Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 19

Lo Is Candy ving tne Playmate Image's "Star-Bulletin Today Features Entertainment Honolulu Friday, June 3, 1983 1 11 11 It I -f 1 xJ I t. A 1 1 Jr I mihi.u 1 I 'tff -4 i tJL'' 1 '-WMfTT? i n'' By John Christensen Slar-Bulletin Writer CANDY Loving says posing nude wasn't so bad, but seeing the results was. "When I went to the photo editor's office, she had the slides on a light box and said, 'Look how pretty they I said, 'Oh, my God, that looks pretty, 1 thought they were awful." As history has recorded (surely historians will find a place for Hugh Hefner and his Playboy phenomenon, won't those pictures introduced Candy Loving to the world as Playboy magazine's 25th anniversary Playmate. Thus a 22-year-old girl from Ponca City, swept past a field Of 4,000 applicants to become, if not rich and famous, certainly well-off and well-publicized. And, of course, fully revealed.

That was 4Vz years ago, and now Candy Loving (yes, it's her real name) is a roving ambassador for Playboy. She goes to football games and raft races. She poses with hot cars and guys with sweaty palms. She signs autographs at car shows, which is what she'll be doing this weekend at the World of Wheels show at Blaisdell Center. And that's why she was in a Waikiki hotel room the other day, blurry-eyed from arriving late the night before and getting up early for a radio interview.

She wore a pink top and white jeans and a diamond-studded letter on a gold chain. Her makeup was faultless and her hair was tousled. For being just roused from a nap, she looked like a pretty girl who'd just been roused from a nap. "Don't look at this side of my face," she said, gesturing to the right side, "I've been sleeping on Assured that there was no photographer at hand, she relaxed and put on her glasses. And once the interview began, she picked up steam and carried it off like a pro.

"I live in Norman, where I'm working on a masters degree in human relations," she said. "What am I going to do with it? I wish I knew. Counseling, maybe, or get a Ph. D. in clinical psychology and work with kids or go into the entertainment industry or become a famous songwriter or live on a tropical island or marry a rich man and drink champagne.

I don't know. "I lived in L.A. for a year and a half and did a film and some TV and commercials, but as I was saying this morning, sometimes the best way to find you don't want to do something is to do it." Loving left L.A. disenchanted "There's a lot of games going on; I found it hard to handle the way people are there and returned to Oklahoma to get a de- 1 said I was beginning to trust them and was getting comfortable." It took four months of off-and-on work to shoot the pictures for the 25th anniversary issue (January, 19791. A "Candy Revisited" spread ran in August, and that one took three weeks of 9 a.m.

to-6 p.m. shooting. It sounds de-pressingly like work. Says Loving, "It is." Loving was featured in a third spread with two Playmate roommates, an opportunity she initially refused. Hefner summoned her to his mansion to reason with her.

"I told him I didn't want my mother in Oklahoma looking at the pictures and thinking 'Oh. no, there's my daughter the He agreed, so there was only one photo of the three of us nude, and we were sunbathing. The rest were of shots of us clothed doing the things we normally do. like riding in a jeep." Loving has a boyfriend in Norman, but "I was married for five years, so I'm in no hurry to make any long-term commitments." She stays in shape "in spurts. I run every day for a while, and then I'll stop.

But running and exercise, mostly. I was working out with Nautilus for a while and stopped, but it's about time to go back. My arms are starting to get spindly, and 1 hate spindly arms." One of the promotions she's working on now is the search for a Playmate for Playboy's anniversary. As she considered that inevitability, she frowned and said, "I guess that means I'll have a partner. I don't know.

I guess she'll take over. It will probably mean my work will slow down a little bit. although there has been talk of bookim: us both. I'm prettv secure with Playboy." But she doesn't have a contract and, of course, there is no union, I've thought about starting a Playmates union," she kidded. "That" would be a real kick." The question is, where would a Playmate carrv her union card? Playmafe Candy Loving: It's not something I want to do for the rest of my life, that's for Star-Bulletin photo by Ken Sakamoto.

gree in journalism. Asked if she studies much, she says, "Enough to get As and Bs." She has financed her studies with a windfall for being chosen the 25th anniversary Playmate and is paid to make public appearances for Playboy. "That's how I make my living," she says. When school is on, she travels twice a month, leaving on a Thursday night and returning Sunday night or early Monday. She was in New York recently for the Playmate of the Year luncheon, and is helping promote another Playboy talent search in Oklahoma.

"It's fun." she been all over the U.S. a couple times and I've been to Japan, the Philippines and Canada." But being a public commodity does, she admits, have its drawbacks. She is often expected, as she was here, for example, to be the "date" of the winner of a radio promotion. "They're calling it a 'date'?" she says. "They're not supposed to do that.

