RIP: Playgirl 1973 - 2008

If you think Details is skating the line between straight and gay, Playgirl practically pioneered the art!

Naked dudes are a mere Google Image search away with SafeSearch turned off.

Playgirl magazine was like an outdated joke that occassionally flew across the radar when they had a clever stunt, like offering $1 million to former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer to pose nude.

A bit of Playgirl trivia: they somehow coaxed "Carol Burnett Show" actor Lyle Waggoner to pose nude for them way back when, a second rate reply to Burt Reynolds doing the same in Cosmopolitan.

While Playgirl probably was a fun novelty throughout the 70's, who was reading it these last 20 years? Do you know any women who subscribed to Playgirl or stopped you on the street to say, "Hold on a second, I've got to pick up the new issue of Playgirl!"

Look at the cover lines and what do they sound like to you: "Wanna Buck?" "Backyard Bone?"

Without a public company backing them up, or ownership of profitable pay per view porno channels to bring in revenue, Playgirl probably staggered along on a non-female readership. It certainly wasn't the advertisers. Uh, what advertisers?

The Reaper is literally skin and bones... um, make that just bones... next to these Men's Health model wannabe's.

Comments

[randy]

Playgirl, which has been around since the 70s, has always been something of a closet case magazine, with a large unacknowledged gay readership. I know—I worked there. One of the great aspects to Playgirl magazine is that it help the careers to three of the most famous photographers in the world: Herb Ritts, Greg Gorman and Matthew Rolston. It should be added that they did not use their real names. Instead non de plums were used such as Tristan Tzara. It was a time when everyone wanted to be in Playgirl and it was essentially the only mass marketed magazine featuring cock at the time. As the times changed and gay porn began to be published in such legendary publications as In Touch, the readership continually dwindled. But it is important to remember that Playgirl likely sent many a closeted man on his way to self-realization.

[Guest]

An inside take
http://radaronline.com/features/2008/08/playgirl_closing_former_editor_remembers_01.php

[Megan Hussey]

I'm Megan Hussey, leader of Playgirl's Playgirl Posse fan club. We're a group made up mostly of women (about 90 percent) that has a page at the Playgirl website. We continue to support Playgirl and look forward to seeing more of the magazine's electronic editions.

The Posse consists of everyone from career women to college students, housewives to writers and artists, all of whom are pleased and honored to say, "I've got to pick up the new issue of Playgirl!"

Thank you,

Megan Hussey

[brenda mallette]

could you please tell me if ricky martin or john cusack or kevin spacey ever posed for play girl if they did . can i please order a copy???? brenda_mallette@yahoo.com brenda mallette 45 fiddler drive , new oxford ,pa.17350