playboy50: Let's begin

[Peggy Wilkins]

Hello All,

Welcome to the 50th Anniversary Playboy Roundtable, and my thanks to
all of you who are taking the time to participate in this project.  I
personally know many of you here, and from our discussions I know that
Playboy has made an impact on each of us -- we have enjoyed it, some
of us for many many years, and we share in the desire to see it
fulfill its potential for many years into the future.

Playboy fulfilling its potential is no small task.  Many of us are
acutely aware of Playboy's distinguished history.  We remember reading
the interviews, the Philosophy, the Forum, the fiction; we remember
Playmates like Donna Michelle, Cynthia Myers, Patti McGuire, Dorothy
Stratten, and Heather Kozar; we remember the well-designed covers, and
the great photographers and artists; we remember Jack Cole and Jules
Feiffer and Gahan Wilson; we remember reading issues cover to cover,
and enjoying every moment of it.

But the greatest enjoyment seems relegated (mostly) to the past.  Go
into any place where Playboy is discussed today, and you will find
that while there is still some praise going around, there is also a
steady tone of disappointment. I see it expressed both implicitly and
explicitly: frustration, complaining, sarcasm, and bitterness.  I hear
it from both older, veteran readers and from younger, more casual
readers.  While some of the complaints are unthoughtful and lack
insight, i think that finally we have to realize that there is some
important truth to be found behind this steady negativity.

This negativity shouldn't be too surprising; after all, all good
things have their corresponding problems.  It is only natural that
along with Playboy's 50 years of distinguished history comes 50 years
of accumulated cruft: the dust bunnies under the bed (sorry, I
couldn't resist!), the flip side to their success.  If Playboy is to
successfully adapt to changing times, these issues must be faced,
acknowledged, worked through with creativity, and finally,
transcended.

This forum is here to discuss in analytic detail both sides: we will
deliberately acknowledge what has been good, and what has not.
Perhaps we can also go beyond this and think about some new roads for
Playboy.  I hope that in doing this, we can help PEI think about, and
rethink, what Playboy is and what it should be.  Ultimately, it is
this vision of Playboy -- what it is, what it does -- that guides its
content; and it is, after all, pleasing content that we want most of
all.  That is what will keep us coming back month after month.

Thus I come to what I would like to present as our first topic for
discussion: What Is Playboy?  This topic is deliberately very open and
vague: I feel it makes an excellent opening topic for that reason.
Approach this in any way you think will be insightful and productive.
We can use the issues that inevitably come up in this topic for more
detailed discussion further down the road.  The reasons you like
Playboy will give insight into what it is, so give some thought to why
you like Playboy, especially when it pleases you most.  Does it give
you anything you can't get elsewhere?  What?  Try to think in positive
terms: what defines a good issue of Playboy, rather than what does
not.

My contribution to this topic (which given the lateness of the hour
probably will not come tonight) will be to tell the story of how I
first happened upon Playboy, and how I ended up collecting it.  This
story tells a great deal about what Playboy is, and the reasons for
its success, I think.

Just a quick reminder, you can find playboy50 information at this
address:
http://mozart.lib.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/playboy50
and please look over the posting guidelines if you haven't already
done so, they are here:
http://mozart.lib.uchicago.edu/playboy50/posting.html
Feel free to contact me with any questions.  Once again, many thanks
for taking the time to contribute here.  I am very much looking
forward to seeing what comes of this.
__
Peggy Wilkins                                         mozart@uchicago.edu
Marilyn on the Web                 http://glamournet.com/legends/Marilyn/
Admin, Playboy Mailing List            http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PML1