R.I.P. Hugh Hefner

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Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
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195,472
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Just north of Duma Key

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
Look for the bunny in that cover. Every single cover had a bunny on it, somewhere. Some were obvious, others were so hard to spot. And yes, I had a friend whose husband had a subscription and we pulled out piles of these things looking for bunnies on the cover.

I don't believe Hugh exploited anyone. While I don't care for pornography myself, many people see it in their own way for their own reasons. While at university, I had to do a paper on someone, I can't remember who it was, and the best interview with the most information came from a playboy interview that I had to order from the library to copy for me. He actually championed women's rights and was also very vocal about racial injustice.

I wrote a piece about getting a copy of a playboy that contained a Stephen King story that I know for a fact Stephen himself read. I won't say how I know this, I just know this. Suffice to say, it was quite the journey locating it and funny to boot.

RIP in Hugh.
I believe SusanNorton, as well as myself, had adventures obtaining a Playboy magazine with a SK story.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
A few years ago we (the SKMB members at the time) agreed that there would be a moratorium on saying anything negative in the R.I.P. threads. As Sunny stated above- it's a horrible feeling to hear a negative thing about someone that you may love or admire. This thread is not the place to air any negative feelings one may have about the person who has just passed away. The wounds are fresh for those who admire the recently passed and do not deserve more pain inflicted upon them. Please, newer members, take note of the moratorium. Thank you.
Thank you! I almost asked a mod to delete the thread as negativity is not appropriate in this forum.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
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Cambridge, Ohio
...the post that damned Hef was cold and unnecessary....I hate to use a buzzword like "polarizing" for Hugh, but it fits......the pictorials were tasteful and hell, even Marilyn Monroe was a "bunny"....the magazine not only featured pieces by Steve, but helped launch the careers of many a writer or at least bring them attention from a group that otherwise might not ever have known who they were....so many are quick to toss Playboy aside as nothing more than a skin book, but it took on politics, economics, sexual roles and health, lifestyles etc....he created a quite the empire on the flesh of many females, but one's as have been stated-volunteered or were recruited and were well compensated.....and personally, I thank Hef for allowing a repressed young man, the first opportunity to see what a beautiful thing, the female form truly is.....enjoy a pipe for me when you get to the clearing.....
6de4137df10c0647d6cf484bb20e5e4b.png
 

Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
Too many words have become clichéd in their contemporary misuse, but a few of them are fitting here: pioneer, visionary, rebel, revolutionary. He forced society to look upon things that were taboo at the time, and in doing so gave us a better understanding of ourselves. Hugh did things his own way. May he rest in peace.
 

mal

content
Jun 23, 2007
4,714
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
While what you say is true, he also tried to entertain people with his magazine - some of those articles were actually very good.
He was a pioneer in his own way - back in the 60s sexuality was much more repressed.

“I don’t walk under ladders; I’m scared...I’ll get seven years’ bad luck if I break a mirror; I try to stay home cowering under the covers on Friday the thirteenth.... But I have a thing about the number 13 in general; it never fails to trace that old icy finger up and down my spine.” From “Playboy Interview: Stephen King,” June 1983. (© 1983 by Playboy.)

The above quote is from an article in June 1983

5536519052c05ec91ab5819c1b6db9d2.jpg

I actually wish I had a copy of this magazine to add to my collection - I think the later magazines like Hustler were much more explicit and vulgar. If you look at the cover in the spoiler it is not any worse than what you would see today in a Victoria's Secret catalogue.

p.s. Can you find the famous Playboy bunny symbol on the cover? That was something they always did - put it somewhere not that obvious and it was sort of a game to find it.

By the way, while we are all entitled to our opinions, and I do not disrespect yours, I come from a different generation.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s and Playboy magazine [while often hidden away in drawers or under beds, etc.] was a magazine I used to read. The cartoons were quite good as well!
Nice post Neesy! Thanks, mal.
 

Tery

Say hello to my fishy buddy
Moderator
Apr 12, 2006
15,304
44,712
Bremerton, Washington, United States
Here's the thing I try to remember: everyone has a parent, sibling, spouse, children, grandchildren who loved that individual. It is disrespectful to them to talk smack about their loved one, true or not. If you didn't personally know the deceased, your opinion is not needed at the time.

In Hef's case, he used his platform to promote civil rights, freedom of speech and, yes, feminism. Because true feminism means equality. Hef was all about women's sexuality being on a par with men's and he let the ladies prove it. He also brought American men out of the cave, promoting love of the arts and literature and presenting sophistication as a desirable thing. The articles, stories and, especially, the interviews were always excellent. As noted, Stephen had some published in Playboy. As did Updike, Cheever, Mailer, Bradbury, Atwood and many others. He promoted black authors and entertainers long before other platforms. His record in civil rights is unquestionable.

