In 1953 Hugh Hefner launched Playboy with a $1000 loan from his mother and the magazine's first cover featured a black and white shot of Marilyn Monroe at the height of her beauty.
The blonde starlet starred as the centerfold. According to Wikipedia the first issue sold out within a week and circulation hit 50,000 at $.50 a month. The magazine's fortune rose with the advent of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Hefner took risks and reaped a fortune. Every male, single of married' wanted to be a 'playboy', if only to meet a playmate.
The first Playboy to fall into my hands was from a pile of moldy stroke magazines in the Blue Hills south of Boston. The year had to have been 1964.
Nancy Jo Hooper was playmate of the month. The brunette lay on a red couch. She reminded me of Kyla Rossi from down the street. My next-door neighbor and I fought over this issue. I won and later in the 60s the cheerleader was my high school sweetheart for three years. I never called her Nancy Jo.
My all-time favorite playmate was PJ Lansing from February 1972.
She was another goddess.
As were they all, although the circulation peaked later that year with over seven million magazines sold in November of 1972.
Sadly this month Playboy has announced that they will no longer show full nudity, since according to the CEO the magazine can't compete with online porno. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé at this juncture."
The First Playboy green-lighted the decision, although critics feel that the magazine's shift will appeal to the less prurient cultures of India and Playboy in order to boost ancillary products from the Playboy Empire.
Greed over need.
But if you want to view the long line of playmates, please go to the following URL. http://playmate.uw.hu/html/7202.html
I think you will be pleased.
I certainly enjoyed the trip down the memory lane of my libido.
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