND’S GIRLS exhibit and book curated by Thom Schrimbock 2016. All took place in Germany.
To mark the 100th birthday of Peter Gowland ZEPHYR – Space for Photography in Mannheim & Reiss-Engelhorn Museums curated “Peter Gowland’s Girls,” the first international exhibition of his lifework. “Peter Gowland’s Girls” showcases some 200 works selected from Peter Gowland’s estate, which comprises tens of thousands of superb prints and slides, including the most sensational, most elegant and most daring pictures from his unparalleled career as a pin-up photographer. The exhibition displays his portraits of stars like Joan Collins and Jayne Mansfield, his work for “Playboy” and “Rolling Stone”, and his pictures for innumerable calendars and magazines from the 1940s to the 1970s.
from petergowlandphotography.com
Photo below is from my copy of the book.
NSFW
I do not know if it was included in the German exhibit.
Paige Young had some photo shoots published and distributed in 1970. Like the Playboy Calendar shown above. Image coming soon.
One of the Gowlands long time employers, 1964-2002, was the Ohio-based Ridge Tool Company, a hand tool manufacturing company, using the “Ridgid” brand name.
Ridgid Tool Company became famous for its’ 2-year calendars featuring images of bikini-clad models holding various tools made by Ridgid. I’m guessing Ridge sent these calendars every year to their tool purchasing clients.
Paige appears in the 69/70 edition. Cover below.
Merci Montello when this was taken by Peter Gowland. Mercy Rooney in Playboy December 1972. Merci was a favorite of Peter Gowland and she appears in several of his books and on some of his branded merchandise.
Here she is seen here partying with Mick Jagger and unidentified woman in the Chicago Playboy Mansion.
LA author Duke Haney informed me that Mercy was in town for her Playboy shoot, soon to take place at the mansion, which is Hugh Hefner’s residence.
The Chicago mansion often served as a locale for centerfold photo sessions.
Duke says that Mercy got so bruised up during the party with Jagger and the many revelers that her photo shoot needed to be postponed;
the bruising was too bad even for the makeup artists to cover passably.
This party is recounted in the book Bunny by Miller and involves Hugh Hefner’s secretary Bobbie Arnstein and Mick Jagger. It’s not a sexual encounter either.
(I have written about Bobbie in other chapters.)
Official Rolling Stones app
Lancaster New Era. April 14, 1969.
<<<<<<< I think Merci had this skill.
Mercy “Montelco” took her husband’s last name for Playboy modeling and became Mercy Rooney. She worked as a Playboy Bunny in the LA Club.
April 1
Many more models, starlets and Playboy Playmates were unnamed models in these Ridgid Tool calendars over the decades.
One did go on to great fame: Raquel Welch.
From 1964 until 2002, Peter and Alice photographed models for the Ridgid Tool Calendar (Ridge Tool Company).
Some of the models who appeared in those calendars include Stephanie Drake, Kathy McCullen, Cindy Margolis, and several Playboy Playmates, including Renee Tenison, Nikki Schieler, Barbara Moore, Heidi Sorensen and Penny Baker.
Thanks to:
Michael at glamourphotographers.yolasite.com
I will add Cyndi Wood and Debra Jo Fondren, both Playmates of the Year, appeared in Ridgid calendars shot by Peter Gowland.
NSFW
This image seated in yellow chair was used on a Playboy collectible card. Interesting mid-century chair and brown shag carpet specific to the era.
From an ebay sale several years ago. Probably a gift for special clients of Electro Chemical. There is an association with Ridgid the Tool Company who made the calendars for decades. Early 1970s.
Not identified as Paige Young. Again I recognized her looking through these photos for sale on ebay. I did a search of Peter Gowland and they photos came up.
The other model is a Gowland Favorite:Ann Cushing.
Both Paige and Ann are featured on sets of “sip and strip” glasses, none are identified by name or title of Playmate. I did not buy these I could afford one only.
Nick Lees and Bob Sanders Reminisce about Paige Young.
Posted on August 21, 2020
Nick Lees, a writer for the Edmonton Journal, wrote the following article in 1981.
Nick Lees returned to his job at the Edmonton Journal 7 years after he was fired for leaving on his unscheduled vacation with Paige Young.
Is Nick the reason Paige missed her contracted appearance at the winter sports show? Did she make up this “sudden illness” excuse?
The part in Lees’ article about Paige Young being from Sacramento and a dental assistant, I don’t buy it. There is too much proof that she was born and lived in Los Angeles her entire life. Plus, I don’t see her going through the rigors of dental school and the “9-5 doldrums.”
Paige may have told this fib to Lees or he remembers incorrectly.
Lees had a long career at the Edmonton newspaper as a popular columnist.
The text at right is from an article about Lees, written by journalist Michael Hingston. The article appeared in Canadian Avenue magazine sometime in the early 2000s.
I thank Edmonton writer Michael Hingston for sending me this portion of his notes, not included in his published story about Lees.
Lees’ opinion of Paige seems to have softened over the years. He sounds more resentful in 1981.
Lees specifies the Colorado Rockies as the mountains he and Paige escaped to (Vale above, it’s actually spelled Vail) rather than the Canadian Rockies as he says in 1981.
Nick doesn’t indicate any knowledge of Paige’s suicide in 1974, either in his 1981 column or his more recent interview with Michael Hingston.
I have been unable to get in touch with Nick Lees.
He was in the hospital a few years ago per a facebook post.
UPDATE: Nick Lees passed away on June 24, 2024 after a battle with cancer and dementia, per his obituary in the Edmonton Journal.
The following is an excerpt from the obit, published on June 28:
In 1968, (1969) Nick interviewed a Playboy bunny, but it turned out she had the question of the day — asking Nick if he would take her to see the Rocky Mountains.
Date night. Nick followed her to Banff and then motored with her to Malibu to get engaged. Not surprising, it didn’t work out.
Upon returning to Edmonton Nick was fired but went back to work for The Journal.
His antics in The Journal, far too many to mention, are legendary.
Paige Young by Peter Gowland.
Below is an entry from the website of the late Bob Sanders. He wrote about his lengthy and diverse career.
He has some fascinating stories about Hugh Hefner and working for Playboy as well as TV Guide. He was hired to help promote Hefner’s new TV Show “Playboy After Dark” which led him to meet Paige Young in the late 1960s. Sanders was a “regular American working man with a family.”
7/10/2009
Paige Young….by Bob Sanders
I never learned her real name, but Paige Young, Playboy magazine’s “Miss November” of 1968, was absolutely perfect for a rather challenging assignment: Creating interest in a mediocre TV series.
“Playboy After Dark,” was a follow-up to “Playboy’s Penthouse” which also starred Hugh Hefner, pipe in hand. In both the original and the reincarnation, an elevator whisked viewers to a penthouse where host Hefner, his free arm wrapped around his then current squeeze as we called them, feigned surprise at another drop-in, finally announcing who was in the house to perform. It was pretty awkward stuff.
I met Paige late in January, 1969. That was three months after her appearance in the magazine; an illness had prevented what would have been a timely trip to Chicago. Page was in town to collect $10,000 then awarded Playmates who now receive $25,000 with $100,000 going to the Playmate of the Year. They got to stay a week or so at the Playboy Mansion, attend parties, make personal appearances and meet Hefner, a cultural summit for most. One of my contributions to the process was to interview each of them to determine if they could be of promotional help. Among a year’s monthly winners, you could count on two being particularly good or outstanding. Paige was one of the latter and who could forget either her center-fold or the woman in person? Peter Gowland did the photography in Los Angeles posing a prone Paige, back scratcher in hand. The flashing brown eyes did no harm to the overall effect.
It was a few months before I met Paige that Hefner’s reclusive lifestyle began undergoing a change. The not-so-poor-man’s Howard Hughes had come out of his shell swearing off the uppers and downers that enabled him to stay awake editing his magazine three days at a time. Not only had Hefner hit the streets to observe police outrage during the 1968 Democratic National Convention but he would soon return to the TV trough with “Playboy After Dark” scheduled for Screen Gems release.
Owned by Columbia Pictures, the first major studio to learn to live with the new medium through the creation of a subsidiary, Screen Gems not surprisingly realized the series was a tough sell. They backed off midway through production refusing to promote the show for an additional good reason. Screen Gems had a huge backlog of product including a boatload of Perry Masons–271 to be exact. Up to that point, my involvement was little more than choosing pictures from contact sheets provided by a Hollywood photographer. I soon learned Hefner had little use for black and white photography, perhaps because Playmates’ skin tones looked much more ravishing in color. It was as though black and white was O.K. for Citizen Kane and little more in Hefner’s opinion. I began to bootleg photography; pictures I used to promote the firm’s Lake Geneva resort via newspapers were actually shot by a Chicago Tribune snapper assigned to a narrowly focused feature about the hotel. I paid him $100 after his gig to shoot what I needed: pictures that went beyond architectural renderings ordered by my predecessor. I was never questioned by my management about the photos I used because it was assumed the pics were transferred from color to black and white. Had I gone that route, the shots would have lost about 20% of their sharpness.
Corporate expenses will always be a subject of much conjecture. During what turned out to be 40 years spending other people’s money, I was questioned but once. That was while working for TV Guide in St. Louis, my first gig for the magazine. The year was 1955, eight months after we opened; the office manager, a hopeful sort, had determined we should send parents of newborn children copies of the magazine. Names and addresses of the parents were gleaned from pages of local newspapers and the copy, set in five point agate type, required a magnifying glass to determine accuracy. It was regional manager Arthur Shulman who asked me what the hell was I doing spending $1.99 of TV Guide’s money in such strange fashion?
Playboy was far and away the least concerned of my employers about spending money. Hefner made it clear that he wanted things done in the best possible manner. It was terrific working for a firm striving for promotion efforts done, as Hefner suggested,” first class.” I never took advantage of the situation there or anywhere else.
That early contact sheet assignment for “Playboy After Dark” involved work by an independent photographer, a rather strange determination considering the number of excellent snappers on the payroll. Admittedly, they were rather specialized.
It was while looking at pictures of the fifth show that I found the best shots–maybe ever–of Hefner. All of them found him next to one of the show’s chickie poos. Soon my hunch was verified. Barbie Benton, then a theater major at UCLA–had become a regular on the show eventually attaining status as Hef’s significant love of eight years. I ordered a dozen of one picture of the adoring couple I had cropped from a group shot.
On a trip to Los Angeles, promotion director Nelson Futch and I learned at a meeting called by Screen Gems that its management had determined a preference for releasing “Perry Mason” starring Raymond Burr, then successful in keeping quiet his homosexuality, over the ultimately virile Hefner. It was regarded as a savage blow and Futch, unperturbed, turned the project over to me immediately following the meeting. That was when I thought of Paige Young.
A couple of months passed during which I worked my ass off concentrating on the show. One day Futch and I got a hurry up call to meet with Hefner at The Mansion. Oh, yes. Bring the promotion work. After waiting four hours during which Futch put the Benton/Hefner photo on top the pile of my creativity, we finally entered his office. Our meeting followed one between Hef and his editor-in-chief A.C. Spectorsky–the man who, among many things, coined the word “exurbanites.” Moments later, Hefner spotted the photo, held it up to the light and did a series of gyrations reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin’s examination of the world in The Great Dictator.
“Where did you get this?” he asked–a pretty dumb question under the circumstances unless a UCLA photo-journalist had grabbed a shot of the Bunny King attired in a silly Edwardian suit while visiting one of Barbie’s acting classes.
“The fifth show,” I replied.
“Can I have one?” he asked in very boyish fashion as if I were the editor of the high school yearbook and he, infatuated by a photo of his best girl.
“Would you like six? I can get you at least five more.” That was it. He never looked at any of the rest of my promotional efforts. Apparently, he had decided the Hef/Barbie choice was sufficient. The picture became paramount in the print promotion of the show.
The series played in something like 21 markets with the stations located north and south from Minneapolis to Miami and east to west from New York to Los Angeles. Among them were two Lafayettes–Indiana and Louisiana–plus other locations across the fruited plain and Canada where the program was seen in Montreal. The series had but one show worth viewing; it starred Sammy Davis, Jr., Anthony Newley, Jerry Lewis and Peter Lawford, the latter of unique adroitness: dressing up a set.
Hefner’s published comments on the series and his host role give pause: “It’s better than the ‘Johnny Carson Show’ or the ‘Joey Bishop Show’ and I do a better job hosting than Ed Sullivan does.”
KTLA, the then Gene Autry-owned independent channel , bought the series and we scheduled a party for what was then called the Playboy Building at 8560 Sunset Boulevard. Built in the early 1960s, it had a parking lot to the west set beneath 10 stories of reinforced concrete. It is now part of the Sunset Millennium Project–three buildings totaling approximately 300,000 square feet of office space.
Back then, my attention was captivated by a huge windowless area of the building’s west façade. Recalling all the “Playboy After Dark” color photos taken on the set, I wondered if we could project pictures on the wall in a rotating series of six or so with enticing copy to promote the show. I found a Swedish company with equipment about the size of a small TV set which we secured at the entrance to the parking lot.
My idea had unusual origins. Years before, comedian Red Skelton had a neighbor in Palm Springs he didn’t like or so the story went. The guy, a moralistic type, had a white stucco home with a large wall visible to the street. In reaction to the neighbor’s latest outrage, Skelton began showing adult movies on the fellow’s home.
In the fall of 1969, eastbound Sunset Blvd. motorists were confronted by color photos of scantily clad young ladies in addition to 30-ft pipe-clutching Hefs and bug cute Barbies.
We had a minor “Playboy After Dark” promotion problem which never surfaced. Paige Young had not appeared in the series having turned down a request. Thoughtful and intelligent, she had other things to do, notably painting. Horses were a subject dear to her as I learned during time out on the north side of Phoenix where many Arabian thoroughbred farms used to exist.
Paige was a total delight. One time she flew to Minneapolis where I met her at the airport before we moved on to newspaper, magazine and broadcast interviews. After a couple of days, we flew to Miami for more of the same. Phoenix was particularly productive offering a good example of the Playboy mystique. Shortly after our arrival, I learned a local PR representative hired by us had not set up any interviews. I made five phone calls to the TV stations then located in the area and placed Paige on each channel for interviews–mostly on news programs. It may have been a very slow news day, but getting that kind of attention on such short notice with little going for us except the Playboy mystique was absolutely amazing; the series was about to be carried on one of those five stations. The trick was to set up the interviews along different lines emphasizing such things as the magazine and Paige’s appearance in it, her life and travels, and what Hugh Hefner was really like.
During my Playboy Enterprises days there was a story, probably apocryphal, told about Hefner by Victor Lownes who was, in my opinion, a promotional genius responsible for a lot of the magazine’s (and later the clubs’) success. Lownes had introduced a young woman to Hefner, referring to him as “a living legend.” The couple wandered off to a nearby bedroom where, scant minutes later, the woman emerged commenting to Lownes: “And you call that a living legend?” Hey, nobody bats 1.000.
It was no secret Lownes had been run out of Chicago after dallying with a teenage TV star. Adding to the speed of his departure was her being the daughter of a high profile newspaper columnist. Lownes settled in London where he established the London Playboy Club, then gained a gambling permit. It wasn’t long before he had created a lifestyle many thought at least the equivalent of Hefner’s; included was Stocks, an impressive manor house. While Benny Dunn was dressing up Hefner’ Chicago Gold Coast home with people from the entertainment world, Lownes was attracting a much broader spectrum of notables.
Things went nicely for Lownes. Treated as a company hero as Playboy Enterprises peaked during my years there, his short returns to Chicago were largely joyous occasions although Lownes could be a jerk. Circulation of the magazine hit 6,000,000, the hotels were showing promise, and the clubs were doing well thanks to Victor’s London gambling license. Suddenly, in 1981, England’s gaming commission yanked the permit. Some Arabs, among the club’s highest rollers, had been given markers by Lownes and the license was pulled. To this day, Lownes denies the charges. No question the timing was dreadful. Hefner was in the midst of what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to get a gambling permit for Atlantic City and the London catastrophe played a major role. An earlier New York City liquor license obtained under questionable circumstances was another.
The relationship between old friends Hefner and Lownes cooled. The latter eventually left the organization and wrote a tough but largely accurate book about his former pal and a public company having difficulty adjusting to a world enormously changed since Hefner planned the magazine in his kitchen nearly 30 years before. The magazine business was undergoing upheavals of its own. Penthouse, inspired by Hefner but tawdry by comparison, offered full frontal nudity and Playboy met the challenge. Marilyn Cole, who later married Lownes, was the first Playmate to be so photographed.
While my association with Paige Young remained purely professional, I’m sure a lot of people in the home office and air travelers thought otherwise. The airport scenes were rather wondrous. Paige wore big floppy hats in a great variety of singular colors. We arranged our airport meets so that scheduled arrivals in those halcyon days of dependability were very close. I could spot her hat from impressive distances and she could do the same with me although I never wore a floppy hat. The last half of our promotion tour found us running toward each other in airports and embracing in corny displays suggesting to many that we were something we weren’t.
So many memories remain including a rainy night in New Orleans during which we ran barefoot through the French Quarter (she was a physical fitness nut) and were later entertained by the Playboy Club’s musical director, Al Belletto, one of the few non-Dixie musicians in town. A Stan Kenton discovery, Belletto introduced us to such people as Al Hirt, Pete Fountain and Eddie Miller, the Fred Astaire of tenor saxophonists. When I met Miller, I made the observation and he said: “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.”
West Bank Guide May 1969.
Paige and I lost track of each other and I attempted to find her on the internet some five years ago. I wish I hadn’t. She had committed suicide at age 30, six years after we stopped promoting Hefner’s TV show.
I can’t recall a single clue that might have suggested such a splendid blithe spirit was capable of such a decision. END
A woman contacted me by e-mail about 4 years ago and said she was the daughter of the late Bob Sanders.
She told me that when the Daily Mail article was published, she was relieved that her father was not alive to learn that Paige’s method of suicide was a gunshot to head, not an overdose of drugs. She said learning the true method of suicide would have greatly upset him.
Bob’s daughter also wrote that she thinks despite what her father wrote in his blog post, there many have been a fling of sorts between her father and Paige.
Because of the Nick Lees story, I don’t think Bob Sanders traveled with Paige to Edmonton, she was likely traveling on her own at this point.
If you read the chapter on 1969–there are several articles that mention Bob Sanders, not by name but by profession, as Paige’s “handler,” “assistant,” even “flack.”
# # # #
1974 #1 Official Death Cert. Witness. LAPD Suicide Report. Sex Tapes? Cremation & Ocean Burial Records. David Shane & Family. Secrets of Playboy. Bobbie Arnstein. Joni Mattis. Long. Updated 10/6/25
Posted on August 7, 2020
I have made 2 chapters into 1 long chapter for now.
It includes critical context, documents and some of my theories/opinions.
March 16, 1974 is Paige Young’s 30th birthday.
On April 7th 1974, a Palm Sunday, Paige Young commits suicide with a gunshot to her head. The location was her residence, pictured below.
“She was terrified of it coming out, in that day you knew your career was going to be over once it got “round.”
“For weeks all she could think about was getting hold of that tape, she thought it was going to ruin her.”
Melanie, Paige’s neighbor quoted in the Daily Mail about an alleged sex tape of Paige. Melanie talked to Paige on the day of her suicide and shortly before she shot herself in the head.
Below is the account neighbor Melanie Myers gave to reporter Ryan Parry of the Daily Mail Dec. 2014 issue.
“Paige had the whole thing planned down to the last detail… It was a Palm Sunday and she came to tell me she was going to kill herself. She stayed in the back of the house where we (B.J.) lived and I was at the bathroom window. She comes up to the window and calls out to me “I want to show you something.” I couldn’t be bothered by any more of her drama. But she was like, “No, you’ve gotta come and see it.” So I go to her apartment and she gave me a guided tour …of her suicide scene in her bedroom….It was chilling..there was a large American flag draped across her bed and there was a pentagram laid out on the wooden floor…I remember her showing me around it because it was somehow important, but I didn’t know what it meant.”
But it was the bedroom was that shocked Myers the most.
“It was covered floor to ceiling with photos of Hugh Hefner, there were news clippings, magazine articles, everything you could think of. Written across it was something like “Hugh Hefner is the devil.” The whole wall was a shrine saying, ‘I hate Hugh Hefner,’ the crux of her anger was against him. That was the message she wanted to get across to me. She was pointing up at things, showing me around it. She’s put a lot of work into this, it must have taken her days.
Myers said that Young then calmly explained that she planned to kill herself.
She produced a gun and put it into her mouth…lay back on her bed and said, ‘this is how I’m going to do it.’
“It was chilling. We were friends but not the best of friends, I was always bitching about her and her dog, so I was scared. I thought maybe she could shoot me, you know, take me with her, it was all so weird. I thought, I’ve got to get out of here.”
