Susan Miller

Coming to the sunny beaches of California is a New Yorker looking for a change –and a place where cold winters don’t exist. Susan Miller was overjoyed to be on the West Coast after New York City kicked her behind one too many time, with the final straw being when she placed runner-up in the Miss Universe contest in the New York State finals. “I just got fed up with the pace. It was nice to be in demand as a model, but I had no free time,” recalls the all-natural brunette. Working as a high-fashion model in Manhattan earning $60 an hour was exceptional for the late Sixties, but Susan gave it all up for a life in Los Angeles. Even though when we met the busty beauty she was currently unemployed, she cannot believe how far the girl who was bullied constantly for her height in high school has come. “I was already over six feet when I was 13. That really messed me up, because all the boys thought I was some kind of monster. It freaked me for a long time to be teased and called things like Ichabod Crane,” recalls our tall Miss September 1972 who stands proudly at six feet, one inch. “Most of the time I get people who just come up to me on the street and say, 'How tall are you, anyway?” Now that her psyche has been completely repaired since becoming our Playmate of the Month, the long-legged New Yorker is thanking her lucky stars she didn’t ignore the man she initially thought was a creep. “I couldn't believe it. This guy just came up to me at the beach and asked me to model. That's the oldest come-on in the world, but it turned out that he was for real!” exclaims our busty Playmate. “Sometimes, when I have to get away from everything, I sneak off to Zuma Beach, where I can be alone. Just the ocean and me. That’s when I realize why California is so good.” She’s found herself at the beach quite a bit these days, stressing over her financial situation, but says acquiring her Playmate fee was very helpful. “For now, I get by just fine on unemployment money. But, I suppose I'll get tired of free-loading after a while,” admits Susan. “I waited for about 25 minutes and nobody asked me how tall I was. I loved it.” Back at the beach, our Miss September 1972 was lost deep in thought about what career path she should choose. Although she is not currently in any rush to pick, she knows soon it’ll be time to grow up and settle down like her parents. “My father works at the New York Daily News and my mother works at a clothing store for tall women,” says our Amazonian Playmate with a smile. “When I do look for work again, I'm thinking about a career as a photo stylist. I know about that field from watching them work when I was modeling. They set up fashion shootings, locate the right props and help the photographer compose his picture. That might be fun. But whatever happens, I'm just glad to be in California. There are so many kooks out here that being especially tall is nothing. So, I blend in. And that's fine, because I'm not so self-conscious now. I like feeling anonymous.” With her Playmate centerfold out and roles in Woody Allen’s comedy Sleeper and on the television series Starsky and Hutch and Lou Grant, the last thing Susan Miller will have going forward is anonymity.