The Demise of "Playboy"

When I heard last month that "Playboy" magazine was going to do away with nude centerfolds - or nudity of any kind, for that matter - I could hardly believe it. I don't think there's a single heterosexual male alive today that has not let his eyes wander over the graceful curves of the beautiful women so artfully and tactfully displayed in the pages of "Playboy", and I daresay that for most of us this was the very first time we ever saw the naked female form. It sure was for me, anyway. My father had a subscription to the magazine in the 1960's, and I used to sneak into my parent's room to look at the magazine when no one else was home. Personally, I think the '60s and early '70s were the best times for the magazine as the sexual revolution was in full swing, and Hef was doing his best to push the envelope with the pictures displayed in his magazine. The magazine almost died in the artsy-fartsy years of the '80s, and it had recovered by the '90s when I had my own subscription.

The only magazine that could ever really compete with "Playboy" was, of course, "Penthouse." Personally, I never cared for "Penthouse" all that much because what "Playboy" was to class, "Penthouse" was to raunch. Bob Guccionne was, in my humble opinion, a self-centered sexist peddler of smut who treated his models and centerfolds like pieces of meat. If you wanted smut, you bought "Penthouse;" if you wanted class, you bought "Playboy."

And that, I think, is the whole thing that set "Playboy" apart from every other men's magazine that was ever published or is being published now. "Playboy" had class, and I mean oodles of it. People who told you that they bought the magazine to read the articles weren't kidding - they had some first-class articles in the magazine about dress, cars, dining etiquette, not to mention they were the first ones to publish several authors who were unknown at the time but are now famous thanks to the magazine.

In the '60s there were the Playboy Clubs, and when I tell you those were some classy establishments you can take that to the bank. Memberships weren't easy to come by and they were pricey, which meant they were exclusive. When you obtained your membership you were given a key to the Playboy Club you had joined, and I mean it was a real key to the front door of the club. It was square and had a black background with the Playboy bunny on it, and you actually had to use it to get inside. The physical key was later replaced with a plastic membership card, but when the whole thing got started the key looked like this:



And if you showed up in anything less than a tuxedo, guess what - the manager asked you to leave, key or no key. That standard was later eased to a suit and tie, but the point was still there - only true gentlemen with class were allowed inside the hallowed and fabled halls of the Playboy Club!

The women who worked there were also a class act, despite what Gloria Steinem has to say about it. They treated the club members with respect, and that's what they expected in return. The standing rule of the club was you acted like a gentleman at all times, and you kept your paws off of the bunnies. Lay so much as a finger on them and you were out the door on your ass, and your key was taken from you before they tossed you. And no, you didn't get your membership fee back.

Unfortunately, since those days our society has lost a great deal of its class and dignity thanks to those liberals out there who are so intent on being able to do whatever they want whenever they want and however they want, and the Playboy Clubs are now a thing of the past. The last three company-opened Playboy Clubs, the flagship clubs in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles Playboy, all closed on June 1st 1986. The last U.S. Playboy Club (franchise), in Lansing, closed on July 31st 1988. The last official Playboy Club, in Manila, closed during 1991. Just like that, the Bunny was gone.

I have a feeling that the recent "no nudity" change in the magazine is going to sound the death knell for the magazine as well. Without the classy and respectful display of the nude female form, "Playboy" magazine will be no different than any other magazine out there. It won't be long before the last edition of the magazine is announced, and I have a feeling that's going to happen this year.

And that, friends and neighbors, will be the end of an era and for some of us, the official end to their youth.

IHC