Playboy: The Celebrities PDF
Preview Playboy: The Celebrities
f T H E C E L E B R I T I E S Introduction by HUGH M. HEFNER Afterword by GARY COLE Thanks to Kevin Craig, Sue Dickey, Bonnie Jean Kenny, Malina Lee, Bradley Lincoln, Amy Grace Loyd, Maria Mandis, Mary O’Connor, Tom Staebler, and Marcia Terrones. Copyright © 2006 Playboy Enterprises, International, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available. ISBN-10: 0-8118-5680-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-8118-5680-5 Manufactured in Hong Kong designed by patrick david barber and holly mcguire Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books 9050 Shaughnessy Street Vancouver, British Columbia V6P 6E5 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Chronicle Books LLC 85 Second Street San Francisco, California 94105 www.chroniclebooks.com Page 2: Elle Macpherson 1994 Page 5: Marilyn Monroe 1953 Pages 16 and 17: These photos of Vanna White were taken in 1982 before White’s association with Wheel of Fortune. Page 85: Anita Ekberg photograph by Sepy Dobronyi © 1956 by M. Pallas, R. Seaver. I N T R O D U C T I O N It could be argued that Playboy magazine got its start with ticity, but her calm response—that she had been doing what celebrity photography—or, more properly, with one photo- comes naturally—won the nation’s heart. She already had graph of one extraordinary celebrity. In the very first issue, the momentum, having brought spark to Monkey Business we printed the now-iconic image of Marilyn Monroe that and a much-commented-upon walk to Niagara. She had had been shot in 1949 by photographer Tom Kelly. Playboy is shocked the press by wearing a gold lamé dress to an awards more than images, of course, and the images in Playboy are ceremony, and had impressed us with the quip, “You would not just of celebrities. But the Marilyn Monroe photo came think all other women kept their bodies in vaults.” at the right moment in our culture—and that, perhaps Marilyn was special; she performed for the camera more than any other single reason, was why the magazine with a bold and direct manner. She used her vulnerability succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. and beauty to create a bond with her audience. Because she When I first saw this picture—bought from the was comfortable in her body, she invited the male gaze and John Baumgarth Company in Chicago—I realized I was turned it into art. She epitomized sex as natural. “If I have seeing the future. I knew this photograph would be the to be a symbol,” she said, “it might as well be for sex.” defining image of my new publication. I hoped America “It could be argued,” said Richard B. Woodward in his was ready for a sophisticated magazine that would offer essay “Iconomania,” “that the Playboy empire, with all the more than awkward gestures toward sex and beauty—a social change it has brought to the world, was built on this magazine that would exist beyond the purview of the image. Through no plan of her own, Marilyn revolutionized barbershop or the mechanic’s garage. Even so, I wasn’t the country’s attitudes toward nudity and self-promotion. certain about the future. I put no date on that first issue She was the first actress to prove that taking off your clothes because I wasn’t sure there would be a second. for Playboy can amplify your career, not end it.” It’s difficult for me to realize now how much has come Most people who had seen the original calendar saw out of that photo of Marilyn, and how much it changed our Marilyn defaced—the printer had added an implausible culture. In a way—in terms of the history of censorship and two-piece swimsuit to her natural form. We showed her of American sexual politics—Marilyn’s picture is as signifi- as she truly was, the real thing, the genuine article. And we cant as Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Much of this was Marilyn set this jewel in a sophisticated context: a celebration of the Monroe’s doing. She had the beauty and the courage to pose good life, a world of wine, feasts, fast cars, and fine fiction. for the pictures. Once rumors leaked out of the existence of The publication of the Marilyn photos staked a claim the photos, Marilyn’s studio asked her to deny their authen- to the newsstand that still endures after fifty years. We 7 subsequently turned our attention at the magazine to mountain stream than have seen the moment she rose from Europe, publishing figure studies of Anita Ekberg, candid the water in Dr. No. More people have seen Playboy’s figure shots of Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. We followed study of Ekberg than her romp in the Trevi Fountain. up with three pictorials of Brigitte Bardot. Their films were Most critiques miss the collaborative input from the playing in art houses and were the definition of sophistica- person in front of the camera. Raquel Welch, one of the tion. Eventually, we found American contenders. Oddly, last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when a photograph of Jayne Mansfield led to my arrest in 1963 you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world by an overzealous Chicago police department. I’ve always without taking your clothes off. She declined to do com- thought the bogus prosecution had less to do with nudity plete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. The pictures prove and more to do with the defense of Lenny Bruce in the her point. At the other extreme, Farrah Fawcett would not “Playboy Philosophy.” take her clothes off unless someone else in the room did Some of the pictorials were labors of love. John Derek too. The unsung photo assistant who volunteered deserves brought us shots of each of his wives (Ursula Andress, Linda your thanks. Of course, he got to go around saying he and Evans, and Bo Derek). Joe Hyams persuaded Elke Sommer Farrah were naked in the same room. to pose unclothed, a state he said was nearly permanent. We can’t deny that much of our fascination with these Over the years Playboy has been known for its cele- photos is driven by the underlying curiosity of what a bration of the Girl Next Door, who could, I suppose, be celebrity looks like without her clothes. That curiosity is viewed as the antithesis of celebrity. The Girl Next Door elemental. This book reveals movie stars, pop stars, athletes, is the woman we encounter every day—at the department the wives of boxing champions, supermodels, and former store, the office. She is neither unattainable nor unworldly. girlfriends—the entire rainbow of feminine beauty—in a She is real. And this is the basis of her charm. But there is manner that speaks to this elemental curiosity. a connection between the movie stars and the Girls Next And then there are the girls who first caught the atten- Door, and it is in their shared inclusiveness, in their will- tion of the world as Playmates, and who returned the favor. ingness to allow the viewer to join them. Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, and Jenny McCarthy Much has been said about photographs as icons, about are now household names. the person captured in an instant outliving the scripted It is a powerful combination, celebrity and naked skin. appearances in movies. There seems to be some of that at Enjoy. H work here. More people remember the shots of Ursula in a HUGH M. HEFNER
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