Laura Lyons

“Being free, tan and 21 is almost a passport to adventure. I try to take life slowly, to the hilt. Each moment should be savored,” says our Miss February 1976. “I know it sounds like I’m talking about making love, but that’s all right. Anything you can say about life goes double for sex.” Our Playmate of the Month is named Laura Lyons and that is her legal name for all those Sherlock Holmes fans who continue to believe she took her name from a character in the book The Hound of the Baskervilles. Growing up in Los Angeles, Laura realized she wasn’t like her the other girls in her high school. She didn’t share their dreams or values and she didn’t want to settle down just yet. She wanted to experience life and everything it had to throw at her along the way. “I approach the world. I try to keep myself open to the out-of-the-ordinary, the spontaneous adventure. I live out of a suitcase. If something interesting comes along, I pick up and run,” says the all-natural brunette. “As a result, my life is a collection of mad, magic moments. I danced at Anthony Corleone's Communion party on the set of Godfather II. For two weeks, I hung out with the world's greatest rock-and-roll band, sliding in and out of limousines, following police escorts to the airport. It never stops.” Living a life where a strong emphasis is placed on spontaneity and excitement, Laura was led to the Playboy office in Chicago where she was quickly chosen to be our Miss February 1976. She continued to hop up the Bunny ladder from that point on and was even chosen by Hugh Hefner himself to be our Bunny of the Year. “I guess being chosen as a Playmate always comes as a shock,” said the busty brunette. “The first centerfold I ever saw showed a girl lying in a field of grass. I recall thinking that someone had taken the picture without her knowing and just sent it in. it doesn’t happen that way, but it’s still a surprise.” From Playmate to being named Top Cottontail at the Playboy Club in Chicago to becoming a Bunny activist, Laura had a message she wanted heard by Hef and organized a protest. With her fellow Bunnies marching along with her, with picket signs in hand, our Playmate of the Month shouted her list of demands during a one-day strike known as Bunny Lib in front of Playboy’s Chicago office. “Don’t confuse Bunny Lib with the goals of the feminist movement,” explains Laura. “For one thing, our view of sexual equality is somewhat old-fashioned. We went on strike to win the right to be women, to be approached as women and to respond freely as women to men we find attractive.” Hugh Hefner heard the Bunnies’ concerns and met all of Laura’s demands. All future Bunnies owed a debt to our Miss February 1976 and her movement for effecting change. As for Laura Lyons, while she may no longer be an active model today, she has been very supportive of her daughters, Victoria’s Secret Angel Lily Aldridge and runway model Ruby Aldridge, in their careers as fashion models.