“Myers quickly retreated to her apartment and called the police. LAPD officers arrived soon afterwards and cordoned of the whole of Eastbourne Ave.”
Myers said, “The cops didn’t want to go in her apartment first, so they asked me to go check on her, so I did.”
“I walked into her apartment and they were behind me. I walked into her bedroom and she was lying dead on the bed. She had shot herself in the head as she told me she would. There was a huge mass of blood, her whole bed was soaked red, it was shocking. But she looked happy and very peaceful, she didn’t look in distress.”
“The cops had Paige’s suicide note and read some of it to me…the whole thing was about her anger towards the men who she believed had chewed her up and spat her out. The two men who got the most attention were Hugh Hefner and the director John Huston. I know she dated Huston for a while and had just gotten back from a trip to Ireland with him.”
Paige expressed anger to other Hollywood stars who had used her.
“I believe Paige was making a huge statement in a bid to get at the elite of Hollywood…She thought the story of her death would spark a big scandal, but it didn’t. Sadly no one cared.”
END
Melanie Myers gives the same account in the Secrets of Playboy documentary first shown 2022.
Claim: “Paige [Young] told me that a person that was a member of this Playboy Mansion entourage, or whatever it was, had filmed her having sex. Paige was so over-the-top upset about that tape. This was the end of the world for her. She didn’t seem that shy, you know, about sex, and it made me wonder, What was on that tape? What I actually keep thinking is there’s more on that than just sex. … When I knew her, Paige was into clean living. I think more likely is that Bill [Cosby] drugged her.”
Who Said It: Melanie Myers, celebrity astrologer and neighbor of November 1968 Playmate of the Month, who found the 30-year-old dead under a collage of photos and news clippings which featured the words “HUGH HEFNER IS THE DEVIL”
People.com review of Secrets of Playboy
This person in the entourage sounds like David Shane.
Shane was not a celebrity but the brother of the woman married to John Huston in the 1970s. Paige’s friend CiCi Shane Huston.
David Shane was known on the Sunset Strip scene; he owned two businesses there from the 1950s to the 1980s. Alfie’s and Hav-A-Kar.
Hav-A -Kar is captured in Ed Ruscha’s renowned photo series Every Building on the Sunset Strip, 1966 version.
And apparently, David Shane was a never-known or little-known Playboy mansion regular in that era.
David Shane seems an ideal candidate for a person involved with a sex tape in the Hugh Hefner party scene as you will see.
Would he have any reason to blackmail Paige with this tape?
David Shane owned establishment. Writer Jack Smith wrote a column about his visit to Alfie’s. He said the patio was perfect for people watching.
When I first read the Daily Mail 2014 article, I was left with several questions.
Among them:
Why did Paige “blame” her suicide on Hugh Hefner by painstakingly creating an entire mural of his image and splashed with words of hatred.
In one phone call with Melanie Myers, she emphasized to me how large the mural was, filling up a long hallway wall from top to bottom.
Melanie thought of how many hours it would have taken cutting out Hugh Hefner’s image and her own Playboy memorabilia. These items were then pinned to the wall. Melanie said the depiction of the wall in Episode 8 of Secrets of Playboy greatly resembles the scene she remembers in Paige’s apartment the day of her suicide.
I have questions about the suicide note. It mentioned Hugh Hefner, John Huston, and other Hollywood men Paige felt had used and abused her. The suicide note is mentioned in the LAPD report, but not in the records.
Other witnesses would have been the LAPD, the I.D. and the Coroner’s office.
Some critics will say it was my motivation to prove Hugh Hefner was an evil abuser of women or that he was directly responsible for the suicide of a vulnerable young woman or that I want to avenge her suicide in the name of equality or feminism.
That was not and is not my motivation.
I always say “Let the facts speak for themselves.”
The reader or viewer can decide. I do believe the stories the women who have had experiences of abuse and manipulative behavior (and more serious accusations) on the part of Hugh Hefner.
I believe certain (or most) celebrities got a “pass” to abuse women when they were on the grounds of the Playboy Mansion. (And maybe elsewhere.)If abuse or grooming or manipulation or brutality and rape happened to be what “turned them on,” Hef wasn’t going to forbid or judge his friends.
This series first aired in 2022. Paige Young’s story appears in Episode 8 entitled Predators Ball.
In 2015, I began researching the answers to my questions with an open mind.
Perhaps Paige Young wrongly, mistakenly, or inappropriately blamed Hugh Hefner for her suicidal thoughts. If so, it didn’t and doesn’t matter to me; Paige’s story is allegorical of time, place, people and national and world events.
Paige did have other problems in her life.
Lack of a consistent income was a problem for Paige, one of her friend’s wrote to me. This was recently verified by Melanie.
Still, evidence points to at least one factor of Paige’s depression: the aforementioned sex tape and its connection to Hugh Hefner and his Mansion scene. There were witnesses of Paige at the Playboy mansion about 2 months before her suicide.
Death certificate copy I obtained.
A partial autopsy/police report copy is included in the Daily Mail story, but not the death certificate.
Reporter Ryan Parry of the Daily Mail discovered that Paige did not die of a drug overdose. This contradicts what is stated in “The Playmate Book,” and several websites. Paige actually committed suicide from a gunshot wound to the head. This information is based on an autopsy report and death certificate, as one can clearly see.
This caught my attention when I first read the article because Paige Young is always listed as an overdose on internet lists and such.
On April 9, Price-Daniel Mortuary handles Paige’s death services. Her cremation takes place at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena. Burial of her ashes to take place at sea near Santa Monica shoreline.
Scan of cremation record follows.
Math figures show Paige’s age on mortuary paperwork. 1974-1944 =30
It is unknown how the false story of Paige overdosing on drugs started on the internet. This has been written as the official cause of her early death.
Is the Playmate Book the original source?
A Playboy published book, it’s compendium of all the Playmates named in the magazine, beginning from the first issue of Playboy in 1953, continuing up to the date of publication.
The book was updated every 10 years or so.
Each entry tells us briefly what the woman did with her life post-Playboy. The entries are sometimes newsy, sometimes scant with information.
Marilyn Monroe, famously on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. December 1. 1953 and named “Sweetheart of the Month.”
Credit George Vreeland Hill.
There is a now well-known story about this first issue of Playboy and what was inside it. Marilyn from an old nude calendar photo shoot when she was broke.
It’s part of both Marilyn Monroe’s and Playboy Magazine’s Myth.
Marilyn is often cited in the “Playmate Curse” articles. (See Start Here chapter)
From an article in 2007 upon the death of PMOY Anna Nicole Smith, mentioning The Playmate Book which is updated about every 10 years.
The late Gretchen Edgren was the editor and is credited with another Playboy history book “If You Don’t Swing, Don’t Ring.”
Paige Young’s entry in the Playmate Book says she died of a drug overdose in 1974.
In the early days of the internet, people were compiling lists of famous people /celebrities, who experienced a tragically young death.
It’s probable that The Playmate Book was the original source for the first individuals who included it on their websites.
Can it be proven otherwise?
Of course many other websites picked this up and it became Paige’s “official” means of suicide for decades.
A question I had was:
Why would it serve Playboy editors or Hugh Hefner to choose “drug overdose” as her means of death? Why would they publish this in their own book of record?
It’s an odd choice.
Hugh Hefner had some legal and public pressure on him. There were charges of drug dealings or trafficking occurring at both his mansions, in the early 1970s. This involved his Chicago secretary Bobbie Arnstein.
And most oddly, Bobbie Arnstein did commit suicide by a massive drug overdose in 1975 less than one year after Paige Young’s suicide.
I think drug overdose was chosen for the book because it sounds ambiguous. The reader won’t know if it was a purposeful or accidental overdose.
It seems the perception is that it was a purposeful suicide. But I may be wrong.
Paige’s suicide appears to have never been reported in the Los Angeles media, in 1974 or since.
I have not yet found any death, obituary or memorial announcement.
UPDATE: 5/12/2023 I spoke with one friend of Paige’s. She told me she heard an announcement on a radio station about Paige’s death. She was driving to her home in Malibu. She doesn’t remember much more but that it was shocking and saddening. It caused her to pull over to stop by the side of the road.
In the weeks and months after the Daily Mail article was published in 2014, no one spoke out publicly or mentioned knowing or having met Paige Young.
What about the alleged sex tape that caused Paige so much anguish?
“Numerous women say Hefner filmed all of the sex he had in his bedroom at the Playboy Mansion — often without consent — and kept the tapes.”
LAT Review of Secrets of Playboy 2/28/22
It makes sense. A well known part of Hefner’s biography is his fascination with audio and video technology.
Hefner purchased and collected cutting edge home video, film cameras, projectors, and stereo equipment and owned these before they were available to the mass consumer.
In the early decades of the magazine, Playboy often featured an ideal “bachelor pad,” decked out with the finest stereo equipment and other electronic gadgets,sure to impress the ladies and men, like a Cadillac or Picasso painting might. In fact Playboy magazine in the 1950s formed the template for the influx of “Bachelor” magazines of the 1950s.
A shapely young woman would make a great companion or accessory to your lifestyle. Your bachelor pad will entice her.
Chicago newspaper in 1966. Hugh Hefner a nerd of his era.
One of the clips in the opening of Secrets of Playboy features an early 1970s Hugh Hefner. He is seen speaking to reporters at a press conference. He talks about his “electronic equipment in the mansion,””including cameras” and says that “sometimes stuff happens in the bedroom.”
Secrets…shows an interview with former head of Playmate Promotions Miki Garcia. At one point she is reading from work notes she had saved.
One note is about famous actor and Mansion regular Tony Curtis.
I am in episode 8 of this documentary talking about Paige Young. I received feedback from a few viewers who said they wanted more information about Paige than Secrets of Playboy presented. Available now on Amazon.
Curtis and his lawyer, were upset about Tony’s appearance in sex tapes filmed at the mansion.
Secrets of Playboy revealed accounts of sexual acts being filmed by Hugh Hefner, or others, at his mansion in Holmby Hills. (See interviews with Sondra Theodore, Stefan Tetenbaum and others.)
The last paragraph is right out of a novel. Poignant.
In 1973, this would have been exceedingly rare! And quite impressive. Even amongst the jaded Hollywood crowd.
Stories of sex tapes or films go back to the Chicago mansion days.
An ex-girlfriend of Hefner’s, with help from one of his secretaries, snuck into the mansion to retrieve “her” tape. This incident was told to Russell Miller and published in his book Bunny: The Real Story of Playboy.
