Playboy Through Time

There was an interesting link on digg.com tonight – a history of Playboy’s centerfolds. Being a bit of a history buff myself (can I legitimately use the word buff in this context?) I decided to take a look.

There’s good and bad here. Some of the women from the early years are now in their 70s… maybe older. Photos are ageless. We are not. Pardon me for finding that discomforting.

The hair… the hair of the 60s! What were they thinking and why did I buy in? No matter what they were wearing or doing, old photos always look dated.

I saw some woman I remember from my youth. I suppose you’re less likely to forget the naked women in your life.

More than anything, I was surprised I don’t find the photos erotic. They didn’t seem like art either. I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

Actually, I call it the Harlem Globetrotters syndrome. Years ago, the Globetrotters were amazing. But that was before the NBA turned tall and athletic. Now, everything the Globetrotters did is on display every night on TV. Same thing here.

I’m not sure I ever met a centerfold. Years ago, some friends and I speculated about another friend’s wife. Things he had said led in that direction. It was a question we weren’t going to follow up on. Anyway, speculation was probably more fun.

I scanned five or six years worth before getting bored. That’s somewhere near 70 naked women – all with perfect blemish free skin, except the one girl from 2000 with a butterfly tattooed on her ankle.

In those pre-Photoshop years, they really did use an airbrush. It seems so quaint.

I haven’t possesed a copy of Playboy in a really long time. Back in the day, when I did get it, I read the articles… not exclusively, of course. But I did read them.

Why does no one ever buy that?

3 thoughts on “Playboy Through Time”

  1. haha, great post! I dunno if we are on the same page with Playboy. I’m not going to lie, I tried to read the articles; I just get distracted. I can honestly say I have never owned an issue, but there is always one floating around at work. Sooo, how about the first flakes on Monday? Yeah I’m good at subject transitions.

  2. I was 12 when I decided to sneak a peek at my married brother’s 1976 Playboy, and I remembered centerfold Ann Pennington simply because she was the prettier sister of longtime “Price Is Right” model (and earlier centerfold, as it turned out) Janice Pennington. Four years later, I met Ann backstage at a concert in Houston’s Astrodome—she was the new wife (first wife) of Shaun Cassidy, my heart throb. She was really warm and nice to me and my friends, chatting and asking questions. She made an impression we never forgot—probably a good thing for us to see that at least one of those airbrushed beauties seemed so down to earth.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *