Biographical Sketch of Dolores Del Monte
Number Four Forever, Playboy’s Miss March 1954
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There was something different about Dolores Del Monte, the first and only child born to second generation Italians, in Spokane, Washington on March 15, 1932. She inherited the dark beauty of her mother, and the robust and sparkling personality of her father. At a young age Dolores knew she was destined to be different and quickly displayed a love for singing, music, dancing and entertaining people. Perhaps it was the fondness she developed for her father’s seven musically talented brothers who played their instruments, sang their songs as they sat around the table eating spaghetti and drinking wine that sparked her interest in singing. She can remember at a very early age going to Shirley Temple movies and perhaps this was the impetus that encouraged her to join Drama Club when she entered John R. Rogers High School to furthered her goal of becoming an actress. |
She married her high school sweet heart Roy Card, but not before she begged her parents to allow her to move to Hollywood after graduation from high school in 1950 to pursue an acting career. Her parents finally relented with the condition that they would personally drive her to California and she would remain under the watchful eyes of her mother’s aunt and uncle who lived in Los Angeles.
Dolores quickly began to model for a photographer named Bruno Bernard, working under the name of Bernard of Hollywood who specialized in figure modeling. A naive Dolores was too shy to disclose that she did not know figure modeling meant posing nude. Much to Dolores’ joy, it paid $50 per hour which was a lot of money in the fifties. Bernard primarily sold his nudes to Baumgarth Calendar Company of Melrose Park, Illinois. For a six month period of time she lived with and modeled for Zoe Mozert, a famous artist who sold her pinups to Brown & Biglow Calendar Company. Finally in 1952, succumbing to the marriage pleas of her fiancée, Dolores walked away from her short lived modeling career and married Roy. They remained in San Bernardino and soon after she welcomed the births of her children Greg, Steve and Lisa. She believes in late 1953 while she was pregnant with Greg, a letter arrived asking her permission to publish her picture in Playboy. Not familiar with Playboy, she believed it was a pin-up in which she was wearing a leopard print bathing suit so she went ahead and signed it but never saw the magazine. As it turned out, it was the pinup Bruno Bernard sold to the Baumgarth Calendar Company titled "Radiant Beauty" and was later sold to Hugh Hefner for his March 1954 issue of his fledgling Playboy Magazine.
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In the mid 60’s Roy was working on the Titan II Missile Project which took the young family from San Bernardino to Arizona, Michigan, the Philippines and Thailand. Roy was developing his interest in landscape and portrait art work and she assisted him with his art exhibits in Thailand. When she returned from Southeast Asia in 1969, she went to work for Crescent Department Store in Spokane, Washington, as a scarf and scarf clip demonstrator. She broke all sale records for scarf accessories and soon was promoted to a supervisory position touring through Western Canada, hiring and training personnel and trouble shooting in the fashion accessory industry. In early 1974, by then divorced from Roy Card, she was hired by the U.S. Department of Commerce to be a Senior Guide Supervisor at the 1974 Expo (World’s Fair) in Spokane, Washington. She supervised 47 guides, including 8 Guide Supervisors at the U. S. Pavilion. Among her duties were helping the guides with grooming techniques and safety training procedures. |
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This was a prestigious position
to be envied and eventually Dolores transferred to the U. S. Commissioner
General Officer’s Lounge escorting dignitaries, politicians, and celebrities.
She assisted in organizing receptions and presided over other public relation
activities and it was her most challenging and rewarding experience until she
became involved with her Playboy family.
In 1977 she met and married her
second husband in 1978, Al Mack, an insurance broker, and moved from Spokane to Beaverton, Oregon,
southwest of Portland. In 1979 her son, Steve, who was attending college in New
Jersey browsed through a Playboy 25th Anniversary issue which featured all the
Playmates in mini-centerfold style, he recognized his mother’s name in the
credits as being one of the Playmates. He recalled many years before when his
mother had mentioned that she had modeled in Hollywood using the pseudo name of
Dolores Del Monte. Dolores was surprised when Steve called and said "Mom, I
have some news about your past".
In 1985, her husband died, and she moved back to Southern California in 1987 where it all began. Her son’s
discovery reopened the door to reflect on memories of her love for public
relations activities and she kept herself busy by hosting celebrity tennis
tournaments as well as being a commodore with a singles sailing club. Several
years passed before Dolores was able to reconnect with Playboy when she was
invited to the Playboy Mansion to Victoria Silvstedt’s Playmate of the Year
party.
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Dolores Del Monte ® 2014