Miller appears in Secrets of Playboy but doesn’t tell this story.
I am shown in Secrets of Playboy reading a brief excerpt from his book Bunny, which I read for the first time in 1985. The whole passage was explicit and embarrasing g to read in front of an all male crew I had just met.
Melanie’s interview indicates that Paige was likely filmed at the Playboy mansion. She was fearful that this tape or film would be shown to an audience that would recognize her. She worried her reputation would be damaged or ruined.
“…..And I’d recently discovered little spy holes on either side of the big televisions at the foot of the bed, where one might set up cameras. When I asked him about them, he just shrugged. ‘But what are they for?’ I asked. ‘I used to do a lot of filming,’ he said proudly. ‘VHS. I had hours of videos, hundreds of sexy tapes.’ ’Did people know you were filming?’ I could only imagine what, and who, was on those tapes. ‘It’s my bedroom. My house.’ He said this dismissively. When I didn’t say anything back, he got a little defensive. ‘I destroyed them all. After the Pam and Tommy thing…..’
Only Say Good Things by Crystal Hefner
What happened to Hefner’s collection of sex tapes?
There are reports of Hefner ordering the tapes and films destroyed before his death, by sinking them in the ocean.
Allegedly, Hefner became more paranoid when his friend, Playmate and actress Pamela Anderson, had her and husband Tommy Lee’s private sex tapes stolen.
And Crystal Hefner confirms this.
The stolen tapes were then released to the public through a video porn company.
Paige Young would have been an early victim of what later became a sex tape scandal or even revenge porn.
Especially the David Shane angle in the tape.
Long Article From Page Six, Nov. 23, 2018 quoted below:
“Hugh Hefner dumped a casket full of his private sex tapes into the sea before he passed away, insiders have revealedThe Playboy founder chucked his collection of sex tapes into the Pacific ocean because he feared that his most famous and secret conquests would be exposed, sources told The Sun.
It comes as the Playboy founder’s most personal belongings are being auctioned off later this month. But while his signature pipe, dressing gowns and other items are currently on show to the public before they go under the hammer, paranoid Hefner made sure his dirtiest secrets would never be found.The veteran Hollywood lothario, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, gathered up his entire hidden collection of tapes, X-rated photos and even intimate notes from superstars.
He then threw them all in a specially-made casket lined with cement and had his aides dump them in the sea.Hefner’s trusted head of security at the Playboy Mansion Joe Piastro – who died in 2011 – is believed to have overseen the burial.
“Hugh was terrified of the world finding out everything about his past,” a source revealed. “He had kept a treasure chest of memories of his life with all these beautiful women dating back from the 1950s to the mid-1990s.” “He only shared a few of the stories with his aides, but kept his personal items of his time with many famous beauties a secret.
“There was a batch of tapes, shot on 8 mm and cinefilm, which were filmed during some of the orgies he enjoyed in the 70s. “Some famous male movie stars too were in those videos and had that come out it would have been a huge scandal.
“Hef also had thousands of photographs taken at photo shoots or given to him by the girls over the years. Marilyn [Monroe] was definitely in them as well as many superstars who graced the pages of his magazine.Some of the women were in relationships and others never even made the magazine, but simply were partying with him.
“What actually sparked his concern was when Pamela had her tape with Brett Michaels aired and then Tommy Lee.“He got so upset and paranoid that he decided it was best to have them disappear. He didn’t trust people to burn them in case they got stolen, so he charged Joe with getting rid of them in the ocean.
“Joe had been his trusted head of security for years and had saved Hugh from many embarrassing situations in the past.
“He had hundreds of other photographs of women who were not famous, but he had enjoyed one nights stands with or even short relationships. There were also audio tapes too.“In the 1990s, he had concerns about these personal items being stolen and sold around the world … it filled him with dread.
“So he decided that Joe should go out in the middle of the ocean with the cask and dump it all. “Hugh explained that he didn’t want anyone’s lives, marriages or careers to be destroyed by what he had In his library. Joe did it and never told anyone.”Hefner decided to take action in the late 90s as parties at the Playboy mansion were becoming wilder.
“The parties at the mansion were becoming grander affairs and it was difficult to control where guests were going,” the source added.“He was terrified that some of this material would be stolen and the leaked out.
“He even worried that if anything happened to him it could get in the wrongs hands and hurt those who were still alive.”
“After what [Anderson] had told him, he was certain that this material was best lost rather than locked away. ” END.
Former Playboy employee Lisa Loving Barrett says in Secrets of Playboy she had heard the ocean burial story and that she has reasons to believe it is true.
My opinion is that Paige Young’s case is an early example of a “sex tape scandal.”
Much like Pam and Tommy, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton.
But Paige Young’s sex tape scandal is one that never went public through a formal media channel.
Perhaps Paige was blackmailed with this “sex tape.”
I don’t imagine we’ll ever know for sure.
The whole incident seems to have remained firmly swept under the rug by people at Playboy. Both at the time it happened and in following decades.
“Masten is one of about 60 women who accused Cosby of sexual assault. She says Cosby drugged and raped her in a Chicago hotel in 1979, when she was a Playboy bunny. She says she was told she’d better keep quiet because no one would believe her, because Cosby was one of Hefner’s best friends. Cosby has denied her allegations.
“In the 10 years that I worked for Playboy, I would venture to say that there were probably 40 to 50 young women that were silenced by Playboy because of sexual abuse,” she says. Hefner knew about these episodes, Masten says, because he read the daily security reports.” Review of Secrets of Playboy USA TODAY Feb. 7, 2022
I suspect decades rolled by without Paige’s name ever coming up in the Playboy universe. And if it did, they were told the “drug overdose” story.
Female Fixer and the bobbie Arnstein Problem
During a phone conversation, an individual working on Secrets of Playboy mentioned to me that he/she had learned of the existence of a “female fixer” who worked for Hugh Hefner in LA during Paige’s era the early and mid-1970s. In the next sentence, this person named Joni Mattis as a close assistant of Hef’s at that time.
This information of a female fixer, much less named as Joni Mattis, was not mentioned in the Secrets of Playboy.
Joni’s name was found in Paige Young’s phone book (copied from) I obtained a part of.
And it so happens that Paige’s suicide scene with mural, and notes naming Hefner, his friends, and other Hollywood players/Mansion guests.
And there was was a chance it could go public….
Certainly this would have presented a problem that desperately needed to be “fixed.”
April of 1974 was an especially awful time for Unflattering publicity to come out about Hefner and Playboy.
San Francisco Examiner Mar. 22, 1974 Appeared all over US newspapers. Bobbie Arnstein photographed upon her arrest “on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.”
The arrest happened in front of her work place: Chicago Playboy Mansion.
Bobbie Arnstein was Hefner’s long time “Girl Friday” in Chicago.
The arrest happened only two weeks before Paige’s suicide. (Secrets of Playboy has an episode about Bobbie Arnstein.)
Background for context:
Hugh Hefner had been spending more and more time in Los Angeles ever since meeting 18-year-old Barbi Benton in 1968 on the set of his TV show: Playboy After Dark. Filming took place at CBS Studio on Fairfax St.
Paige Young may or may not have appeared on the syndicated show.
Hugh Hefner was looking for a property in LA.
One day in 1971, while driving around by herself, Barbi Benton spied an interesting looking mansion in Holmby Hills.
She scaled a fence to get a closer look and quickly knew it would be a perfect fit for a “Playboy Mansion West.”
Back at the Chicago mansion, Bobbie Arnstein held down the fort during Hefner’s increasingly frequent times away.
Los Angeles Times 4/23/1971
Connie Kreski is mentioned as a guest with her date Leslie Bricusse.
I have written an entire chapter on Connie Kreski. Another tragic Playmate.
Strange that Barbi did not come down to greet the guests. Something is off.
Could Paige Young been one of the former Playmates reported as present?
Bobbie was feeling left out and let down by Hefner around this time.
She told a few friends that she was frustrated by not receiving more public credit or at least a higher salary, for her years of dedication to Playboy the corporation, and to her boss and mentor Hugh Hefner.
Bobbie was struggling with drug abuse and an eating disorder. She was suffering with unacknowledged grief from her boyfriend’s death in a car accident. The accident happened a few years previous and Bobbie was the driver. Bobbie’s boyfriend Tom, was the younger brother of Victor Lownes, head of Playboy Club and Casino in London.
Apparently she never drove after the fatal crash.
Bobbie was very loyal to Hef and despite any conflicted feelings, there was a plan for Bobbie to relocate to LA and continue as Hefner’s secretary.
I’ve read she was concerned about the inevitable need to drive in LA.
Unfortunately, Bobbie killed herself shortly before that scheduled date arrived.
What happened after Bobbie’s very public arrest 2 weeks before Paige’s suicide?
Months after Paige Young’s suicide in Los Angeles, in the fall of 1974, Bobbie was given a 15-year provisional jail sentence. She was accused of a drug trafficking crime that she did not commit. A witness provided false testimony after making a deal with prosecutors.
Chicago Tribune. Notice the judge “indicated he may significantly reduce the sentence after a psychiatric and medical problems, study of Bobbie.“
She would commit suicide about six weeks after this article appeared. Location was at the Maryland Hotel in Downtown Chicago.
The zealous prosecutors in Chicago wanted Bobbie to implicate Hugh Hefner in drug trafficking and she refused.
Bobbie was a drug user and abuser. She probably was involved in purchasing drugs from, and distributing drugs to friends, according to Secrets of Playboy.
See Adrienne Pollock‘s story of her fatal overdose, shown in the same episode.
It appears to me that Hefner was innocent, in this case, of formal and organized drug trafficking.
Hefner admitted to having a “laissez-faire” attitude about the behavior of his many guests at the mansion. He certainly wasn’t going to search their luggage or persons for drugs. He said this publicly at the time.
The whole case was dropped after Arnstein’s suicide.
Hefner’s press conference upon the death of close assistant Bobbie: coming soon.
END
More on Joni Mattis:
In 1974 Paige Young’s home was in Westwood. It was only a 10 minute car drive to the location of the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills.
Former police were employed by Hef as security guards on many occasions.
The local police in the area were on good terms with Hef. They were welcomed at the mansion. Several former employees of Playboy say this in the Secrets of Playboy.
Police in the Westwood/UCLA area would have attended Paige’s suicide scene and written the report. See chapter LAPD suicide report. And word of this would have made it to the mansion in short order. Probably to the “female fixer,” before even Hefner himself.