It's supposed to be dinner with me and a couple of people from the station. Usually they're nice people and sometimes I get to pick them. I did one where there were five tapes to choose from. One was from a woman who wanted it for her husband, because she didn't get him a Valentine's present. I chose him because, ah, it's safe!" With any luck at all, she doesn't get stuck with a guy who wants to tell about the time Uncle Bob cracked the block on his Oldsmobile.

Or worse. And for someone whose body has been openly and enthusiastically exploited for all its considerable charm, Loving's public appearances are surprisingly problem-free. "Usually people are intimidated." she says, "but I get a lot of cards. Business cards." She ponders a moment. "It's not something I want to do for the rest of my life, that's for sure.

Got to get that masters degree! "It gets tiresome having to look pretty all the time and being constantly compared with your pictures. People don't understand that I'm a person just like they are, and that I'm also a student, a daughter and a sister. "But I'm just this Playmate and I'm untouchable to them. They sort of want to put you up on a pedestaL.and sometimes they want to knock you off it." Loving is one of five children raised by their mother in Ponca City, a small town near the Kansas border. She describes her siblings as individualistic, but adds, "we learned early that whatever happened, we always backed each other up." Consequently, when the Playboy opportunity arose, she called her siblings to get their support.

And she got it. She also called her mother. "She said she didn't know much about Playboy, but said 'I do know you and if. in your judg- ment. it's a good thing.

I'm behind The" posing itself began with a one-hour session where, she says, the basic premise was "Don't do anything you don't want to." "When 1 started. I had on a gauze tunic and a robe. My attitude was 'Here I am and I'm going to give you some but not all. I'm getting the money and "Slowly, the robe came off and then I was just playing with the buttons and it wasn't that bad. You kind of grow into it.

In fact, 1 wasn't even a serious contender at first. They told me later that Hef was looking at the pictures at a meeting and said, 'What's happening to They Those Carefree, Gun-Filled Days of Childhood By William Braden Chicago Sun-Times CHICAGO Bang! Bang! And the little boy was dead. The fatal shooting of a 5-year-old who pointed a toy pistol at a policeman has added fuel to a revived debate about toy weapons for children. The policeman who thought he was being menaced by a real gun entered an institution for psychiatric treatment after he killed the boy March 3 in Stanton, Calif. And the incident has been seized upon by gun-control advocates ho are concerned about the number of accidental shootings attributed to a proliferation of toy weapons.

"We have case after case of children being shot by other children or by other people with real guns they thought were toys," said Barbara Lautman, communications director of Handgun Control Inc. "A conservative estimate would be 100 children a year who are killed or very seriously injured." But there also is controversy over the relationship between toy weapons and childhood aggression, and that has been stimulated recently by the increased popularity of such weapons. The increase is confirmed by the Toy-Manufacturers of America, which has kept statistics since 1978 on the sale of toy handguns, rifles and accessories (such as holsters and badges). Retail sales in that category rose from about $36,720,000 in 1978 to about $87,040,000 in 1981. A drop to about $72,080,000 in 1982 was attributed to a competitive boom in popularity of military figures such as G.I.

Joe, the industry's top-selling toy in 1982. All of this inspired Parents magazine to devote a major part of its January issue to the toy weapon-aggression dispute. But the magazine's editor, Elizabeth Crow, said her curiosity also was piqued by the peculiar behavior of her 6-year-old son, Sam. "His television is very restricted," said Crow. "He watches virtually nothing on TV.

And my husband and I were adamant about not having toy guns. But an interesting thing happened. Sam would make guns out of anything. The umbrella would become a rifle. He'd draw a gun on cardboard and cut it out.

He'd make guns out of tinfoil. I even caught him biting a sandwich into the shape of a gun. Finally, yesterday, his babysitter bought him a toy gun. And we let him keep it." This led Crow to agree, tongue cheek, that small boys may carry a toy gun gene. Her magazine cited several studies by psychologist Leonard Berkowitz and others that might suggest a relationship between toy weapons and aggression.

And Handgun Control Inc. supports a ban on manufacture and sale of the weapons. But such a ban is not supported by the National Coalition to Ban Handguns. "We don't have a formal position on toy guns," said the coalition's executive director, Michael K. Beard.

"There's simply no reliable research on the subject, and we're not willing to go out on a limb and say there's a relationship that we're able to prove. I played with guns as a kid, and I don't think there's a male on my staff that didn't. It would be ridiculous for us to make a statement." The lack of any convincing toy-gun research was confirmed by authorities on child play and development including Jerome L. Singer of Yale University, Malcolm Watson of Brandeis University and Brian Sutton-Smith of the University of Pennsylvania. "There's a lot of folk wisdom," said Watson.

"But there's no research to support it. I think it's an ethical problem. A proper study would require us to have some kids play with toy weapons, and then compare them to a control group that didn't have toy weapons. And daycare centers and parents are reluctant to let their kids be in a study where they play with toy guns." The toy manufacturers misrepresent Sutton-Smith as an advocate of toy guns, which he is not. He merely argues for consistency.

