Hef's rightful successor: Jeff Cohen

[Brian Sorgatz]

Peggy, in a recent post you said you were finished editing the excerpts from 
our dialogue.  I ask you to consider adding this admittedly late post to the 
compilation, if you find it worthy.  This is the follow-up to my post of 
April 25, 2003, entitled "Hef needs a successor".

If it were up to me (which it isn't, of course), I would select Special 
Editions executive editor Jeff Cohen to succeed Hef.  He has proven 
editorial talent.  But just as importantly, he also demonstrates the 
soulful, poetic frame of mind necessary to preserve Hef's legacy.  Page 11 
of the Playboy 50 Years:  The Photographs book quotes him as saying, 
"Whether it's the texture of the paper, the glossiness, the tactile quality 
of the page, a photo in the magazine has an impact that will never be 
matched by the Internet.  There's something about holding an image in your 
hand.  You can study it, return to it."

I love the way this guy thinks.  For another example, in his full-page 
introductory notes to the June 2000 Girlfriends SE, he reflects on women's 
desire for close friendship with other women:  "There's a connection they 
need, a trust, a nonjudgemental exchange that we testosterone-injected 
creatures just can't provide."  With his infectious sense of wonder, Cohen 
is the Spielberg of men's magazine editors.  His kind of vision is needed to 
protect PLAYBOY from the influence of those who are cynics according to 
Oscar Wilde's definition of the word:  those who know the price of 
everything and the value of nothing.

Brian Sorgatz