Jeana Tomasino interview from 1981

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Here's an interview with Jeana and Karen Price that appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail in 1981. It's interesting to hear their thoughts on their experiences as PMs. Also, a brief article on the event at which they were scheduled to appear. Between Vegas nights and car shows, they certainly earned their public appearance money!

Spurning life in the fast lane Playmates' number one rule
The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ontario]
Monday, August 10, 1981: p0.17.
SALEM ALATON

Niagara Falls ONT -- BY SALEM ALATON NIAGARA FALLS - Natural splendors were in something of a competitive heat on Saturday when two Playboy Playmates paid a visit to Niagara Falls.
However, Jeana Tomasino and Karen Price, in Toronto from California to take part in Village-By-the-Grange's charity Las Vegas nights on the weekend, didn't mind being upstaged for once.

Although both women only posed for the magazine's centrefold spreads within the past year, Miss Tomasino, 26, has been with the Playboy organization for six years, and knows a thing or two about dealing with attention. "You have to take advice," she cautions, referring to the disorientation that can sometimes fluster a young woman who suddenly must deal with a raft of offers, some legitimate, many not.

The native of Chicago who was raised in Milwaukee brought along a healthy dose of street sense when she moved to Los Angeles, whereas, she says, "most of the Playmates are from small towns; it's the first time they've been exposed to anything." Miss Price, from the San Fernando Valley, is a case in point. Just 20 when she was featured in the magazine, and never having been a model before, she admits to finding the experience a little scary at first. "Everything was coming from every direction. I was afraid I'd become hard, bitchy." A gymnast since the age of 12 (her ambition is to do stunts and acrobatic work), she has thus far managed to avoid becoming a hard case, and as an athlete, she says she neither drinks nor uses illegal drugs, vices that Miss Tomasino says are ubiquitous on the West Coast, particularly in Hollywood.

By the same token, Miss Tomasino and her film-producer boyfriend seldom frequent parties, except for those at Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner's mansion, where the goings-on, she insists, are on the up and up. "I like the high living, but I don't think you need the drugs." Both women agree that Playboy has showed concern for their best interests, and that the involvement with the organization has been good for them. Fresh outcries about Hollywood as Babylon surfaced most recently, of course, with the murder last summer of Dorothy Stratten, the British Columbia girl who became Playmate of the Year only to be shot by her husband, who then committed suicide. Miss Tomasino, who was a close friend, remembers that "she was a very sweet, genuine person who cared about other people. She made a mistake." She says that many people tried to warn Miss Stratten about Paul Snider, her husband, "but when you're young and you think you're in love, that doesn't always help. He was always real big on how he would take care of her. In reality, he had no money, and she paid for everything. He just couldn't see himself losing anything." Miss Tomasino contends that the media added insult to injury by lambasting the Playboy organization for what happened. "They said that she was brought to Hollywood and left defenceless, as if Playboy created her." In a less somber vein, Miss Tomasino, an aspiring actress, quips that she has little to fear from such legendary industry pitfalls as the casting couch: "Most of the producers are gay, anyhow." To which Miss Price adds: "I think they can tell by the girl . . . if they should approach her that way or not." Still, both women say that they frequently encounter men who feel they have a right to indulge in some uninvited physical contact. Miss Tomasino recalls an appearance she made at a car show that Miss Stratten had attended the previous year. She overheard some men boasting that they had forced kisses on the late Playmate, and she says she was so outraged that she gave one of the culprits a kick in the backside.

Playboy-style fame and fortune, however, does have more pleasant aspects. Miss Tomasino claims that, to the chagrin of her stockbroker, she's purchased no fewer than 112 pairs of shoes in the past two years.

Miss Price, more of a down-home type, makes her own clothes but regrets being two sizes too large to borrow from her companion's wardrobe.
As for Hefner, the Playmates say their Playboy chief still attends board meetings dressed in his pajamas, although his famed passion for backgammon has given way lately to a love of Monopoly. Is there a dose of the youngster left in the American entrepreneur now that he's in his fifties? Decidedly, says Miss Tomasino. "I think it's true about men anyway. The difference between a child and a man is the price of his toys." That, apparently, isn't so bad. "When the playing and the fun go out of life," she adds, "your life's over."



BRIEFLY Vegas evenings aid Variety Club
The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ontario]
Friday, August 07, 1981: p. 17.

Village-by-the-Grange will be the site of two Las Vegas-style evenings tonight and tomorrow night from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Gambling activities feature 40 blackjack tables, roulette and various wheels of fortune. Two Playboy Playmates, Gina Tomassino (Miss November, 1980) and Karen Price (Miss January, 1981) will act as hostesses for the festivities which will also include a showgirl act and a stand-up comic. Proceeds go to the Variety Club of Ontario in support of handicapped children.