PLAYBOY Lifestyle

[Dan Stiffler]

Mr. Hefner frequently refers to PLAYBOY as a lifestyle magazine.  Responding
to Peggy's latest assignment, I would like to pursue that concept for a
while, in between final packings for this weekend's Glamourcon in Los
Angeles.

The November 2002 issue may give us some clues about what ³lifestyle² means
to PLAYBOY today.  The table of contents has a lifestyle section with two
articles.  The piece on cars is a one-page examination of two popular
mid-priced sedans, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord.  The basic
argument of ³Stepping Up In Class² is that you can buy a nice, up-graded
6-cylinder Japanese sedan, almost as good as a German sedan, for about
$30,000.  The piece is written by Arthur Kretchmer, long-time PLAYBOY
editorial director, soon to be replaced by James Kaminsky from Maxim.

The other designated lifestyle article is a two-page spread on
³malternatives,² the new beverage craze.  This unsigned piece explains why
malt liquors have become ³cool² in clubs: they come in bottles (so you can
hang onto your drink while dancing) with the labels of popular liquor
companies (Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Bacardi).  Apparently they have already
made a ³sizable dent in the American beer market.²  The article concludes by
describing a ubiquitous television ad, one where the heroes are elevated in
status‹and girlfriends‹by pretending to know ³Sergio.²

As it happens, correlative articles appear in the features section.  ³Cribs
on Wheels² is a 4-page layout by Ken Gross, focusing on the car collections
of star athletes, with representatives from each of the major team sports.
Mercedes, Ferrari, Bentley, Cadillac Escalade.  Lots of customized up-grade
packages.  Even a leased Grumman G3 jet in Pavel Bure's garage.

Highlighted on the cover is a feature article by Alison Prato, ³Playboy's
Top 25 Party Schools.²  This four-page layout consists of the ³Top 25,² a
brief introduction by Ms. Prato, and scores of quotes from partiers around
the country on how to get drunk and laid.  Sample offerings: ³At one party,
all hell broke loose.  I did two keg stands and on the second one, I threw
up on the keg as I was being lowered. Gross, I know!²; ³When it comes to
drinking, we're professionals.  When friends and relatives come from other
schools, they complain about how late we run and how much we drink²; ³A
friend was making out with a girl and went to the bathroom.  When he came
back he resumed making out with her, but he tasted something weird in her
mouth.  He later found out she had given another guy a blow job while he was
in the bathroom and he was tasting that other guy.²  The pages are sprinkled
with snap-shot style photos, some of party animals in various stages of
drunkenness and undress.

Just for fun, I thought I would look back forty years, to the November 1962
PLAYBOY, and check out its lifestyle features.  The table of contents
provides no simple identifications but, flipping through the pages, I first
come across an 11-page pictorial layout entitled ³PLAYBOY on the Town in New
York² (cleverly featured ³in lights² on the magazine¹s cover).  Accompanying
the photos is a 14-page essay on the charms of the city, including its
historical (Giovanni da Varrazano was the first European to visit) and
contemporary hangouts (a veritable guide book to the best New York had to
offer in 1962).  The photos feature young, well-dressed men with equally
young, well-dressed women visiting such places as Washington Square, the
Museum of Modern Art, Times Square, Carnegie Hall and then dining at
Sardi's.  The evening ends as a couple embraces on the Staten Island Ferry,
³where shipboard romance blooms with the sunrise.²

After pausing for a moment to note a one-page attire feature by Robert Green
(truly bad hats!) and for many moments to reminisce about the charms of Avis
Kimble, I find a four-page article by Thomas Mario called ³Fowl Deeds,²
which includes seven recipes: goose, capon, duckling, guinea hen, pheasant,
along with apple or truffle stuffing.  The final sentence notes: ³Whichever
of these recherché birds in hand graces your groaning board, you can be sure
that your fowl play will reap its reward in your guests¹ compliments coming
home to roost.²

Shepherd Mead's satiric series on ³succeeding with women without really
trying² (two pages in this issue) may not be a lifestyle piece per se, but
it¹s hard to ignore advice like this: ³Avoid drunkenness.  Know your own
capacity and‹even more important‹that of your women friends.  The
overgenerous host who allows his female companion to become supersaturated
will find he has a poor companion.  If, on the other hand, you are
entertaining a woman of formidable capacity, you may have to take
precautionary measures.  A rack of spareribs, a piece of toast buttered on
both sides, a half cup of melted lard or other fatty substance taken shortly
before imbibing will prevent giddiness and maintain firmness of purpose.
The wise male, for reasons of economy, soon rids himself of girls of this
stripe.²

Thus, two issues of PLAYBOY, forty years apart: two examples of lifestyle.

Let me start with the obvious.  The '62 issue has over thirty pages devoted
to lifestyle concerns; the '02 issue has a third that many.  The '62
magazine was clearly invested in the proposition that its readers were
interested in a PLAYBOY lifestyle.  Excepting the attire piece, each of the
'62 articles is an extended discussion on the topic at hand.  So in simple
terms of quantity, PLAYBOY offered its readers more lifestyle content in the
sixties than it does today.

Of greater contrast, at least to me, is the quality of the lifestyle
presentations.  On the surface, there is nothing wrong with Kretchmer's
detailing of two popular sedans.  But the message is that ³no matter how
much you covet a new Jaguar or a Mercedes-Benz, it's likely that at some
point in your life, you're going to make a list of cars that realistically
fit your needs and resources.²  Hey, since when is PLAYBOY supposed to bring
me back to earth?  It's that E-type in the Playboy penthouse garage that I
dream about.  But, oh, the '02 issue tells me that the up-scale sports car
is the plaything of superstar athletes.  Since I can't play for the Dallas
Cowboys, I guess I better get used to driving a souped-up Accord.

Consequently, I guess I better also stop planning on a visit by Cynthia
Maddox any time soon.

Then there is the party lifestyle.  Back in '62, the consummate host would
fix an elegant meal and provide carefully portioned libations, just enough
to get the conversation flowing and to drop the inhibitions of a repressive
society.  In '02, drinking has become a competitive sport, with deception
integral to success.  How much can I drink and whom can I fool in order to
get sex?  While the '62 playboy planned a night on the town in a great city
like New York, the '02 playboy is picking his college by the drinks per
girls ratio: ³Alcohol on this campus flows like water, and the girls?
Goddamn. It¹s like a pussy parade.²

And here I thought the faculty per student ratio was important.

Surely, the argument can be made that PLAYBOY today is only reflecting the
lifestyles of contemporary young people.  But college kids were barfing on
fraternity party kegs in the sixties (I was there).  And, gee, some of us
were driving VW bugs with special exhaust packs to crank out a few extra
horses.  PLAYBOY was something else.  It didn't pander to our reality.  The
lifestyle depicted in the '62 PLAYBOY made young men reach for a different
life.  Sure it was a dream, but it was a dream that seemed possible, if only
we would follow the guide to New York City, if only we would cook the
pheasant in the right herbs and mix the martini with the right gin.  The
PLAYBOY of '62 didn't tell us that we had to settle for the Honda, that only
celebrities drove the Jags.

Another thing that Mr. Hefner frequently says is that he is living out his
youthful dreams.  In the early years of PLAYBOY, he shared his dreams with
his readers and it was a sharing that made possible a communal, generational
dream.  As the magazine considers its future, I hope that it does not
completely lose sight of Hef's dreams.  Many young men in America today are
looking for a lifestyle that is playful yet dignified.  Let Maxim and Stuff
aim at the common denominator.  PLAYBOY should be the ³stuff of which dreams
are made.²

regards,

Dan Stiffler