The New York fashion world has a height requirement only this side of the N.B.A.'s. Pam wanted to be the Spud Webb of beauty, but no such luck. It doesn't help a model to have a vertical jump of 45 inches -- if she isn't at least 5'8", there is no work. "It strikes me as ridiculous. A magazine cover is a foot high, right? By the time they shrink your image to put you on the cover, who knows how tall you are?" Right.

Currently, she is modeling in Florida. "I get the apple-pie jobs. I never get to look glamorous." She did two McDonald's ads; her friends assumed she was working for the local franchise. "Sounds like an exciting life, doesn't it? Now you know why I answered the call for Playboy." Pam already knew a couple of Playmates: "At least once a week, there's a bathing suit contest in Florida. I competed against Lynne Austin [Miss July 1986] and Hope Marie Carlton [Miss July 1985]. I won the Tampa Bay Bandits Centerfold Pageant the month Hope's gatefold came out." She approached Playboy when we came looking for Women of Florida (August). One look at the photos and we flew her to Chicago to pose for the gatefold. Clearwater, Florida, can celebrate the results: It was no contest.