Joni Mattis was a Playmate in November of 1960. A girlfriend around that time, of Hugh Hefner. She was an employee of Playboy nearly her entire life.
Credit: 20th Century Man
Apparently Joni was as devoted to Hef and Playboy as Bobbie Arnstein. She was likely Hef/Playboy’s “female fixer” at the time of Paige’s suicide, and probably the fixer of Paige’s case.
.
1974 Part 2 More on David Shane
Melanie Myers from the Daily Mail article told me in 2015 that the “brother of Cici Huston” had Paige’s “sex tape” in his possession. He would not hand it over to Paige, despite her repeated requests.
And that Paige often expressed the serious mental anguish and anger this was causing her.
…..fearful of a “sex tape” that “a relative of a major celebrity had made of her,” is how the Daily Mail phrased it.
One of the Shane brothers, David, is highly likely the one holding on to Paige’s sex tape. He was very active on the Sunset Strip social scene at the time. He owned businesses there. He was considered attractive to women during the 1950s-1960-1970s.
The Daily Mail wasn’t really interested in writing about him as “wasn’t a big enough name,” Melanie said to me.
Bob Shane is the oldest brother. Originally Myron Shane, Jr. I can’t find anything else about him but that he became known as Bob at some point. He was listed in Beverly Hills High yearbooks as Myron Shane Jr.
The youngest Shane brother Stephan, not mentioned in the obituary above, moved out of Beverly Hills. He lived further north in California. He married, divorced and died young in the 1970s.
From David Shane’s obituary:
He started a popular car rental agency, Hav -A -Kar, in the heart of the Sunset Strip. Hav-A-Kar was later sold to Thrifty, and David, as the property owner, saw the space become a Kenneth Cole store for many years before its current iteration, the Eveleigh restaurant. In the early 1960s David, who loved to cook, opened a burger joint called Alfie’s. It was a colorful fixture on the Strip and a veritable celebrity magnet. David decided to eventually lease the space in 1971 to the new owners who created Mirabelle, which remained steadfast on the Strip for over 40 years…… David was a jet setter and an avid outdoorsman. He attended USC for two years before transferring to the University of Mexico, in Mexico City, where he befriended painter Diego Rivera.
LAT Oct. 2016
Myron Shane started Hav-A-Kar in 1959 per newspaper articles and apparently signed it over to his son David L. Shane. Below shows a public record easily found online.
David Shane owned Alife’s on the Strip, popular hang out. Jack Smith article
The Shane brothers and sister came from a family of money and social standing.
Their father was Myron Shane, Sr. already a wealthy business owner from Kansas City who moved his young family to Beverly Hills in the 1940s.
Myron Shane owned a yacht named the “Celeste.” He rented it out to wealthy celebrities including Frank Sinatra.
Myron Shane also used his yacht for charitable purposes.
Melanie told the Daily Mail, and me personally, that Paige “went out with” several men. I imagine that David Shane is one of those men. Celeste Shane in a message to me several years ago, said as much.
Paige told Melanie that some of her boyfriends paid her living expenses. These included kitchen appliances and a dog run for her Akitas.
( Don’t know what happened to Joshua the Weimaraner (?) or Hamish the horse)
As much as Paige expressed her distress over David Shane’s refusal to hand over the sex tape, ultimately she made a mural of hatred and blame towards Hugh Hefner.
From the Daily Mail:
“It was covered floor to ceiling with photos of Hugh Hefner, there were news clippings, magazine articles, everything you could think of. Written across it was something like ‘Hugh Hefner is the devil.” The whole wall was a shrine saying, ‘I hate Hugh Hefner,’ the crux of her anger was against him. That was the message she wanted to get across to me. She was pointing up at things, showing me around it. She’s put a lot of work into this, it must have taken her days.” Daily Mail 2014
According to Melanie, Hefner and John Huston were mentioned in the suicide note as well.
“The cops had Paige’s suicide note and read some of it to me…the whole thing was about her anger towards the men who she believed had chewed her up and spat her out. The two men who got the most attention were Hugh Hefner and the director John Huston. I know she dated Huston for a while and had just gotten back from a trip to Ireland with him.” Daily Mail Dec. 2014
“Paige also vented against other Hollywood stars who had used her, says Myers.”
This issue of People magazine was released at the end of 1974, 8 months after Paige’s suicide in LA and one month before Bobbie Arnstein’s suicide in Chicago.
LAPD Report Paige Young suicide
I obtained a copy of the LAPD report on Paige Young’s suicide, transcribed below.
The report is difficult to read; it looks like a copy of a copy of a copy and several words are faded almost beyond recognition.
Someone familiar with police codes and reports may understand it better.
When I was interviewed for the docu-series Secrets of Playboy; the crew filmed me opening the envelope containing this report.
The interviewer asked me to read the report on camera and I absolutely struggled.
I can see why that happened. The next day it took me an entire afternoon with a magnifying glass to transcribe what you see below.
Anyway, no footage or mention of the police report made it into Secrets of Playboy.
I have placed ??? for words and codes I can’t decipher.
EDI (PDI?) is witness and neighbor Melanie. I/D is the Investigating Detective.
Police Report Page 1:
I/D responded to a D/5 call at the above location. Upon arrival at 1500 hrs. I/D was met by 8A53 Ofcc’s Sullivan FI5452 and Peckins #15665. Death was pronounced by CA#92 at 1431. 8A53 upon arrival at the scene were met by EDI, who stated that the deceased was upstairs with a gun and was going to shoot herself. 8A53 at this time phoned for a backup unit. 8L/??and 8L10 responded. Ofccs at this time spent approx. 2 hours attempting to contact the deceased via the telephone and by calling ?? HEC? Offcs during this period were informed that a “SWAT” team was enroute and to stand by for their arrival. While Ofccs. were waiting for “SWAT” EDI suddenly ran into deceased’s apt. Ofccs fearing for EDI safety also entered the apt. Offcs. at time obs. the deceased lying on the bed with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. Ofccs at this time phoned for an ambulance.
Page 2
EDI stated that she last saw the Dec. alive on 4-7-74 at approx. 10:30. Deceased stated at this time that she was going to end her life. Dec. at this time placed the barrel of her gun in her mouth. EDI attempted to talk Dec. out of taking her life. Dec. asked EDI to phone the police because she wanted to kill herself in front of the police. EDI at this time left and returned to her apartment and started to call friends of the Dec. Approx. one hr. later (1130) EDI contacted the PD. EDI further stated that deceased had been in a constant state of deep depression for the last two years.
Wit-2 stated that on 4-7-74 at approx. 0930, he rec a phone call from Dec. who requested that he come to her and pick up her (Dec) dogs. Dec. also stated she would leave a note explaining about the dogs. Wit. went to the above location and obs. the dogs in their pen. Wit also obs what appeared to be a note which had been torn up ?? the dogs. Wit took the dogs and the note to his home. Once there Wit pieced the note together. The note instructed Wit. what to do with the dogs. At the bottom it read, “don’t come up call the police.” Wit at this time contacted the LAPD and then returned to the above location.
I/D obs. the deceased lying on her back in bed with her her feet resting on the ?? Dec. head was pointed in a S/E direction. I/D obs. no evid of foul play. An inspection of weapon showed it to be A 2? .38 caliber S/W B/S bed 5 shot chief. The weapon was fully loaded with one spent gund(?) directly under the hammer. This weapon was BKD? at ???? and rigor mortis were obs. I/D obs. no evid of an exit wound.
Page 3
2H22 of SID was at the scene and took photos.
It is the opinion of the I/D that the Dec. committed suicide by firing a single shot from the above described weapon. This opinion is based of the statement of the EDI, and lack of evid to indicate otherwise. This death will be ???? as a suicide pending the final result of the cor. invest. The shot was fired into Dec. mouth and did not exit.
Since there was noone to ??/Dec. Prod, ???sealed the location.
END.
Suicide note not mentioned in LAPD report. “Possible Note at Scene” on report above.
“Decedent found in residence by friend Melanie Myers, decedent lying on bed w/38 revolver in rt. hand. Investigation by IHD. Possible Note at scene. Brought into Metro for Recovery of missile as requested by Dr. Mall.” Signature.
Melanie said to the Daily Mail and Secrets of Playboy that she was read part of Paige’s suicide note by the police. The note mentioned powerful men in Hollywood who used and abused her. These men included Huston and Hefner.
(Paige is listed as “artist” on her death certificate.)
Officers called to Paige’s suicide scene: Sullivan and Perkins or Peckins.
Investigating Detective I/D : Reddish, Richard M. Reddish who handled at least 2 other suicides in LA in his career per newspapers.com.
Police photographer on scene: Unknown
Coroner: Dr. Mall
Coroner’s office, removed Paige’s body from her home: Tim Gee.
2nd Witness: D DeWitt. Called by Paige on the 7th to take care of her dogs. According to this police report, this witness went to Paige’s house, retrieved the dogs and took the torn up note with with instructions for the dogs(?) Went to his house, pieced the note together. Note said “don’t come up call police.” Witness then returned to Paige’s house.
From there, nothing is said about witness DeWitt.
UPDATE: 7/8/23 I exchanged emails with Paige’s friend Veronica. Veronica suggested that DeWitt may be the individual who supplied Paige with Akita breed dogs. Paige was planning to breed Akitas (for income) in the yard of her Westwood home. She was arranging for him to take the dogs because of her plan to kill herself. I’ve tried to find any leads on this individual with no luck yet.
We can see what is not described in the report by Reddish. The suicide note and mural were created by Paige Young about hatred towards Hugh Hefner. Melanie described this to the Daily Mail in Dec. 2014 and it was dramatized in Secrets of Playboy.
Why not?
And there was a photographer on the scene.
Both witnesses, Melanie and DeWitt, in the 1974 report, corroborate what Melanie said in 2014: Paige wanted to make a statement about these men who abused her.
The fact that a police photographer took photos of Paige’s suicide scene is easy to read in the report. But where are those photos now?
During my interview with the Secrets of Playboy directors, I was asked what I thought about this. The director must have asked me at least three times.
I answered “I’d really like to know!” This was not included in the finished documentary.
The answer is that this photographed evidence was destroyed. The LAPD would say “lost” I’m sure.
Of course, I should have said that to the director.
In fact, there was no mention of this police report at all in Secrets of Playboy.
