Playmate of the Month July 1973 - Martha Smith

Martha Smith is trying to sort things out. Should she go to school and take classes in film? Should she simply show up in Cliafornia and try to get a sense of the best way to begin? Would it be better to stay in Detroit and look for a job in the media department of some advertising agency or to show ... a documentary director the 16mm stuff she's already shot? Though she hasn't yet imposed any order on her ambition, Martha knows she wants to be a film maker and figures that, at the age of 20, there's still time to consider the many ways to go about it. "I've talked to a lot of people, and they all give me different advice. My dream is to do it all, write the script, direct, be totally involved with the production of a film. That's a very large dream, I know, but I want to do it anyway. For now, I'm writing script outlines and, with a few friends, shooting some small productions around Detroit." The rest of Martha's schedule is devoted to modeling; from her parents' home in suburban Farmington, it's only a half hour's drive to her jobs in the city, where she most often promotes the newest cars at auto shows and in commercials. Her modeling career was really unplanned - the suggestion of a college friend who asked her to join him on a summer-long tour of Mexico and help show a line of clothing. The trip sounded fine, but Martha first had to register herself with a modeling agency, so she called the agency where her older sister was employed, and that's how she fell into what's become a busy career. Naturally, some of her jobs are more memorable than others, but she recalls one vividly. "My agency told me to put on a bikini and go to Olympia Stadium, where I was to assist in a car presentation. I didn't know until I arrived that I was supposed to hop out of the car onto an ice-hockey rink between periods of a Red Wings game. When I jumped out of the car, the people started whistling and screaming at the top of their lungs. The announcer was talking about all the car's features and I was supposed to be pointing them out as he spoke, but the crowd noise was so loud I couldn't hear a word he was saying and I was pointing at a tire while he was describing the windshield. At the same time, I was slipping all over the ice, because I was wearing hard-soled sandals and couldn't keep my balance." Eventually, Martha wants to turn all modeling jobs into a memory, but she's making no hasty decisions; she'd like to begin her next career on as sure a footing as possible.

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