First issue of playboy cover. Marilyn Monroe through the eyes of Hef: for both of us, nudity played an important role in life

On December 1, 1953, the first issue of the men's magazine Playboy appeared on newsstands in Chicago. The publication was published with a circulation of 70 thousand copies, and its founder Hugh Hefner at first even doubted that he would ever release a second issue. The magazine played a huge role in the country's sexual revolution in the 1960s and 1980s. For half a century, Playboy has become one of the most recognizable brands around the world.

We bring to your attention the first covers of the famous Playboy magazine, on which many world-famous models, singers and actresses appeared, exciting the hearts (and not only) of men of their time. The covers are presented in chronological order, starting with the very first issue.

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1953 The very first issue of Playboy with Marilyn Monroe on the cover.

1954 Framed in the background is Terry Ryan. Her portrait was the first to be filmed directly at the Playboy Studios. Prior to this, the magazine bought photographs from independent photographers.

1959 From an interview with Jack Kerouac.

1964. "Femlin" by Leroy Neiman is a funny character who has appeared in the magazine more than once.

1966 In this issue, the centerfold (and the cover, of course) featured Susan Bernard, who was the first underage Jewish virgin to appear on the centerfold.

1968 Cynthia Meyers as a Christmas tree.

The history of the creation of the famous magazine "for adults" began in 1953.

On the cover of the very first issue of Playboy, young actress Jean Mortenson, later known as Marilyn Monroe. The pilot issue of the magazine did not have a cover number, as creator Hugh Hefner doubted that the first issue would be followed by a second.

From Stag Party to Playboy

Hefer created the layout of the first issue, sitting in the kitchen of his apartment. Hugh borrowed money for the publication of the first issue from his mother - $1000.

The magazine was originally called "Stag Party"("Stag Party"), but the young publisher had to change the name in order to avoid competition with the already existing Stag Magazine at that time. The current name "Playboy" comes from a small car dealership that an acquaintance of Hugh Hefner's worked for.

According to the idea of the creator, the main feature of the new magazine was a photo of a beautiful girl on a spread, which the reader can hang on his wall.

For the first spread of the legendary Playboy, Hefner bought a photo of then-unknown actress Jean Mortenson from his friend for $50 and placed it on the cover.

Advertising magazine Hefner was engaged "by hand." He bombarded various publishing houses with letters, in which he assured that serious people from the already well-known men's magazine Esquire were behind the new edition. Hugh actually worked at Esquire in the advertising department, but quit due to management's refusal to raise his salary.

One of Hefner's letters was responded to by the independent chain of publishers Empire News Co, agreeing to put a pilot issue of Playboy into circulation. At a price of half a dollar, the magazine was sold in 52 thousand copies! For Hefner, it was a success. With the funds received from the profits, he continued his business.

Since 1955, the magazine has had a permanent column called Girl of the Month. The idea to publish centerfold pictures not of Hollywood beauties, but of ordinary “girls next door” turned out to be revolutionary for that time. Later, it was thanks to shooting in the magazine that many actresses and models gained success all in the same Hollywood.

7 years after the release of the first issue of Playboy, Hefner opens his own club under a well-known brand in Chicago. Incomes grew. Within a year, similar clubs opened in New Orleans and New York.

Entrance to the club cost $25. Cabaret shows, a bar and jazz music awaited visitors. The main attraction of the institution were considered "Bunny Girls", dressed in tight bodysuits and adorned with bunny tails and ears.

By the mid-60s, about 30 Playboy clubs had opened across America.

In addition to naked beauties, interviews with famous personalities of that time appeared in the magazine. Over the years, interviews with Vladimir Nabokov, Andy Warhol, Fidel Castro, published stories Stephen King, Stanislav Lem and many others.

The creator of Playboy himself has repeatedly said that he does not consider his offspring a magazine about sex, but rather about a lifestyle.

The first issue of Playboy saw the world on December 1, 1953. On the first cover of the famous erotic gloss, the sex symbol of the 50s, the blonde American actress Marilyn Monroe, deservedly flaunted. Interestingly, the actress never posed for this gloss. The room was decorated with a nude photo of Marilyn from an erotic calendar for 1949. For 9 years at the peak of fame and a 44-page issue with a circulation of 70 thousand copies, three-quarters of the circulation sold out in a week!

Today, when the publication's emblem in the form of a rabbit is known all over the world, it's hard to imagine that the second issue of Playboy was not planned. The history of the publication is generally full of surprises and surprises.

What surprises the history of Playboy magazine

In the first issue of the magazine there was a story about Sherlock Holmes by Sir Conan Doyle. In 1956, Playboy began publishing stories by Vladimir Nabokov and James Baldwin.

The Playboy empire began with a $8,000 loan from investors and $1,000 from Hugh's mother.

