Bonnie Large was Playboy Playmate of the Month for March 1973. She was famous as the first Playmate to clearly show full frontal nudity in the magazine. The famous photographer team of William and Mel Figge were her photographs for the shoot.
Born in Glendale, California on September 9, 1952, Bonnie Large has had a varied number of careers. When a junior in high school, she was a finalist for the 1969 Rose Parade Queen and Court. But she was disqualified for being too young.
When she was discovered by Playboy, she was working as an magician’s assistant and at a marketing firm.
Cover of the March 1973 Playboy
*Note – I do not know where this article came from. I assume it was in the March 1973 edition of Playboy.
“Bonnie has this weird boyfriend named Ralph whose idea of a good time is to hang around shopping centers, where he likes to greet customers – “Good evening, ma’am, that’s a lovely dress you’re wearing” – then shake hands, answer questions and do a commercial for some product or other. And when he talks, you listen: Ralph is an eight-and-a-half-foot robot.(The link says 7 and a half – Admin) He and Bonnie Large, a slender but well organized five feet, five and a half, both work for Hill-Daves Productions in Sherman Oaks, California. The company – sometimes with the assistance of name entertainers and vaudeville acts – puts on shows to entertain businessmen and help them market their wares. Bonnie’s dates with Ralph – who speaks and moves with the help of a concealed accomplice who operates the remote-control buttons and the microphone – are but a small part of what she does for Hill-Daves. She handles their secretarial chores and makes occasional out-of-town trips to help set up shows. And she performs too – as a dancer, a model and a “straight girl” for magician Chuck Jones. In their act, Bonnie floats through space – not with the greatest of ease, perhaps, but convincingly – and in another routine, she gets sawed in half. After getting herself back together, Bonnie hops into her Beetle for the 45-minute drive back to her apartment in Alhambra. (continued below)
“It’s nothing fancy,” she says, but it’s distinguished by the numerous antiques Bonnie has collected at local thrift shops and “swap-ins”: among them are a four-poster bed and a pre-1900 Singer sewing machine. A confirmed animal lover who once worked as a veterinarian’s assistant, Bonnie also keeps a variety of pets two great Danes, three cats and a gopher snake who stays safely locked in his tank. Because her job is as demanding as it exhilarating, Bonnie has to shelve plans to take night courses in shorthand and industrial drawing this year. She’d like to do more modeling, though. In 1969 she was a finalist in the competition for the court of the Rose Queen but was disqualified when the officials learned that she was too young. “I’d been told that they made exceptions,” she says, “but they didn’t make one in my case.” Now Bonnie hope that her Playmate appearance will inspire some modeling offers. We’d bet on that – but, of course, we’re a little biased.”
“Born in California just 20 years ago, Bonnie Large is the product of a half-dozen ethnic strain: German, Irish, French, Scottish, Welsh and Seminole. And she combines a variety of talents in her work for Hill-Daves Productions, an outfit that provides entertainment for auto shows and other business ventures. Bonnie helps organize the shows (right), then goes onstage, where, among other things, she takes to the air (far right) at the command of magician Chuck Jones. She also chaperones a transparent robot named Ralph, who handles promotional assignments at supermarkets. “Children love him,” says Bonnie – and the picture proves it.”
At The Magic Castle, a private magicians’ club in Hollywood – you enter and leave through secret panels – Bonnie learns card tricks from “The Senator, ” a veteran prestidigitator. Later, she breaks up over her date, Bob McGaughey, obviously a card himself.
In the mid 70’s she wrote a book of erotic poetry and took over as manager of the Playboy Playmate Alumni Association. She appeared in film once, a bit part in the 1977 film “The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington” starring Joey Heatherton and George Hamilton.
It seems that Bonnie went on to a pretty amazing career after Playboy. Her “About” section says her ambition is “To go as far as I can in medicine.” And she certainly did. She graduated from the Los Angeles School of Biofeedback and has helped many with her skills in biofeedback therapy, hypnotherapy, electroencephalography and neurotherapy. Bonnie is also a well known attendee of Glamourcon.
Miss March 1973 – Bonnie Large
Visit Bonnie’s Fan Site
Bonnie posed in the following Playboy publications:
Playboy – March 1973
The Girls of Playboy 2 – 1974
Playboy – January 1978
Playboy’s New Holiday Album – 1981
Playboy’s Playmates: The Second 15 Years – 1984
Playboy’s Holiday Girls – 1987
Playboy’s Celebrating Centerfolds – 1999
