Janice Pennington

Infobox Playboy Playmate


imagesize = 150px
caption =
name = Janice Pennington
issue = May 1971
birthname =
birthplace = Seattle, Washington, United States
birthdate = birth date and age|1942|7|8
deathdate =
deathplace =
bust = 36"
waist = 23"
hips = 36"
height = height|ft=5|in=8
weight = convert|123|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on
preceded = Chris Cranston
succeeded = Lieko English
website =

Janice Pennington (born July 8, 1942 in Seattle, Washington) was one of the original "Barker's Beauties" models on "The Price Is Right", from 1972 to 2000. She was also "Playboy" magazine's Playmate of the Month for the May 1971 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Mario Casilli. Her sister Ann was Playmate of the Month March 1976.

Personal life

In 1974, Pennington married famed mountain climber Fritz Stammberger, who went missing in 1975 in a restricted area along the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Soviet Union. She later married writer Carlos de Abreu in 1984 after Fritz was legally declared dead. In 1992, Pennington discovered that Fritz helped organize CIA bases among those borders and died fighting with the Afghans against the USSR.

In June 1988, Pennington was knocked off-stage by a camera during a "Price" taping and was rendered unconscious. While she was recuperating, Kyle Aletter-Oldham temporarily filled in for her. She later sued, and in 1992, she was awarded $1.3 million. The accident had damaged her shoulders, leaving a visible scar on one, and as a result she was hindered somewhat from her modeling duties since she was unable to wear one-piece swimsuits for the rest of her career.

In 1994, Pennington and de Abreu authored "Husband, Lover, Spy", an account of Janice's search for her first husband. Pennington admitted that after her he went missing, she would return to her "Price Is Right" dressing room in tears when a contestant played the Cliff Hangers pricing game. In that game, a mountain climber caricature climbs up, then falls off, of a cliff when a contestant loses the game - the "yodeling" climb music turning into a loud crash when the climber goes over the cliff (in later years, according to the book, until her 1984 marriage to de Abreu, Pennington would only "escape" to her dressing room in tears if the game was lost - not merely played). The book was sometimes discussed on the show itself. This story was verified by "Price" producer Stan Blits in the book "Come On Down!", who partially blamed nighttime host Dennis James for making an inappropriate joke on an early playing of the game: James supposedly said "There goes Fritz!" on an early playing of the game (when it was lost), sending Pennington into tears.

In 1997, Pennington and de Abreu founded the Hollywood Film Festival.

Departure from "The Price Is Right"

Janice was released from her modeling duties on "The Price Is Right" in October of 2000. At 58 years old, she was by far the oldest model on staff, and according to producers, the show was seeking younger talent for the position.

This rationale, however, has been under dispute because, in 1995, fellow model Holly Hallstrom was dismissed from the show. Hallstrom subsequently complained that she had been fired for failing to lose weight, which she claimed was the result of side-effects from prescription drugs she took for a hormonal imbalance. Furthermore, Pennington's dismissal came at the same time as that of Kathleen Bradley, who is almost ten years younger than Pennington, when both had been subpoenaed to testify in Hallstrom's lawsuit.

Both Pennington and Bradley sued for wrongful termination and settled out of court.

Bloopers and mishaps

Janice, much like model Holly Hallstrom (though to a lesser extent), had her share of mishaps with prizes she was modeling on "The Price Is Right", including two cars in the 1970s (and one in 1996), that she was driving onto the stage. In all instances, she missed her mark and hit the wall, denting the car. Another famous mishap included an Amana freezer with overstocked shelves. As she was modeling it, she opened the freezer door, which was overfilled and front heavy. As a result, the freezer suddenly tilted forward, spilling the contents all over the floor. Since the freezer was in no obvious danger of completely falling, Janice quickly recovered and continued to model the (tilted) freezer with laughter, as if nothing major had happened.

Because of this reputation, in 1976 (prior to Hallstrom's January 1977 arrival) the staff of the show created a showcase in Pennington's honor entitled "Janice Pennington, This Is Your Strife". Janice was not aware of this beforehand, and the staff went as far as rehearsing a fake showcase so that she'd be genuinely surprised upon its announcement. She sat in a special chair brought out for her and watched (in laughter and a little humiliation) the showcase that featured the second car she had crashed, the overflowing Amana refrigerator and a pop-up bar that had failed to pop up until several attempts were made. It also mentioned mishaps that Janice had with tennis ball machines (of which she suposedly never hit a ball), her Grocery Game reaction to a woman bidding on "65 Chunkies" and an incident supposedly involving a vacuum cleaner. All the while, Johnny Olson stood next to Janice, and read the entire script (directly to her) which had been placed in what appeared to be a large, elegant scrapbook of mementos.

On an episode of The Price is Right that aired November 30, 1993, Janice got "attacked" by a Travel Crocodile Dentist while demonstrating how the game works during a game of Pathfinder. She and Bob Barker tried the game, but Barker chose the bad tooth causing the crocodile to snap on Bob's hand causing Barker to incite a loud "Aaah!"

ee also

* List of people in Playboy 1970-1979

External links

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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDCCfuA3DG8 Pennington has body painted on I've Got a Secret with Steve Allen]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/tpir0/janice.html Janice Pennington Picture Site]