Playmate of the Month March 1978 - Christina Smith

Christina Smith's smile is a little devilish. It says, "Show me," even though she's not from Missouri. She's all woman, but she's also tough. Resilient. Willful. She's a maverick. "I was a terrible kid," she admits with a husky laugh. "I resented all authority figures. I was a tomboy, and a pretty r ...ough one, at that." She speaks fondly of the days when she played football, wrestled and climbed trees. "I still think I'm one of the best tree climbers around, and I still love to wrestle. Particularly with a man. But I've given up football. I'm not, uh, lean all over, like I used to be." No sirree. Christina grew up in California, then, at 16, moved to Salina, Kansas, for her last year of high school. When she left California, she was still a skinny tomboy, but Mother Nature took over in Salina. "To the kids I grew up with in Orange County, I was just Tina, the grubby kid who wore baggy pants and sloppy T-shirts. But when I got to Salina, well, I was 'a California girl,' and I got a lot of attention. I started wearing real short miniskirts and my body filled out. When I came back to California at 18, I visited my old neighborhood. All of a sudden, I was being hit on by the same guys who had never paid any attention to me before. By then, I wasn't the slightest bit interested in them." So much for the shortsightedness of the boys in Orange County's class of '75. Now Christina gets more attention than she needs, but not more than she can handle. When we met her in the lobby of a Los Angeles hotel, she was surrounded by three men, all offering business cards. Later, she thumbed through them. "Hmmmm. A photographer. He offered to do my portfolio for nothing. A real-estate man wants me to model on the front lawns of his properties. And here's one from the president of a disco. Wow." We asked if she weren't just the slightest bit scared, being approached by strange men. "I kind of like it. I have this fantasy of seeing a man, say in a movie theater, and going to a hotel room with him and making love in total anonymity. No names, no words, and then just parting, with no questions asked." Back in the real world, she's been living with "a wonderful, strong, cheerful man," and she's busy round the clock with modeling appointments. At 20, Tina has come a long, long way from Salina.

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