Free Preview: Playmate of the Month April 1967 - Gwen Wong

SPICE FROM THE ORIENT Playmate-bunny Gwen Wong, a canape-sized gourmet, is an exotic April dish An obscure 19th Century poet named Coventry Patmore might well have presaged the appearance of Gwen Wong, our April playmate, when he wrote, "A woman is a foreign land." The exotic Miss Wong is, in fact, a startlingly beautiful blend of six nationalities: Chinese, Scottish, Spanish, Australian, Filipino and Irish. A Cocktail Bunny at the Los Angeles Playboy Club, Gwen is a small (all of five feet) sensation in any language. Born in Manila during the latter part of World War Two, our Playmate-Bunny spent some of her infancy in Australia. (Gwen's mother, Doreen Wong, had been a popular pianist throughout the Orient, and she continued her nightclub career in the U.S. after the family moved to San Francisco in 1949.) An expert cook, Miss April is equally adept at whipping up wor shew opp, scungilli or boeuf Bourguignonne. "Cooking has almost become a mania with me," she says. "I collect cookbooks the same way people collect LPs." Before becoming a Bunny, Gwen studied painting and ceramics at California's El Camino Junior College. "Frankly," she says, "most modern art confuses me, although I wouldn't classify myself as a traditionalist. I try not to be swayed by other people's opinions when visiting a gallery, but that's not always easy. I like to think if a canvas is good I'll know it -- because, well, I'll feel it." Gwen paints whenever she gets the chance. "But since I've becom...