The founder of Playboy Corporation Hugh Hefner has not only a reputation as a womanizer, but also a high level of intelligence: his IQ is 152 points. Rumor has it that Hugh has 112 silk pajamas. By the way, here he is.

The first logo of the publication was the dollar sign $. Rabbit appeared in the second edition in January 1954.

The rabbit logo was drawn in 30 minutes. The author is the first art director of Playboy magazine Art Pole.

The sexual overtones of a big-eared animal (which, according to the stereotype, are endlessly busy with the process of reproduction) were balanced by a butterfly, which symbolized the intellectual focus of the magazine.

The Playboy Bunny logo was so recognizable that readers only had to draw the big-eared logo on the envelope to send a letter to the editor.

In the 1960s, there was a tradition of hiding the rabbit logo on the cover of a magazine. This intrigue was so popular that the editors were flooded with a mountain of letters asking readers to tell where the logo was. Editors have been forced over time to give advice on finding the rabbit on the content page.

Since 1970, the American National Library Service has published Playboy magazine in Braille for the blind. True, the publication comes out only with the text of the articles of the original journal, without pictures.

The blond Pamela Anderson appeared most often on the cover of the magazine: 10 times between 1989 and 2001.

Playboy is the most famous magazine for men, published for over 60 years by Hugh Hefner and his colleagues. The story of the magazine's dizzying success begins in December 1953, when the first issue was published in the United States with a circulation of 70,000 copies. The cover of the first issue was decorated with a photograph of Marilyn Monroe from an erotic calendar for 1949. By the end of its first decade, Playboy had sold over a million copies. Today we decided to present you the first covers of the famous magazine.

1953 The very first issue of Playboy with Marilyn Monroe on the cover ( photographs of her were used, she never posed).

1954 Framed in the background is Terry Ryan. Her portrait was the first to be filmed directly at the Playboy studio.

1957

PLAYBOY has articles about fashion, sports, products, celebrities and politicians

1958

1959

The first issue of PLAYBOY magazine came out in December 1953.

1959 From an interview with Jack Kerouac

1960

PLAYBOY known for his liberal stance towards political trends

1961

1962

"I never thought of Playboy as a sex magazine," he said. Hefner

1963

1964

In March 1964, PLAYBOY was dedicated to "the girls of Russia and the Iron Curtain"

1964. "Femlin" by Leroy Neiman - a funny character who has repeatedly appeared in the magazine

1966 This issue featured Susan Bernard on the cover and centerfold, becoming the first underage Jewish virgin to appear on the centerfold.

1967

The Russian version of PLAYBOY comes out with 1995 , and Ukrainian - with 2005

1968 Cynthia Meyers as a Christmas tree

It is also the ups and downs with the first release, plastic surgery, fabulous real estate prices, a deer in a tuxedo, legendary writers, charity, love stories, one of the former US presidents, John Lennon and Pamela Anderson. Under what concept could all this come together? As part of the Playboy lifestyle.

1. Hefner borrowed money for the release of the first issue from his mother.

In 1952, young copywriter Hugh Hefner left Esquire after being denied a five-dollar raise. The following year, 1953, 27-year-old Hugh lays down furniture. The $600 he received adds to the money he has collected "on a penny" from 45 investors, including a hefty $1,000 contribution from his mother, Grace Caroline Swanson. The goal is a new entertaining magazine for men, preaching the image and lifestyle of the modern dandy, bon vivant, life-saver.

The magazine came out on December 1, 1953, but was neither dated, nor numbered, nor signed - even the author of the publication, which was "cooked" in the kitchen of his apartment in Chicago, doubted that "number two" would follow. Yes, and Hef's mother, who provided financial and moral support, "did not believe in this idea - but she believed in her son," the "main playboy" would say many years later in an interview with the E! channel.

However, the first issue with a circulation of about 54,000 copies sold out in a matter of weeks - at 50 cents apiece. For comparison, in 2002, an exact copy of this issue of Playboy was sold under the hammer for more than 5 thousand dollars - this is such a serious "inflation".

2. Initially, the magazine had to be called differently

The illustrations for the first issue - candid shots of a red-haired Marilyn Monroe seductively sprawled on red velvet, still practically Norma Jean Baker of the 1949 model - were taken from a men's calendar, at that time no one was particularly puzzled by copyrights. But with the name of the new printed edition, things did not go so smoothly. The original version - "Bachelor Party", or Stag Party - fell "against the grain" of the adventure magazine Stag that existed in those years (literally - "Deer", although the meaning in the Russian translation is rather "Male").

