R-E-S-P-E-C-T, as Aretha sang

[Dianne Chandler]

Steve Sloca is right on about how OFM has seems to feel they've "fought
the good fight" and for some years has been sliding downhill in terms of
relevancy.  Marilyn Monroe and all the lovely Playmates notwithstanding,
the thing that really made Playboy great was their willingness to take a
moral stand on the issues of the day.  I've said all this before in many
interviews over the years and on my website, etc., but now's the time to
say it again.  What really drew me to Playboy while still in high school
was the daring interviews and the articles that were out in front on
issues like civil rights, the VietNam war (support the troops
wholeheartedly, oppose the war itself), gay and lesbian issues, freedom
of speech, separation of church and state, fighting for women's
reproductive freedom and so many more.  If anything, in the 60's & early
to mid-70's, being seen carrying an issue of Playboy didn't make you
appear to be into "girlie magazines", more importantly, it branded you
as somewhat of a radical.  And PEI didn't just walk the walk, they
talked the talk.  Hef was threatened repeatedly because the Chicago
Playboy Club flatly refused to buy its beef from the Chicago mob. In
the early years....and this seems strange that it happened not so very
long ago, black entertainers were not allowed to dine in the
establishments in which they played or sang.  They had to use the back
door coming and going.  I mean this was *really* happening at the best
restaurants in Chicago, and I'm sure it was the case in most other
cities as well.  Not with Playboy, and many of the entertainers from
those days still comment when interviewed that the Playboy Club was the
only place they ever played where they were treated with respect.  The
company hired blacks in all capacities, including, of course, as bunnies
and Playmates.

In the early days, the magazine was able to combine highly intellectual,
political text while staying in touch with the college crowd by doing
articles on psychedelic music, fun photo pieces on "flower children" and
other "with-it" ideas.  Since the college kids today are so apolitical
(not being subject to a draft and seeing your friends killed or return
home burned out on drugs makes a difference in your attitude), Mr.
Kaminsky has a dificult balance to achieve.  The September issue was a
good start.

Dianne Chandler
Miss September 1966