"It's absurd to find people advocating a ban on toy guns when they won't ban real guns," he said. "That's idealized hypocrisy. I'm in no way an advocate of toy guns, nor do I think getting rid of them is a cure for anything. The cure for the condition is to stop real handguns in public, to stop violence on TV. Kids have to deal with violence on TV, have to turn it into fantasy in some way.

I'm defending their right to fantasy. And I also would argue for context. I'd argue against isolating the toy gun as a thing in itself. If all other forces are against the kid being aggressive, playing with guns is more likely to be pure fantasy, part of an imaginative Support for that view may be provided by a study at Sussex University in England of children in two nursery school groups. One group was allowed to play with toy guns but under strict, "old-fashioned" supervision.

The other group played with nonviolent toys in a permissive atmosphere. There were only five incidents of violence in the first group all of them verbal and 131 incidents of violence in the second group, including 90 incidents of physical violence. "One study means nothing either way," said Sutton-Smith. But he said the Sussex study did demonstrate the importance of context. And he likened the first group to children whose parents give them a toy gun with the warning: Never point that at anybody! "It's the setting that counts," he said.

"If the parents are relatively peaceful-oriented people, they shouldn't worry about a toy gun. It isn't going to any difference. But it may make a difference where the parents' are in favor of guns, have guns themselves, and are in favor of being tough with the Russians." Good Lessons From the Hollywood Bible School Mv .7 'if'" 1 1 aL a w- a a 1 By Philip Wuntch Dallas Morning Kews DALLAS The rumor mill of movie casting states that Richard Gere will play King David and Robert De Niro will be Hollywood's newest Jesus. According to trade rumors, De Niro would play an unorthodox Christ figure (so to speak) in Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ," while Gere may play the title role in "David," to be directed by Bruce Beresford of "Breaker Morant" and "Tender Mercies" acclaim. The casting of well-known actors in Biblical roles is always treacherous and sometimes unintentionally funny.

Twenty years ago, moviegoers were subjected to "a duel of Jesus figures," with "King of Kings" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" released in quick succession. "The Greatest Story Ever Told" featured Max Von Sydow as Jesus, which seemed to be all right with everyone. However, "King of Kings" became known as "I Was a Teen-age Jesus," and Hunter never quite recovered from the blow to his ego. "The Greatest Story Ever Told" may have had a more acceptable Jesus, but it sinned in other areas. John Wayne played a Roman senator who gets the faith.

Even worse, Shelley Winters played a victim of leprosy with a Brooklyn accent. After coming into contact with Von Sydow, she took a look at her unscaly arms, gazed heavenward and said, "Oym cuwy'd! Oym cu-wy'd!" (Translation: "I'm cured! I'm Joan Collins, everyone's favorite vixen in "Dynasty," had a fling with religion. She played Queen Esther, the Old Testament heroine, in something called "Esther and the King." If memory serves, the king was a pagan who had eyes on Esther. Esther was determined to remain a good girl, but Collins was never convincing at portraying high-mindedness. Hollywood could twist the Bible to meet its own needs.

Rita Hayworth was cast as one of the Bible's most famous "bad girls" in "Salome." Hayworth's contract read that she must always play sympathetic characters on screen. The screenwriters were in a bind, so they made Salome a victim of palace politics. She did her dance of the seven veils (you only see her remove two veils in the movies) in order to save John the Baptist, rather than have him beheaded. The King must have misunderstood, because John lost his head anyway. "Salome" ends with Hayworth listening devoutly to the Sermon on the Mount, a "fresh convert to the new religion known as Christianity.

Another Hollywood sex goddess was luckier. Hedy Lamarr was a perfectly adequate Delilah in "Samson and Delilah." Hedy was nobody's idea of an actress, but she could register heavy-lidded lust convincingly. Unfortunately, several years later, someone made the mistake of casting her as Joan of Arc in "The Storv of Mankind." She eyed the stake as if it were the newert thing in phallic symbols. If Gere does play King David, the possible advertising tactics are bountiful 'American Gigolo' gets However, he won't be the first glamour figure to play the Bible's most famous adulterer. In 1952, Gregory Peck, then at the height of his box-office appeal, played the errant king opposite Susan Hav-ward's pouty Bathsheba.

Peck still resembled a good-looking Abraham Lincoln. John Huston, ordinarily an inventive director, miscalculated when he filmed "The Bible." Michael Parks was the fresh-faced Adam, Franco Nero was Abel, and Richard Harris was the bellicerent Cain. He also cast Peter O'Toole. whom no one had ever thought of in ethereal terms, as three angels. O'Toole may have used it as preparation for "The Ruling Class," in which he played a character who thought he was Jesus.

Hollywood's religious movies are often unintentionally funny. "King of Kings" had Jeffrey shave his armpits to play the Hunter cast in the pivotal role, role, and his baby blue eyes and and that created a certain pretty-boy features did not evoke amount of skepticism. He had to inspiration. In irreverent circles, i.