Hart said it would sue if Hefner uses the brand in the title of his periodical. Hugh, his first wife Mili and business associate Eldon Sellers went through a lot of options, all of the same semantic field of the berry: "Gentleman", "Sir" (Sir, in the Russian version the publication could well be called "Sudar"), "Cylinder", plus a bit of mythology - "Satyr", "Pan", and the most obvious - "The Bachelor". The Playboy option was suggested by Sellers, the name of a small local car dealership. In addition to the sonorous combination a la "boy games" in those shaggy times, the word did not carry any connotations - now "playboy" is called any rake, reveler, reveler and womanizer. And this is the main merit of the permanent editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner, who made a manual on the "correct" bachelor lifestyle out of his magazine.

3. The Playboy logo was originally a deer in a tuxedo.

As we already wrote, the first, unrealized, version of the name for the new magazine was Stag Party - it is not surprising that the deer was the first idea for the logo. And since, according to Hef's plan, the publication was supposed to promote the image of a dandy to the masses, it was decided to dress the deer in a tuxedo. After changing the name to Playboy, such a logo became, to put it mildly, unreasonable. But the very idea - to "dress up" some animal - came to taste.

The magazine's first art director, Art Pole, proposed a rabbit in a tuxedo and bow tie, and initially, in the second issue of Playboy, the profile was used as an endnote - characteristic of periodicals "cut off" at the end of the article. To date, the rabbit brings Hef and Co. almost more profit than the magazine itself - for the use of the brand for their own selfish purposes, the Playboy Licensing division is paid by fashion houses, automobile and alcohol companies, casinos, clubs and - attention! - manufacturers of disposable napkins.

"A rabbit, or a bunny, in America has a sexual connotation. I chose it because it was a fresh image - so lively, moving, shy, sexy. He always runs away from you and he is so pleasant to the touch - you want to play with him. Girls are like rabbits - joyful, playful. That's the girls we make "Playmates of the Month" (Playmate of the Month - approx. ed.) are not those sophisticated ladies who are "not available". Our "girlfriend" is an ordinary girl, made of flesh and blood, young, healthy, alive, such a type of neighbor. We are not interested in these complex mysterious madams, vamp women who wear expensive lingerie with garters, walk with a cold face, who, as it were, are already morally dirty, satiated. The Playboy girl does not wear garters and elegant underwear, she is naked, well washed with soap and water and happy, "Hugh Hefner explained in an interview with the Italian edition of LOOK Magazine in January 1967.

4. Legendary Playmate Pamela Anderson Never Became Playmate of the Year

Last year, that same "naked and happy", exemplary "girlfriend" Playboy Pam hit 45. She has twelve covers, more than any other model. She also became the girl of the month - in February 1990, the next year after the start of cooperation with the magazine. For the sake of publication, natural brown-haired Anderson dyed her hair platinum blonde and inserted breast implants.

True, the sacrifice paid off, and not only with a 21-year collaboration with Playboy (Pamela's last cover to date was released in January 2011). Thanks to the new image, the model received the role of "Malibu rescuer" CJ Parker - spectacular runs along the edge of the sea in a red swimsuit made the model a national sex symbol.

Anderson did not remain in debt: for example, on the 82nd birthday of Hugh Hefner in 2008, she prepared an expensive gift - her beloved herself (by the way, 40-year-old), completely naked and in high heels. In this form, the "playboy girlfriend" showed up at a crowded party, presented a modest cake and performed an erotic dance - it would not be wrong to call it a striptease, because Pam was originally without clothes.

The battered Hugh was shocked, but, according to an eyewitness, "he had the widest smile on his face, which I have ever seen."

5. But Victoria Silvstedt, Anna Nicole Smith and Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend Jenny McCarthy - became

No wonder, because the above beautiful nymphs are "girlfriends" in the best traditions of Playboy, slender blondes with impressive busts. By the way, when asked why Hefner prefers blondes, "do they know how to have fun better than brunettes?" - Hefner replies: "With me - they know how."

However, not only Barbies - celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Raquel Welch, Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone, Stephanie Seymour, Shannen Doherty, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Denise Richards, Charlize Theron, Carmen Electra, Daryl Hannah appeared on the pages of the magazine , Cindy Crawford, Elle MacPherson, Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Dannii Minogue and even Russian spy Anna Chapman.

6. In addition to the "nudity" on the pages of Playboy got the stories of Bradbury, Palahniuk, Marquez, Fleming

"I never thought of Playboy as a sex magazine," Hef said. "For me, it has always been a lifestyle magazine in which sex is just one of its components."

Another - and important - component of the propagandized image of the dandy was good taste in literature. In particular, Ray Bradbury's heavily censored science fiction dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 was published almost uncut in the March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy. And with his story "The First Night of Lent", published in 1956, a new milestone began in the magazine's cooperation with writers - now short stories were created specifically "for Playboy" and paid directly to the author.