I found a blog that linked the Daily Mail Paige Young article with a personal comment about it:
oped: I totally believe the accusations…being that I worked for LAPD Van Nuys Division 1971-1974 I remember one of my Sgts. discussing this case…
I remember one of my Sgts discussing this case…it was hushed up at the higher levels of management… speculation being a cover up on pressure from the entertainment moguls! And I can honestly say after dealing with the bookings of numerous celebrities during this period of time from DUI,Drugs,perversion,disturbing the peace on and on…oh the stories I could tell…maybe another time I will!
From Sharla’s Labyrinth
I can’t confirm independently that this person wrote the truth, but I don’t know why they would make it up. I asked exactly what s/he remembers about the Sargent’s words. H/she responded, “the (police) just said it was very sad.”
Keep in mind, there was absolutely no interest shown in 2014 (and 2015) when the Paige Young suicide and a connection to celebrities Cosby, Hefner and Huston was published in the Daily Mail online.
Part or most of that indifference is undoubtedly is the “tabloid taint” of the Daily Mail.
During 2014 and 2015 dozens of women were coming forward with stories of being drugged and raped or assaulted by Bill Cosby.
Hefner and Cosby were close friends for decades.
From the Daily Mail, Dec. 2014.
1969 January. Playboy Magazine. Playmate of the Year Contest. Winner: Connie Kreski. Anthony Newley. Roman Polanski. Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe…..? 1970s James Caan. Under Construction. NSFW. 6-9-25
Posted on July 15, 2020
NSFW
PMOM = Playmate of the Month. PMOY = Playmate of the Year.
This photo of Paige Young appears in the January 1969 issue of Playboy magazine.
A brief update about her life is included, which was truthful I learned, if incomplete.
Update on Paige Young shown with her photo. Jan. 1969 Playboy Magazine.
More specifically Paige lived in Topanga Canyon/ Topanga Beach. And area at that time of artists and hippies of all kinds.
The January 1969 Playboy magazine issue shows all 12 Playmates of 1968.
A brief update accompanies each one, as we read in Paige YOung’s.
Standard protocol for this annual issue.
It means the PMOY title will be announced soon.
1969 is also the 15th anniversary issue of the influential and wildly successful magazine.
Hugh Hefner became famous for his publishing and business empire including the trendy Playboy Clubs and instantly iconic Playboy Bunny cocktail waitresses.
And successful enough to have created scores of imitators in the magazine publishing world during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Titles like Escapade, Nugget, Modern Man, Adam, Dude and Rogue, to name only a few. An easy Google image search.
The imitators experienced varying degrees of success.
The Playmate of the Year
has a higher status than the Playmate of the Month (PMOM) obviously.
Kind of like, the “elite of the elite.“
Or the “creme de la creme.“
A PMOY title is akin to winning a beauty contest, much like Miss America or Miss USA.
The 12 finalists are the 12 PMOMs.
The yearly 12 have already cleared a major hurdle by winning over many other young women for the coveted monthly spot.
Round 2: the 12 finalists are automatically up for the PMOY title.
PMOY means more of everything you have already experienced as a regular PMOM: public appearances, photo sessions, media interviews, a modeling fee, career opportunities.
However, a pink car is reserved exclusively for the PMOY.)
PMOY 1970 Claudia Jennings with her prize of a Playmate Pink Mercury Capri Claudia Jennings.
Claudia Jennings Jennings, an aspiring actress, is interviewed on the Tonight show sitting on Johnny’s famous couch around the time she was given the title PMOY.
More about Jennings in my Start Here page.
A big party is thrown in your honor, often at Hef’s Chicago mansion, later LA, which will be attended by various celebrities, including good looking film actors, the press, Playboy big-wigs, assistants and assorted VIPs.
You would meet 100s of men in particular I imagine.
How was PMOY chosen?
I wonder if reader feedback influenced the decision, was it up to Hugh Hefner alone, or decided by committee?
Paige Young did not win and I doubt if she was even in the top 3.
The winner was Connie Kreski seen here on her PMOY issue, June 1969
Winner Connie was the girlfriend of Victor Lownes, head of the London Playboy Club & Casino, Chicago friend of Hugh Hefner.
A forgotten figure of the 1960s.
There is evidence Connie and Victor met at a Chicago Mansion party to honor her title as PMOY.
More on Victor Lownes coming up.
By the time of her title in 1969, Connie had already filmed a movie directed by English singer, actor, composer Anthony Newley.
Newley wrote many classic songs:Goldfinger, What Kind of Fool and I?, Feeling Good and Candy Man!
Connie Kreski
was born Constance Joanne Kornacki in Wyandotte, Michigan.
She said in press interviews that she grew up in a “strict Polish Catholic family.”
Constance Kornacki was studying for a degree in psychiatric nursing at Mercy College in Detroit when Playboy came calling in the form of a man at a University of Michigan football game.
He worked for Playboy and told Connie he thought she had the ideal youthful face and figure required for Playmate candidates.
Connie appeared to look much younger than her 21 years.
This is why Newley cast her as Mercy in his 1969 released film “Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?”
Anthony Newley had married a beautiful Hollywood starlet in 1963.
She was a native of England named Joan Collins.
Anthony Newley plays himself in the title role of Heironymus, wife Joan Collins plays his wife in the film, named Polyester Poontang.
It was pretty much a flop and skewered by the critics.
The article below was written before the disappointing reviews that followed the debut of the film in 1969.
It’s an interesting look at late-1960s popular culture by way of Newley’s film, filmed on the island of Malta in 1968.
The Newley’s small children Alexander and Tara were in the film as well as and several starlets, models and dancers.
Note the part that Connie “plays a temptress of 14.” Paragraph 4.
Connie, just like Paige Young, had publicity all year long in 1969.
More than they would ever have the rest of their short lives.
Connie had her picture in newspapers across the USA, England and Canada in ‘69
Connie was in newspaper articles many times for her title role in Heironymus Merkin.
One issue of Playboy magazine featured a nine page photo spread, serving as a promo for Heironymus. And for Connie as their Playboy Star.
Newley was a great friend and appeared on Hugh Hefner’s show of 1968-1970 Playboy After Dark.
Connie has several nude shots in the issue and a nearly nude Joan Collins has one.
Victor Lownes
is a colorful and forgotten 1960s character.
Lownes was a close Chicago friend of Hugh Hefner.
People said that Lownes, who moved to London to run the Playboy Club & Casino, embodied the “Playboy man” even more than Hugh Hefner.
He was also known to sexually harass Bunnies at the clubs.
Victor and Connie are seen together in the much viewed film footage of the Tate (and maybe Sebring?) funerals on youtube. However, they are never identified.
Little Known connection to Charles manson killings
Victor Lownes, Hefner and director Roman Polanski, Anthony Newley, were close friends in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Polanski and actress Sharon Tate lived together in London for a time and had their wedding reception at the London Playboy Club in 1968. A party hosted by Victor Lownes.
Connie and Victor appear together with several mourners at Sharon Tate’s funeral in Los Angeles, on film footage seen on youtube.
Roman and Sharon also appeared together on an episode of Playboy After Dark, a show Connie appears on several times.
The couple was interviewed by host Hef; Roman does most of the talking. (Available on youtube and tiktok.)
Paige Young promoted the show in 1969 and may or may not have appeared on the show.
Victoria Vetri, PMOY 1968, and starlet is mentioned in left column. Her reign of ‘68 was honored at the party. The opening of her film, now a cult classic, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, was also celebrated. Victoria Vetri had a small part in the Roman Polanski-directed hit film “Rosemary’s Baby.” Victoria was known as Angela Dorian when she was the September Playmate of the Month in 1967. and Playmate of the Year 1968 as Victoria Vetri. Roman Polanski convinced her to use her real name. of Victoria Vetri, where she had a bit part in Rosemary’s Baby.
The Manson murders would occur just a few months after this article appeared.
Connie holds photo of herself and Victor, who would dump her in about 2 years for the force of nature that was Marilyn Cole. Connie claims there is nothing romantic going on between her and Roman Polanski. This article is only months after the horrific murders.
Victor dumped Connie after he fell hard for a new Bunny at the London Club.
The aforementioned Marilyn Cole
She has her own story to tell and has done so in interviews. But she’s never been asked about her love triangle involving Connie and Victor, that I know of.
Marilyn appears briefly in Secrets of Playboy.
This Bunny was quickly promoted PMOM in 1972 and PMOY in 1973.
Marilyn Cole’s Playboy centerfold is famous/infamous for being the first obvious straight-on view of a PMOM with full frontal nudity. Not subtle or partially hidden as earlier photos.
Cole’s issue came at a time when Playboy magazine experienced a drop in readership. This was due to competition from the new and more explicit Penthouse magazine.
The Marilyn Cole issue provided a huge sales boost for Playboy which she talks about in Secrets of Playboy documentary.
Penthouse magazine feature more explicit and forward photography of their centerfold called a “Penthouse Pet.” In particular full-frontal nudity.
The viewer is more of a voyeur to the private bedroom of the “Pet,” than he may have seen in the Playboy centerfold.
Playboy was “forced” or pressured into publishing more centerfolds in the Penthouse style, to keep up with the new standards in Society, that they helped bring in.
Marilyn in the Daily Mirror 1974. Photo by The now infamous Terry O’Neill. This may have been the time Terry and Anjelica Huston met and became an item. Anjelica was an in-demand model.
Connie Kreski has about 10 TV and film appearances after “Hieronymus.“
April 6, 1969. Long Beach Press Telegraph
From 1969
Connie appeared as a guest on the Merv Griffin and Joey Bishop talk shows.
From the Fremont Tribune, June 21, 1973
In a 1969 episode of Playboy After Dark, Connie is introduced by Hugh Hefner as “Connie Kreski, our Playmate of the Year.” Connie does not say one word the entire show.
She does have more lines on other episodes of PAD, mostly the ones from 1970, the last year of the program.
The People, London. Aug. 23, 1970 A little over a year since Sharon Tate and the others were murdered, Connie remains friends with widower Roman Polanski. Sorry for poor quality.
Kreski’s newspaper press indicates she was signed to a contract with Universal Studios.
Universal signed an extraordinary number of pinup models, beauty contest winners and starlets in the 1950s and 60s.
Detroit Free Press April 27, 1969 The hometown/homestate paper covered their homegrown Hollywood star.
It seems Connie had about 15 minutes of fame as an actress.
She appeared on a memorable 1970 episode of Love American Style starring Kaye Ballard, playing a topless waitress: Love and the V.I.P. Restaurant.
After a few years Connie’s contract with Universal was dropped which merited one sentence in a Hollywood gossip column I read.
Her last credit is a TV mini-series Aspen in 1976.
