Student Life: Hugh Hefner Chooses Cherry Tree Queen

From GWUEncyc

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For many years in the 1950s and 1960s, GW had a Cherry Tree Queen. On several occasions, various celebrities would be asked to choose the winner based on their photographs and biographies. The following is the letter Hugh Hefner wrote in 1957, explaining his choice of Buena "Boots" Miller, who was active in drama and other clubs on campus:

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December 18, 1956
Miss Charlene McDonald, Editor
The 1957 Cherry Tree
2408 Lyons Street, S.E.
Washington 21, D.C.

Dear Miss McDonald:

Although my job requires me to consider a great many very attractive women, in both photographs and in person, selecting the 1957 Cherry Tree Queen, and her two Princesses, was no easy task. Perhaps the job itself the jades me somewhat and makes it more difficult for me to select one beauty over another, the quality dulling the taste, At any rate, the editing of PLAYBOY is a most enjoyable job and I very much enjoyed, too, the opportunity to pick your Queen and Princesses from among the twelve candidates.

Your giving me a candid shot as well as a formal portrait helped a great deal. From these, I have selected Miss Buena Miller, sponsored by Chi Omega, as the 1957 Cherry Tree Queen. For her two Princesses, I’ve chosen Janet Marshall, sponsored by Kappa Alpha Theta, and Anne Leone, sponsored by the Wandering Greeks Society.

I want to thank you for the opportunity of serving as judge and may this year’s Cherry Tree Queen prove as popular with the students of George Washington University as PLAYBOY’s Playmates are with college students throughout the U.S.

Hugh M. Hefner

Document Information

Images: 0
Photographic Credit: n/a
Author or Source: Cherry Tree, 1957
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: February 21, 2007
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist

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