Penthouse Pet Visits Harvard Square

Penthouse Magazine's $1 million Pet of the Year was sitting at a card table in Out of Town News yesterday, in front of the display racks for Swank, X-Rated Cinema and Adult Movies' Oral-Anal Special.

With a stack of about 40 copies of this month's Penthouse--featuring her in a dozen-page spread--by her side, Jeanette Starion, a 20-year-old model and aspiring actress from Copenhagen, autographed the magazine for anyone who had $3.50 to buy it.

About 15 minutes after she arrived at noon and had begun signing the pictures, a construction worker stopped by during his lunch hour and had Starion sign the cover.

The worker--who said his name was Bob--came back a few minutes later, asking her to sign again, inside, right next to a postcard-sized closeup of her genitals. She did.

"She doesn't look nothing like this in person. I think she looks better in the book," said Bob later, after he had gone outside to pose with two co-workers, holding the magazine for a photographer from The Herald.

"Besides, she's got too much clothes on," Bob's friend Jim added, laughing.

Starion has big, round, blue eyes and feathery blond hair. She is interested in parapsychology and gymnastics. She beat 27 other women in a modeling and talent contest to become the Penthouse Pet of the of the Year and be featured nude this month--just before the second installment of the controversial Vanessa Williams pictures. Starion also won $1 million worth of sable furs, jewelry, cars, stereo equipment and other prizes.

During the next four weeks, Starion will travel around the U.S. and Canada to sign her name on copies of the magazine.

Starion started modeling when she was 17, and plans to move to Los Angeles soon with her fiance. Michael, to pursue a movie career. She likes action films, and would like to play a Bond Girl in a 007 movie.

How does she feel about the tour? "It's a little tiring. But I like meeting people," said Starion in an interview later.

How does she feel about the men she meets who want the magazine signed, about 50 of whom came through Nini's and Out of Town in the two hours she was there yesterday? Starion searched for the English words.

"I feel bad sometimes because they look at me differently after they see me in the magazine," she said slowly and deliberately. "They expect you to be someone else when they open up the magazine. I find it a little difficult to get used to."

Special Lady

Starion is a "super lady, and an excellent representative of Penthouse," said 37-year-old Dorothy Maure, a June 1977 centerfold and the 1978-79 Pet of the Year. Now Maure, who uses "Dominique" as her "business name," works for Penthouse's Pet Promotions Department, accompanying Starion around the country and helping her spell difficult English words when she signs autographs.

Penthouse, with 20.4 million average monthly circulation, "outsells Playboy two-to-one in newsstand sales," Maure said proudly. However, Playboy still circulates more because of its heavier subscription list. "That's because they discount their newsstand price for subscriptions. We don't," Maure explained.