James CaaN
Connie had a high profile romance with actor James Caan beginning in the early 1970s and lasting around 3-4 years.
She was identified in Hollywood news articles as his “girlfriend” and “ex-Playmate.” T
hey got together soon after Caan’s star making turn in The Godfather; he was much in demand by directors and studios.
And by many beautiful young women, according to several interviews at the time.
Playboy Mansion regular James Caan speaks about girlfriend Connie Kreski in NY Daily News Oct. 8, 1972
Below is from an 1970s Playboy feature on men’s jewelry with Connie and boyfriend James Caan.
It was determined that Connie Kreski died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 48 in 1995. Laennec’s is a cirrhosis most associated with alcohol abuse over time.
What happened in her life that caused it to end this way at the age of 45?
What happened to her friendships with Hefner and Polanski and that crowd? And James Caan?
Connie Kreski is rarely mentioned in any pop culture forum.
I find that strange, given the people that she was seen hanging out with: Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Hugh Hefner, Anthony Newley and James Caan.
Many of these people continue to generate attention and conversation. Some are still alive, many dead.
Most recently, Connie’s ex and Playboy mansion regular and good friend of Hefner, James Caan passed away on July 6, 2022. His death drew numerous accolades and a film festival is in the works.
Unusually, Caan lacks a dedicated biography.
This will likely be forthcoming.
Caan hadn’t been asked about Connie since the 1970s, that I have ever seen.
Like Paige Young, Connie’s cause of death is incorrectly identified on the internet. It usually says “blocked carotid artery” or “cancer.” Connie’s entry in The Playmate Book, mentions her death in Beverly Hills, 1995, but doesn’t state a cause. I have included closeups of her death certificate.
Connie and a man named Louis Edelman were married in New York in 1986 per records seen on ancestry.com.
They set up a marital home in Beverly Hills. Connie was pregnant at the time but unfortunately lost the baby the same year.
Connie died in March of 1995 at the young age of 49. She died before her about 10 years older husband, Louis Edelman.
I had long wondered what happened to Connie so I ordered her death certificate.
And after seeing it, of course I wondered how she had become an alcoholic with all her seeming advantages in life. Beauty and a budding career in movies and TV, money.
Cirrhosis of Liver is clearly stated as the cause of Connie’s premature death. Interval between onset and death says years.
I was fortunate enough to get some answers by correspondence with Connie’s stepdaughter Barbara Cooper. Her father was Louis Edelman.
Barbara Cooper told me that after the loss, Connie began an obsession with calorie counting and losing weight. On top of that she abused alcohol and her husband Louis felt compelled to hide liquor bottles from his wife.
With those two illnesses, it’s no wonder that Connie died so young and before her older husband.
Barbara’s daughters spent vacations with “Grandpa and Connie in California.” Barbara told me how consistently kind and sweet Connie was to her daughters and to everybody.
She said that Connie did not talk about Playboy, Hefner, any of the Playmates, or her days in Hollywood.
More on Connie Kreski and her brief time in the spotlight
Telegraph Journal New Brunswick. July 10, 1969
Still a couple years away from meeting Marilyn Cole and giving Connie the heave-ho.
Another famous gossip columnist of the era: Marilyn Beck. Here, she dispels any truth to the rumors of a romance with Connie and Sammy Davis Jr.
She was Sammy’s type in that era given the physical qualities of Sammy’s women mentioned here.
I doubt that Victor Lownes remained faithful to Connie. She was in LA working on her new career as an actress.
Connie had a fair amount of press on and off, for about 6 years. Press for projects and Hollywood gossip due to her relationships with Victor Lownes, Roman Polanski (denied as a relationship) and later James Caan.
I’ll be posting several of all kinds.
She was wafer thin with proportions of being tall; she could have been a perfect commercial model, if not a high fashion one. There are many fashion shots of Connie that I haven’t yet published.
Patriot News 9/12/1975
BACK TO 1969
“Miss November 1968” 1969: Most Public Year, Playboy Tour. Queen of the Fleet. Marina del Rey. Playmate LIsa Baker. Jonathan Winters Show. High School Info. Many Images, May take a while to appear Updated 9/2/25 LONG!
Posted on July 12, 2020
1968 November
Paige Young appears as Playboy Magazine’s Playmate of the Month.
This year, the media was focused on the increasingly unpopular Vietnam war. Unpopular, especially among college and university students who demonstrated against the war both in the streets and on campus. It was a nation-wide phenomenon reported on the nightly news and read in daily newspapers.
Issues of Playboy magazine were donated to the troops in Vietnam, including the November 1968 issue featuring Paige Young.
2 history altering assassinations occurred earlier in 1968.
April 4th
Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, at the Lorraine Motel.
This atrocious act was followed by days of racial rioting resulting in at least 40 deaths nationwide.
I remember when it happened. I was in 1st grade and living in El Paso, Texas.
I recall the American flag at my elementary school lowered to half-mast.
When I asked why, someone said “Martin Luther King was killed.”
Image from National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, showing the wreath placed in front of the room where Dr. King was staying at the Lorraine Motel.
King was assassinated by James Earl Ray while on the balcony outside this room.
Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis on April 4, 1968, to support striking African-American sanitation workers who were protesting low pay, poor working conditions, and lack of recognition. From google AI.
June 6
Presumptive Democratic Nominee for President, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles at the world famous Ambassador Hotel. Specifically, the Embassy Room after a campaign speech.
The assassin was Sirhan Sirhan from nearby Pasadena.
I remember watching the TV coverage of the RFK funeral and seeing my mother cry over the young ages of the pall bearers.
Recently I found out 14-year old RFK Jr. was the youngest pall bearer for his father.
When the globally famous Cocoanut Grove Nightclub on the grounds, the hotel was connected with Hollywood glamour.
It’s where the stars dined, danced, drank and often performed.
All the major singing legends have performed there.: Garland, Streisand, Crosby, Darin, Sinatra, Sammy, Liza.
“where stars of the motion picture world mingle with Southern California’s smart set nightly.”
This is another in my post card collection.
It looks like a high school prom couple
1955 hollywoodhistoricphotos.com
1968-69 continued
This title of Playmate will be Paige Young’s primary “claim to fame” in mass media popular culture.
1964/65 was the time Paige moved to Malibu beach at age 20-21. She met Sample around this time.
See Chapters on Richard Sample.
The description in the November 1968 issue of Playboy magazine, says Paige Young is a full-time painter. Paige admits to the financial difficulty of this effort but she loves the fact that “my time is my own.”
Paige lives in Malibu, enjoys scuba diving, gourmet cooking and loves to host beach cookouts for friends. She can often be seen running on the beach with her Weimaraner named Joshua.
Paige hates the “9-5 doldrums,” and “working for an impersonal corporation.” (As Playboy turned out to be.)
Promo published in newspapers November 1968.
Peter and Alice Gowland were the photographers behind Paige’s Playmate photographs. The married couple with two daughters lived in Santa Monica. They were responsible for several Playmate features for Playboy in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Gowlands also contributed to many of the Playboy copycat “Bachelor” magazines of the 1950s and early 1960s. (See my chapter on The Gowlands and pinups of the 1950s.)
Image taken on Peter Gowland’s property, a rural looking setting with a home studio built by Peter, where he photographed 100s of models over at least 4 decades.
Santa Monica near Rustic Canyon and Will Rogers State Park.
The Gowlands photographic “product” was young, pretty, shapely and mostly white women.
They did use several Black models beginning in the late 1960s.
These images were sold to various magazines, calendar companies, and photo agencies.
Also sold to publishing houses for book covers, record albums, and mainstream ads.
“Pinup” images published in print media along with beauty contests, became a trope or an archetype in mass media culture during WW 2. “Pinup” became mainstream in media publishing during and after the war.
Peter and Alice Gowland were part of a group of mostly male photographers based in the Los Angeles area.
The published images, mainly of the Southern California beach girl, often an aspiring starlet, were exported to the world. The Gowlands helped set a prototype for this archetype.
Solana-Napa News Chronicle.
Maybe you already know that Paige Young’s other claim to fame is appearing on internet lists. These lists feature articles about Playboy Playmates who tragically died before their time. (See “About” page.)
1969
is clearly Paige’s most documented year.
I read many newspaper articles from the US, Canada and Japan.
I couldn’t include them all.
From the articles I learned that Paige traveled widely this year working as a paid-per-appearance ambassador for Playboy Magazine.
These nation wide tours presented an opportunity for the Playmates to get paid for traveling, representing and promoting Playboy the Brand as well as their own centerfold issue.
Paige appeared at TV stations carrying “Playboy After Dark,” a Hugh Hefner hosted TV show that ran from 1968 – 1970.
She signed autographs at music festivals, car and snowmobile shows..
What follows are several articles I found from 1968 and 1969 on a newspaper archive website.
Take the time to read the articles, if you want a little insight into the person self-named Paige Young.
At least read the first 4 paragraphs to give you a general idea.
I apologize for the quality of some, it’s hit or miss with these newsprint archives.
It’s a fascinating time capsule when newspapers were a major source of News. Some papers published a morning and an evening edition.
And a time when a recently published Playboy Playmate appearing at an event in the US was newsworthy enough to be covered by local media.
As you will see.
Paige gives a few contradictory answers to journalists on the topic of weight gain/loss for centerfold approval.
But most answers I’ve confirmed as truthful and correct.
A trip to the Boston Auto Show was likely the first stop of the tour: Oct. 26-Nov. 2, 1968.
Paige was the Playmate of the current issue of Playboy during this event.
There were many visits of Playmates over the decades to this Auto show in Boston which apparently started in 1903!
One man contacted me to share this memory of visiting the Boston Auto Show.
“I vividly remember Paige. She was beautiful and intelligent.”
” I was 14 years old. My friend had dared me to ask her to sign the centerfold, but she politely demurred and signed the first page of her pictorial which was a headshot. She also gave me an autographed photo. Unfortunately, my grandmother was horrified and it was all confiscated and thrown away.I told her that I admired her portrait of Truman Capote and she immediately brightened. She said art was what she “really wanted to do.”
I would love to find paintings by her to buy. But I imagine that not many survived.
“I met Paige when I was 14. She was signing autographs at the Boston car show in late 1968. We talked about art. She was intelligent, beautiful, and kind. I’m looking to find original art by her as I think she was a great artist who was hobbled by her beauty. “
Feedback left by a reader Daniel
Daniel- Thank you for sharing your memory of the Boston Auto Show with Paige, it’s very much appreciated!
