To: pml1@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PML1] Classic Centerfold: Jennifer Liano
From: Mark Tomlonson
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 12:47:14 -0500

As I've selected those few Centerfolds that I call "Classics", I've 
chosen some for their strong artistic merit, some for the eroticism of 
their settings and some for the political and social statements they 
make. The May 1970 foldout of Jennifer Liano by Dwight Hooker is a 
Classic because of its historical significance in the development of the 
style of Playboy Centerfolds, and, to a lesser extent, because of its 
historical significance in the development of Mark Tomlonson.

Jennifer's centerfold came at a time of great social upheaval in the 
United States. The "ideal woman" was undergoing another of her periodic 
transformations. Playboy, whose business was to portray this ideal, 
seemed at the time to this observer to be slow in picking up on this 
change. Some remember Playboy of this era as being a trendsetter, a 
leader in social thought and commentary. This observer remembers it as 
being part of the old guard that was in danger of being carted off to 
the guillotine, hopelessly square and out of it. It seemed as much of a 
dinosaur as the tail fins of a '59 Coupe de Ville.

But 30 years later we know how this story ends. '59 Coupe de Villes are 
now cultural icons. The revolution was moderated and co-opted by society 
at large. Some things were changed, and changed for the better. But as 
in every revolution, several babies managed to get thrown out with their 
bath water. Playboy changed. Some old timers are still grousing about 
it. I'd say while there was change, it was for the most part neutral.

Jennifer's centerfold is a hallmark of the transitional nature of the 
times. The background is a rich brocade, a throwback to a Victorian 
sense of decoration popular in the late '60's, but Jennifer's pants are 
a foretaste of the polyester disco era that was to come. The Playmate of 
the Month story has Jennifer making her own jewelry - a very '60's thing 
to do, but in the centerfold she's wearing it on the third finger of her 
left hand - a much more '50's thing. She's portrayed as a free spirit in 
a Haight-Ashbury sort of way, but also as a woman wearing a bra preening 
herself for a date in front of a mirror.

Don't misunderstand - Playboy wasn't more "out of it" because of these 
dichotomies - this schizoid nature was a reflection of what was going on 
in almost the entire world at the time.

What constitutes acceptable nudity has changed over time, and the style 
of Playboy's centerfolds has changed along with it. At first, they were 
simply stock nude calendar shots, the type of picture you'd find on any 
mechanic's wall. But Hef wanted more than that, to be more mainstream. 
At the time that meant less exposure, more coyness. A style developed 
that was more along the lines of a Petty or Vargas drawing. A bare 
bottom was acceptable; a bare nipple was risqué; pubic hair taboo.

Then, like a glacier creeping down a mountain, styles began to change. 
Bare nipples became acceptable, and where once we were teased with 
breast, we were now teased with pubic exposure. I can remember several 
fevered discussions with my 6th grade classmates about just how much of 
what we were seeing in the latest pilfered picture from Playboy, Gent, 
Jem or Nugget was lower stomach and how much was something else. (Do 6th 
graders still have those discussions? Or is that sort of thing now 
pointless?)

Jennifer's foldout is from the dying throes of the "bare nipple" era, 
but there's no tease here in any sense of the word. All the other 
centerfold elements - color, situation, geometry - are present and 
Dwight Hooker has done them quite well, but this time all are secondary 
to Jennifer herself. It's her lovely, lovely chest that's the highlight 
of this centerfold. Her large, deep, sloe-brown eyes and beautiful, 
cascading hair are important too, but in this centerfold it's the 
breasts. They are as yet unaffected by gravity, and Jennifer's youthful 
muscle tome gives them the kind of shape that implants unsuccessfully 
imitate. The strong light from the window on her right and the reflected 
light coming from her left give a very strong three dimensional effect, 
further highlighting their shape. But Jennifer herself is making no 
effort to either hide or highlight them. They are just what they are, no 
more, no less. Natural - a very '60's thing.

Dwight Hooker has placed his camera slightly above Jennifer, looking 
down at her. This is the perspective most men have when looking at a 
woman. It makes it seem as if we are standing right next to Jennifer 
beside the window. As intimate and as close as we are to Jennifer now, 
the look in Jennifer's eyes tell us that soon we will be even closer.

This high degree of intimacy, this intimacy stated by physical 
closeness, would not have played in Playboy 5 years earlier. Earlier 
foldouts used situations, eye contact and facial expressions to provide 
a sense of eroticism and intimacy. Here Dwight Hooker has used the 
physical. Just a short time after this, after the glacier had melted and 
the sexual ice age was over, Playboy photographers would be using 
physical intimacy more often than not. Jennifer's Classic Centerfold is 
on the cusp between the styles and standards of the old school and the new.

The spring of 1970 found me on the cusp too, between those unfortunate 
years of Junior High and the (relatively) more mature years of High 
School. I'd been a regular clandestine reader of Our Favorite Magazine 
since I was 12, but by this time I was actually walking into a store and 
buying it, the second time in May 1970. (Coincidentally, it's Dwight 
Hooker's second centerfold too, but in a slightly different sense!) 
While Barbara Hillary, Miss April 1970, my "first" Playmate, has never 
generated any complaints from this department, it's Jennifer Liano's 
centerfold that was the first to give me that feeling of being hit in 
the solar plexus with a two-by-six that heterosexual men feel when in 
the presence of a nearly unbelievably beautiful woman.

Nearly 30 years later, every time I look at Jennifer's pictures, I still 
feel the echoes of that two-by-six thunking into my chest. Irrespective 
of how she fits into history, she is one of its great beauties, and 
certainly worthy of a "Classic" title.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI