June, and Dianne

[Gretchen Edgren]

I think the June issue has some terrific improvements. Especially the
affordable fashion tied in with lifestyle, the colorful Interview sidebars
and those with the Sinatra piece. The movie reviews are more preview than
review, except for Leonard Maltin's Score Card. So they're more timely, but
less thoughtful. Major Turn-Ons is a service piece much more up-to-date, and
lifestyle-savvy, than many of its predecessors.

As for Honoring Thy Playmate:  All of the previous posts have made good
points. I think perhaps the biggest change since Dianne Chandler's days as
an honored campus guest is a result of the dramatically different role of
women in the 21st Century, as compared to what it was in 1966. Yes, we were
treated with respect, as ladies. Also....we couldn't get most jobs. Or
promotions. 

With a journalism degree (with honors), a Phi Beta Kappa key and 11 years of
daily newspaper experience under my belt, I applied for a job with the
Chicago Daily News (now defunct) in 1966, and was informed by the city
editor (or the news editor, I forget) that he wasn't hiring women. One
excuse often given in those days was that editors feared putting women on
the traditional entry-level beat, night shift at the police station. 

In 1967, by a stroke of luck, I did get hired as an associate editor of VIP,
the quarterly magazine for Playboy Club keyholders....only to be
subsequently (and, fortunately, temporarily) refused a promotion because I
was a woman, and "after all, this is a men's magazine." Yes, managers could
say things like that in those days...pre-EOCC, it was still legal. 

Times have changed, for good or ill. I wouldn't want to go back to the old
days...even though I was safely ensconced on a pedestal. But I feel sorry
for those contemporary young women who've been taught, by militant feminists
and their ilk, that being paid a compliment amounts to sexual harassment, or
that flirting is somehow decadent. They're missing a helluva lot of fun. 

None of the above means that Playmates aren't important to the magazine.
They are. I, too, loved the Playmates Revisited feature and the online
chats. I wrote quite a few of the Cyber Club bio updates, and enjoyed both
the experience of interviewing these ladies and the resulting paychecks.
Unfortunately, I don't think these features attracted many readers, and I
know for a fact that they didn't attract many chatters.

Onward & upward...I look forward to what happens next.

Best to all of you

gretchen edgren