1969
On the personal front
Paige continued to battle ex-husband Mark F. Segal.
He had yet to pay for 5 of the 6 months of alimony he owed her. He also owed lawyers fees to Marvin M. Mitchelson. Segal had made one payment to each in 1964 and that was it. (See related chapters.)
By now Paige’s law firm was Silverton, Ruderman and Graf of Studio City, not Marvin M. Mitchelson as when she filed for divorce.
Paige visits NYC in June of 1969
On the Vintage Los Angeles Instagram page I asked and was answered, “the Joe Franklin TV shows from 1969 were not saved.” So there is no record of the interview.
Also, there is another reference to weight compatibility and photos for Playboy. Here, she says it took 2 1/2 years for the Playmate photos, because of weight gain. Paige talks about how easily she gains weight and has been “dieting for weeks.” In another interview she said she was glad of the weight gain because she needed a “bigger bosom” and that is where she “gains weight first.” She said, “I really needed it for those pictures.”
Queen of the Fleet is mentioned. More on that coming up.
Bob Sanders states Paige had not appeared on the Playboy After Dark TV show after “having been asked and politely turning it down.”
Several newspaper articles in 1969 state Paige was an extra on Jonathan Winters Show. She may also have had a small part on Playboy After Dark as decoration. I’ve yet to see an episode of Playboy After Dark that shows Paige Young. I’ve never found any TV or movie credit for Paige Young. She is not in any imdb listings.
Minneapolis cont.
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
1969 continued
March and April primarily, images of Paige Young wearing a polka dot bikini appeared in dozens of USA newspapers.
Paige was named “Queen of the Fleet” for the first annual Desert Sailboat Regatta. The event was to take place in the fairly new city of Lake Havasu City, Arizona. (LHC)
Some context is important, so briefly...
“Lake Havasu City is in western Arizona. It’s known as a base for trails in the nearby desert and water sports on Lake Havasu. London Bridge, relocated from England, links the mainland to marinas and a looped path in an area known as the Island.”
wikipedia definition
Lake Havasu City, Arizona was established in 1963 after businessman Robert McCulloch purchased the land in 1958.
McCulloch bought a London Bridge in 1968 when the City of London placed it for auction. He had an idea that it might be a successful lure for tourists and potential home buyers including retirees.
McCulloch bought 100s of ads in different newspapers across the US. From LA to Davenport, he promoted a vacation to Lake Havasu City.
He also advertised it as a land investment.
Just two examples below.
LHC placed the London Bridge about 1 year after Paige appeared as “Queen of the Fleet.” McCulloch was advertising it way before.
Queen Paige Young and the Regatta Sailing event were designed by McColloch to advertise the marvelous boating and water recreation activities available in LHC.
And hopefully you will enjoy yourself so much you will want to live in there year round!
Media Blitz!
Santa Ana Register Mar. 27, 1969
As you can see, this particular photograph of Paige as “Queen of the Fleet” was a popular one.
Paige acted as a promotional ambassador for the event and the town and the marvelous boating experiences on the lake.
This next article (April 16, 1969) is one of the few to mention Robert McCulloch as regatta chairman. It details information about the boats entered.
With the exception of the last, this next set of Regatta Queen promotion clippings refer to Paige as “graduating from Van Nuys High School.“
I have researched classmates.com for many hours, in the years she would have attended and/or graduated: 1959-1962.
I have been unable to find any Paige Young or Diana Cotterell in the VNHS yearbook. I cannot find her class photo in yearbooks of Grant High School, North Hollywood High School, or Birmingham High School. These are all high schools near VNHS.
Diana/Paige had a friend and fellow horse lover at Van Nuys Junior High.
Her name is Joan Edwards and she attended and graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1962. I was able to speak with her one time.
This should have been Diana/Paige’s graduation year also. Joan told me that she doesn’t remember seeing or talking to Diana after the end of their VNJH years and she only remembers her with the name Diana Cotterell.
I think Paige dropped out of high school after the 9th grade, 1959. Her grandfather, Ned LaRocca, died in November of that same year. She would have been only 15 or 16 years old. Many of the interviews from 1969 state she began painting professionally at age 16.
Could it be related? I don’t know. But possibly. Her mother remarried in 1958 and had a child with her 2nd husband in 1960 when Paige was 16.
If Paige did attend or graduate from a high school, it definitely wasn’t Van Nuys High School.
This is one of the few “lies” about Paige that were told for the publicity tour.
The wire service photos you have been looking at never mention Paige’s title of Playboy Playmate, but the local Lake Havasu City paper does.
Rare image, not publicly available.
The individual at the record department of LHC learned about the connection of Paige to Bill Cosby. After that, he ceased communication with me.
I’m relieved he sent the images first.
Note: the information of Paige’s appearance on the Jonathan Winters Show in the Lake Havasu article.
Jonathan Winters
The terms Playmate and Bunny became interchangeable in the media very quickly. Here is another example; ad from a Fresno mall appearance with Paige and Lisa Baker.
Playmate of the Year 1967, Lisa Baker, was also (I have read) on the Winters show according to some of her press.
Jonathan Winters Show connection
I’ve been unable to find any credits for Paige or Lisa on the Jonathan Winters Show 1967-1969. The show was filmed at CBS Television City on Fairfax, as was Playboy After Dark. PAD ran from 68-70.
Paige and Lisa’s roles may have been as extras or “background décor.” I viewed several episodes of the show at the Paley Center for Media (now closed) in Los Angeles and I could not spot Paige Young.
I haven’t yet been able to find Paige as an extra on Playboy After Dark; I have not viewed every episode though.
(I did find images of a dancer on the Winters show that looked strikingly like Paige. It was eerie. The choreographer of the show was Robert Banas.)
Please see chapter Richard Sample interview for more on Jonathan Winters and a possible connection to Paige Young.
1969 travels continued…
Marina Del Rey
In the summer of 69, Paige is interviewed for an article in “West,” an LAT magazine. It tell us about a few young people who live in the “geographically desirable” community of Marina Del Rey.
Article tells about hip Marina Del Rey, considered “G.D.” which stands for “geographically desirable.”
As opposed to the SFV or Pasadena?
Paige lives on a houseboat in Marina Del Rey.
Wait, doesn’t she live in Malibu!?
This is the only reference to Paige living in Marina Del Rey that I found, so far.
Update: May 19, 2021: Paige’s friend Richard Sample told me that this is when he last saw Paige.
She was living in her houseboat on the Marina. 69 or 70. He was there to ask her for rent she had not paid on the Venice Beach art studio.
Akron, Ohio
Dick Shippy was a long-time columnist. He has a conversation with the chaperone and Playboy PR man accompanying Paige Young. We know it is Bob Sanders. Shippy derisively refers to Sanders as a “flack.” Not to his face I presume.
Last sentence of article reads: “safe to assume she knew she was on a fools errand. One might also assume that puts her one up on the man from Playboy.”
Article says Paige met Hefner only once briefly at a stop at the Chicago mansion.
(By the end of her life Paige knew Hefner better in her own hometown of Los Angeles. Hefner bought a second mansion residence there in 1971.)
During their conversation Shippey notices Paige “sitting there looking lovely and trying not to fall asleep. ” The attention goes back to Paige.
She says she is a self taught artist turned actress. She has an art studio in Venice Beach. She also took drama lessons with Jeff Corey. So far though, she has only had a non-speaking role on the Jonathan Winters show, and as an audience member on the set of PAD. (perhaps Paige is way in the background of both shows.)
Atlanta
August of 1969.
This photo below appeared one week after the infamous and tragic Tate-LaBianca murders happened.
Sharon Tate and the others were murdered overnight on the 8th, the newspapers published the first stories the 9th.
Paige visited the Playboy Club in Atlanta as she did in NYC and New Orleans. Playboy Club Atlanta threw a party in honor of this new TV station Channel 36 which carried Playboy After Dark.
Infamously committed by the Manson “family,” in Paige’s hometown of Los Angeles.
Romemary and Leno LaBianca were then murdered overnight on the 10th in their home in Los Feliz.
This murder was headlines the next day on the 11th.
Paige may have been on the road when it happened August 9-11, 1969. There is no press on those dates, that I’ve seen.
It was truly a shocking news item to read and hear on the evening news shows.
Much has been written about the impact the murders had on Hollywood celebrities and the wealthy of Los Angeles. The palpable fear that ensued. Sales of guns, watchdogs and alarm systems soared.
Coincidentally, when Paige was a toddler in the mid–1940s, she lived with her family in a house very close to the LaBianca home on Waverly. (See chapter on Family History in Los Feliz).
September 1969: Japan
“Hunting season may not have opened Friday, but our photographer still jumped at the chance to ‘shoot’ Playboy Bunny Paige Young as she sat on a bridge in a Japanese Garden…..”
Stars and Stripes. Japan tour.
In late September, several local newspaper ads announce the first annual “Winter Fun and Snowmobile” show in Edmonton.
.
As you will see by the next news articles, the scheduled appearance by November 1968 Playmate Paige Young was heavily publicized.
“From Malibou” The reporter was thinking Caribou? Richard Sample mentioned Eros Gallery to me and so does this article! So does Playboy Magazine.
But when it gets to the big day……
Devin Sheedy, women’s snowmobile speed record holder, steps in for an ailing Paige Young.
*For more information a possible reason for Paige’s illness in Edmonton, see the chapter on Nick Lees”*
1969 continued
The articles show us that most of Paige’s year is taken up with Playboy promotional traveling and appearances. She autographs Playboy headshots at car shows and Battle of the Bands contests. She visits Playboy Clubs, TV stations, and newspaper, radio and TV interviews.
The Edmonton Winter Sports show in late September of 69 is the latest date I’ve have found for her promotional appearances. (So far.)
Boston Auto Show: late Oct. 1968 to the Edmonton show: late Sept. 1969, is just under one full year. Perhaps Paige completed the contracted one-year to Playboy? There was an option for 2 years.
Seems like she had really “had it” by the end.
Or was it just a ruse to run off with Nick Lees?
.
I don’t know how many people know that Sirhan-Sirhan’s hometown was Pasadena.
RFK, of cou
Latest articles to come up on the archive:
(New articles found after 9/2/25 will be placed at the end of this chapter below.)
P
Cleveland Press 4/3/69 More talk about weight and the centerfold. Excuses eating that “Mr Hefner doesn’t want us thin. Which turned out to be false.” Talk of long relationship with the Gowlands. Contradictory answers again on Paige’s weight for the Playmate feature. Fabulous information.
Paige Young in Los Angeles 