Five Doomsday Machines Invented by Ian FlemingIan Fleming, a British journalist, spy and writer, gave life to one of the most famous heroes of mass literature of the 20th century: the unsinkable James Bond, secret agent 007 with a license to kill.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jack Kerouac, Haruki Murakami, Chuck Palahniuk, Roald Dahl (the one about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and, of course, Ian Fleming appeared with their stories on the pages of the "men's magazine". , whose "007" was actually the quintessence of the Playboy lifestyle - luxurious women, cars and suits and an incredible degree of "coolness". His eleventh book, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was published in the pages of the magazine from April to June 1963, simultaneously with its release in Bond's historic homeland, Great Britain.

Hugh Hefner, who indulged the freedom of artistic expression, was awarded the American Writers Association Honorary Award "For 50 years of continuous support of writers."

7. The publication was interviewed by Vladimir Nabokov, Fidel Castro, John Lennon

"Sex as an institution, sex as a general concept, sex as a problem, sex as a common place - all this seems to me too boring to waste words on it. Let's skip sex," Vladimir Nabokov offered an ultimatum in his conversation with Alvin Toffler, a journalist , sociologist and one of the authors of Playboy. As a result, in a 1964 interview with the author of the scandalous Lolita, I had to talk about writing, the hardships of teaching, and Dr. Freud.

Martin Luther King told Playboy about the rights of African Americans in America, Castro, with a revolution in his blood, about the rights of Cubans in Cuba.

Jimmy Carter, who ran for president of the United States, literally on the eve of the fateful elections, in November 1976, admitted in an interview with the magazine that "deep down he cheated, and more than once." The "sin" was forgiven for the Democrat, and in January 1977 he became the 39th president of America.

And the legendary interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on the shelves in January 1981 - a month after the death of the legendary musician. "When something good ends, for some reason everyone talks about it as if their whole life is over. But when the interview comes out, I will be 40, Paul 38. Elton John, Bob Dylan - we are all still relatively young. The game is not yet Everyone is talking about the last record or the last concert of the Beatles, but God willing, there are still 40 years of productive life ahead, ”John dreamed.

8. In 1970, with the support of the US government, Playboy for the Blind was released.

The magazine was typed in Braille, a raised dotted tactile font. Such a specialized edition is still published to this day and distributed through the "National Library of Congress". It contains all the texts of Playboy, and the pictures, including the main ones in any issue, especially colorful "centerfolds", or central spreads, are conveyed by a highly artistic verbal description.

Until 1974, Hef shuttled between this house in his small homeland (and in the small homeland of Playboy himself) and the western residence in Los Angeles, near Beverly Hills, until, finally, in 1974, he finally settled in the Hollywood hills.

It is not difficult to understand it - repeatedly "lit up" in movies, videos, TV shows (remember that "Los Angeles" series of "Sex and the City"?) and the reality of the Playboy mansion, in addition to 22 living rooms, boasts its own wine cellar, zoo, hall with slot machines, tennis courts, pools with a waterfall and, of course, the legendary closed "grotto", which has seen more "sins" than all the imperial palaces of Ancient Rome.

By the way, a separate house of Playboy magazine for "girlfriends" is located opposite. Very convenient, especially during Hefner's obligatory annual Midsummer Night's Dream party, where the number of "bunnies" per square meter rolls over. To get to this, let's say, social event on the first Saturday of August is a dream not only of mere mortals, but also of Hollywood celestials.

As of 2011, the market value of the Los Angeles Playboy mansion was $54 million. However, according to the autobiographical book Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion by "hare" and Hef's ex-girlfriend Isabella St. James, "literally everything in the mansion seemed old, musty, battered, and Archie, the house dog, regularly relieved in the hallway right on the long curtains "to the floor" - so the smell of urine was mixed with the general smell of junk.

10. Playboy editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner was named after a species of rabbit.

On December 31, 2012, just before the holiday, Hugh Hefner tied the knot for the third time - the 86-year-old playboy married the 26-year-old blonde Crystal Harris. The high relationship of the couple, by the way, lasted more than three years - the engagement was announced back in 2010. Initially, the wedding was scheduled for June 2011, but just a few days before the celebration, the "young" quarreled over the phone. Then the event was canceled, but, as we can see, a year and a half later, love still won.

From two previous marriages, Hef has four children, and from 1970 to 1989 and from about 2000 until the fateful meeting with Crystal, the chief editor of Playboy devoted himself to the delights of a bachelor life. So, at the age of 75, Hugh met simultaneously with seven "girlfriends" from 18 to 28 years old - the whole "family" lived under the roof of a Los Angeles mansion.

It's no surprise that a rare species of rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, is named after such a loving media personality - not really for his adventures or creative prolificacy, but as a thank you for all the financial support Hefner provides to numerous charities - from society to restoring the HOLLYWOOD sign on the iconic hills to helping children with autism.

Prepared by Vera Matveeva