PLAYBOY style

[Mark Tomlonson]

Dan Stiffler wrote:

>My first issue, the one at the bottom of a growing stack on my book shelves,
>had a feature about plans for the Playboy penthouse, which would have been
>built if Hef hadn't found his Chicago mansion.  Itıs true that Cynthia
>Maddox is quite simply the most remarkable feature of May 1962 and itıs also
>true that Marya Carter was my ³first playmate,² but the Playboy penthouse
>really got me to thinking.  I was already crazy about the E-type Jag parked
>in the garage.  Boy, if I lived in a place like that and drove an E-type,
>maybe I could get a girl like Cynthia Maddox to come on over.  I guess I
>still think about that place sometimes.
>
Maybe something I got from Playboy was a sense of style. (Not that I 
have it, but I think I know it when I see it!) One of the joys of 
browsing a Playboy from the late fifties and early sixties is reveling 
in their mostly faultless execution of the "cool" era. I'm talking Frank 
and Ella, Mies and der stile, Coco and Penn. I'm not talking "kewl".

Yeah, the pad, the car, the girl . . .

At times later editions have been able to deliver style as well as they 
did in the "cool" era. Hippies Playboy never understood, Peter Max and 
the Yellow Submarine were right down their alley. Very few things had 
any enduring style in the '70's - but there were moments. Although I 
didn't think so at the time, now I think Playboy did a great job in the 
Cyndy Lauper '80's. I'm not sure yet about the '90's. I think I need a 
couple more years to pick out what was the best of that era.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI