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Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models (Playboy Playmate, Playmates), ''Playboy'' played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special #International editions, nation-specific versions of ''Playboy'' are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood. With a regular displ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the ''Playboy'' brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmate, ''Playboy'' Playmates shared his wild partying life, fueling media interest. Early life and education Hefner was born in Chicago on April 9, 1926, the first child of accountant Glenn Lucius Hefner (1896–1976) and his wife Grace Caroline (Swanson) Hefner (1895–1997) who worked as a teacher. His parents were from Nebraska. He had a younger brother named Keith (1929–2016). His mother was of Swedish ancestry, and his father was German and English. Hefner was a descendant of Plymouth governor William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor), William Bradford through his father's line. He described his family as "conservative, Midwestern, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PLBY Group
PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focused on four primary business lines: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming and Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming. Today, PLBY Group, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and distribution of content, products and high-profile events that embody both "eroticism and fine art", and apparel retailing. It is in the top twenty most licensed brands globally. History Sales of ''Playboy'' magazine peaked in 1972 at over 7 million copies. By 2015, the circulation had fallen to 800,000. The company completed its shift to consumer products in 2020 with the shuttering of the magazine division, and is now known to generate more than $3 billion in consumer spending annually across 180 countries. Playboy Enterprises, Inc. made its in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playboy Playmate
A Playmate is a female Model (person), model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playmate Data Sheet", which lists her birthdate, measurements, turn-ons, and turn-offs. At the end of the year, one of the 12 Playmates of the Month is named Playmate of the Year (PMOTY). Every Playmate of the Month is awarded a prize of US$25,000 and each Playmate of the Year receives an additional prize of US$100,000 plus a car (on a short-term lease) and other discretionary gifts. In addition, Anniversary Playmates are usually chosen to celebrate a milestone year of the magazine. The use of the word "Playmate" in a sexual sense did not originate with ''Playboy'', and was seen at least as early as 1950 in Vue (magazine), ''Vue'' magazine (vol 1, #1). They were also termed "Playboy Bunny". ''Playboy'' encourages potential Play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Paul
Arthur Paul (January 18, 1925 – April 28, 2018) was an American graphic designer and the founding art director of ''Playboy'' magazine. During his time at ''Playboy'', he commissioned illustrators and artists, including Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí, and James Rosenquist, as part of the illustration liberation movement. In addition to being an art director and graphic designer — in particular of ''Playboy''s rabbit logo — Art Paul was an illustrator, fine artist, curator, writer, and composer. There has been a surge of recent interest concerning both Art's past and present, with recent talks, books, exhibitions, and a documentary being made about him. At 91 years old, he put his drawings and writings into book form, creating projects focused on race, aging, animals, and graphic whimsy. Early life and education Paul was born on January 18, 1925, in the Southwest Side of Chicago. His family later moved to Rogers Park area on the north side. There, while attendi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Annie Fanny'' strips in ''Playboy'' from 1962 until 1988. His work is noted for its satire and parody of popular culture, social critique, and attention to detail. Kurtzman's working method has been likened to that of an Auteur theory, auteur, and he expected those who illustrated his stories to follow his layouts strictly. Kurtzman began to work on the New Trend line of comic books at EC Comics in 1950. He wrote and edited the ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat'' war comic books, where he also drew many of the carefully researched stories, before he created his most-remembered comic book, ''Mad'', in 1952. Kurtzman scripted the stories and had them drawn by top EC cartoonists, most frequently Will Elder, Wally Wood, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shel Silverstein
Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, cartoonist, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into the United States Army. During his rise to prominence in the 1950s, his illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, including the adult-oriented ''Playboy''. He also wrote a satirical, adult-oriented alphabet book, ''Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book''. As a children's author, some of his most acclaimed works include ''The Giving Tree'', ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'', and ''A Light in the Attic''. His works have been translated into more than 47 languages and have sold more than 20 million copies.Rogak, Lisa. ''A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein''. Thomas Dunne Books (imprint of St. Martin's Press), 2007. As a songwriter, Silverstein wrote the 1969 Johnny Cash track "A Boy Named Sue", which peaked at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Revolution
The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Sexual liberation included increased acceptance of sexual intercourse outside of traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationships, primarily marriage. The legalization of the pill as well as other forms of contraception, public nudity, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, masturbation, alternative forms of sexuality, and abortion all followed. The term “first sexual revolution” is used by scholars to describe different periods of significant change in Western sexual norms, including the Christianization of Roman sexuality, the decline of Victorian morals, and the cultural shifts of the Roaring Twenties. Sexual revolution most commonly refers to the mid-20th century, when advances in contraception, medicine, and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer ( ; January 26, 1929 – January 17, 2025) was an American cartoonist and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, editorial cartooning, and in 2004 he was inducted into the List of Eisner Award winners, Comic Book Hall of Fame. He wrote the animated short ''Munro (film), Munro'', which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1961. The Library of Congress has recognized his "remarkable legacy", from 1946 to the present, as a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, adult and children's book author, illustrator, and art instructor. When Feiffer was 17 (in the mid-1940s) he became assistant to cartoonist Will Eisner. There he helped Eisner write and illustrate his comic strips, including ''Spirit (comics character), The Spirit''. In 1956, he became a staff cartoonist at ''The Village Voice'', where he produced the weekly comic st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Cole (artist)
Jack Ralph Cole (December 14, 1914 – August 13, 1958) was an American cartoonist best known for birthing the comedic superhero Plastic Man, and his cartoons for '' Playboy'' magazine. He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1999. Early life Born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, Cole—the third of six children of a dry goods-store owner and amateur-entertainer father and a former elementary school-teacher mother—was untrained in art except for the Landon School of Illustration and Cartooning correspondence course. At age 17, he bicycled solo cross-country to Los Angeles, California and back. Cole recounted this adventure in an early self-illustrated professional sale "A Boy and His Bike" (which has often been cited as appearing in '' Boys' Life'' magazine, but in fact the source of this article is unknown, but speculated to have likely appeared in Cole's hometown newspaper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centerfold
The centerfold or centrefold of a magazine is the inner pages of the middle Folio, sheet, usually containing a portrait, such as a pin-up or a Nudity, nude. The term can also refer to the model featured in the portrait. In saddle-stitched magazines (as opposed to those that are perfect binding, perfect-bound), the centerfold does not have any blank space cutting through the image. The term was coined by Hugh Hefner, founder of ''Playboy'' magazine. The success of the 1953 first issue of ''Playboy'' has been attributed in large part to its centerfold: a nude of Marilyn Monroe. The advent of monthly centerfolds gave the pin-up a new respectability and helped to sanitize the notion of "sexiness". Being featured as a centerfold could lead to film roles for models, and still occasionally does today. Early on, Hefner required ''Playboy'' centerfolds to be portrayed precisely, telling photographers in a 1956 memo that the "model must be in a natural setting engaged in some activity ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Raymonde
Roy Raymonde (26 December 1929 – 14 September 2009) was a British editorial cartoonist best known for his work in ''Playboy'', '' Punch'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph.'' He was much admired for his stylish comic drawings and flamboyant use of colour. Early life Raymonde was born on 26 December 1929, in Grantham, to Juliana Patricia Quinn and Barry Raymonde, an advertising agent and theatrical impresario. They were living in Bristol in 1938 when Barry contracted pneumonia and died, leaving Patricia (who was pregnant with her second child, Patsy) to fend for her family. Their life became peripatetic as Patricia took a series of jobs around the country. During this period Raymonde attended at least 16 different schools. They finally settled in North London just in time for the Blitz. He recounted that the Kingsbury house they lived in was completely demolished one night by a German land mine. Fearing that he had been killed, the firemen feverishly cleared the rubble only to find hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gahan Wilson
Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by the work of the satiric '' Mad'' and '' Punch'' cartoonists, and 1950s science fiction films. His cartoons and prose fiction appeared regularly in ''Playboy'', ''Collier's'' and ''The New Yorker'' for nearly 50 years. He was a regular contributor to the '' National Lampoon'' humor magazine. He published cartoons and film reviews for ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction''. From 1992 through end of publication, he prepared all the front covers for the annual book ''Passport to World Band Radio''. Wilson was a movie review columnist for '' The Twilight Zone Magazine'' and a book critic for ''Realms of Fantasy'' magazine. Wilson wrote and illustrated a short story for Harlan Ellison's anthology '' Again, Dangerous Visions'' (1972). He als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