He was much more complicated than people know or maybe want to admit -- as is his legacy. This piece at NPR is a great examination of his life and legacy.

RIP Hef.
 

grin willard

"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Feb 21, 2017
1,144
6,024
50
...the post that damned Hef was cold and unnecessary....I hate to use a buzzword like "polarizing" for Hugh, but it fits......the pictorials were tasteful and hell, even Marilyn Monroe was a "bunny"....the magazine not only featured pieces by Steve, but helped launch the careers of many a writer or at least bring them attention from a group that otherwise might not ever have known who they were....so many are quick to toss Playboy aside as nothing more than a skin book, but it took on politics, economics, sexual roles and health, lifestyles etc....he created a quite the empire on the flesh of many females, but one's as have been stated-volunteered or were recruited and were well compensated.....and personally, I thank Hef for allowing a repressed young man, the first opportunity to see what a beautiful thing, the female form truly is.....enjoy a pipe for me when you get to the clearing.....

Wow. It makes me think, in the 60's -- really from the 20's thru the 70's, there were enough magazines of all kinds out there that paid well enough for short fiction, that guys like Kurt Vonnegut took a chance & quit their secure well paying jobs to write short stories full time. And SK, I think his first published fiction appeared in things like Caviler, Swank, Cigarette Aficionado (LOL!!! Sorry. I think I stole that one from The Simpsons. Oh sh!t. LOL!!), the insane thrill of being published, and the $300 (or so) check that came in really handy for a small young family almost certainly kept him, and others, at it. Obviously, he was never gonna quit irregardless. But Imagine, how many good, possibly brilliant, writers have we not heard, because there is no market out there? If Hemingway had been born in 1982, he'd be a blogger! Now I'm depressed. :( RIP Hef. You pajama wearin' patron of the arts!
 
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GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Wow. It makes me think, in the 60's -- really from the 20's thru the 70's, there were enough magazines of all kinds out there that paid well enough for short fiction, that guys like Kurt Vonnegut took a chance & quit their secure well paying jobs to write short stories full time. And SK, I think his first published fiction appeared in things like Caviler, Swank, Cigarette Aficionado (LOL!!! Sorry. I think I stole that one from The Simpsons. Oh sh!t. LOL!!), the insane thrill of being published, and the $300 (or so) check that came in really handy for a small young family almost certainly kept him, and others, at it. Obviously, he was never gonna quit irregardless. But Imagine, how many good, possibly brilliant, writers have we not heard, because there is no market out there? If Hemingway had been born in 1982, he'd be a blogger! Now I'm depressed. :( RIP Hef. You pajama wearin' patron of the arts!
...those "pulps" and others like it were able to (barely) keep food on some writer's tables-but when they began to shutter operations-then magazines like Playboy, Cavalier and Swank were the places to try to make your bread.....very few actual magazines left that will accept or pay for speculative fiction....
 

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
I try to respect the dead, even if I didn't agree with their life decisions. Years ago, when my brother died, there was a radio announcer who, after reading the obituary for my brother, made a comment about him being in trouble with the law. While it was a true statement, my mother and I still loved him very much....we were purchasing his grave plot when we heard the statement aired. That was a horrible feeling when we were already reeling from the shock and grief.
For this reason, while I might not like what a person did or how they lived, I try to remember that the person was loved by someone and I try not to speak ill of the dead.

Heartbreaking.
So sorry to hear about that, Sunny, that should not have happened...
.:(
 

Srbo

Uber Member
Mar 23, 2008
15,209
7,617
Canada
A few years ago we (the SKMB members at the time) agreed that there would be a moratorium on saying anything negative in the R.I.P. threads. As Sunny stated above- it's a horrible feeling to hear a negative thing about someone that you may love or admire. This thread is not the place to air any negative feelings one may have about the person who has just passed away. The wounds are fresh for those who admire the recently passed and do not deserve more pain inflicted upon them. Please, newer members, take note of the moratorium. Thank you.

This! ^
 

grin willard

"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Feb 21, 2017
1,144
6,024
50
...those "pulps" and others like it were able to (barely) keep food on some writer's tables-but when they began to shutter operations-then magazines like Playboy, Cavalier and Swank were the places to try to make your bread.....very few actual magazines left that will accept or pay for speculative fiction....

If I remember correctly, Edgar Rice Burroughs got half a cent a word at his peak. My boy F. Scott Fitzgerald in the early 20's, writing what he considered utter crap for The Smart Set would sometimes get as much as $1500 for one short story. You could buy a modest house & a car for that back then! I think up into the 80's fiction was still getting published in 'Red Book', 'Ladies Home Journal', stuff like that. Yeah, if a magazine received an unsolicited piece of fiction today they'd look at it like it had been wrapped around fish & say, "What the f*** is this?!"