Playboy: Rise of the World's Most Infamous Magazine

In nine seasons of widespread success, “I love Lucy’s” Lucy and Ricardo never slept in the same bed. (Brooks 1999) This decasualization of sexuality was central to the push for the “nuclear family.” Despite this, the fifties saw the founding of some of the most famous sex symbols of all time. Just two years after the viewers tuned in to the first episode of I Love Lucy, the most infamous magazine in the world, Playboy, was founded. Featuring a topless Marilyn Monroe as its centerfold, the 1953 issue of Playboy reached a circulation of well over fifty thousand and made Playboy, as well as founder Hugh Hefner, an immediate success. (Playboy Enterprises 2012)  In this lies an apparent dichotomy, that in the sexually repressive 1950’s, a magazine filled with infidelity, lust, and sex can become so wildly popular.

 

However, this is not the case. Playboy gained such massive popularity due to Hugh Hefner’s careful, calculated movements regarding the “Playboy Image,” from the magazine itself, to interviews and lawsuits pushing for “personal freedom” above all else. Due to this, Playboy came to perform two important tasks, it represented the sexual undertones of its target audience, as well as their individual identity and expression, in cohesion with representing this identity and expression in both the news and courtrooms.

The 1950’s hailed the “return of the family.” Society revolved around the “nuclear family” – a unit strong enough to overcome homosexuals, communists, and The Bomb. Conformity permeated both day to day life and the mass media. The gentrification of pop culture mandated that, in the media, not only was sexuality only to be shared between married couples for purposes of procreation, the ideal couple wouldn’t even share a bed.  Regardless of this, Playboy garnered a two thousand, five hundred percent return on Hefner’s initial investment, and was wildly popular for the entirety of the decade. (Playboy Enterprises 2012)

Despite widespread political controversy, and demonization in the media, Playboy and its ilk were embraced by the public. In its goal to be the perfect magazine for the “modern man,” Playboy came to represent not only the sexuality of the young men of the 1950’s, but also as a symbolic “freedom fighter,” pushing for not only a less sexually repressive society, but for a less conformist society as a whole. While the statement “I read it for the stories” may not have been entirely truthful, Playboy published many works pushing for less overbearing governmental control of the media, and in doing so modelled itself not as a sleazy monthly, but as an embodiment of American individuality and expression.

Partially due to these efforts, Playboy brought in its wake the sexual revolution of the 1960s. As the generation raised on Playboy came of age, they arose to embody the ideals it so lauded. Sexual expression, liberation from authoritarian governmental oversight, and the freedom of “dress and press” were all key aspects of the Sexual Revolution, and all were present in Playboy.

             

Via a careful analysis of three of the most important aspects to the Playboy story, not only can the widespread growth and popularity of the magazine be explained, so can the apparent dichotomy it created. In looking through the most circulated Playboy’s of the decade, a dissemination of the Congressional Record, detailing the hotly contested debate as to whether or not Playboy could be banned, and a detailed inquiry into the mind of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner through interviews, arguments, and statements made by the man himself during the decade, Playboy’s rise is shown to have been made with calculated movements pertaining to the “Playboy image,” via Playboy’s relationship with the courtroom, and through Hugh Hefner’s statements in the public eye.

But... but it's smut!

In 61 years of publication, Playboy magazine has become the seedy underbelly of the magazine world. Prior to the Age of the Internet, Playboy was one of the largest names in adult entertainment. With used copies passed about between friends, and favored issues hastily stored between mattress sheets, Playboy received widespread popularity. However, the magazine was founded during one of the most conservative times in our nation’s recent history. Hugh Hefner, on borrowed money, put all of his chips in play, and released Playboy #1 in December of 1953. (Playboy Enterprises 2012)

This isn’t as shocking as it seems. The widespread popularity of Playboy is primarily due to two reasons. Firstly, the Playboy of today is a far cry from that of the 1950’s. Far more written content can be seen. The first edition alone contains forty three pages of content, over half of which was written, in comparison with that of today, wherein less than a quarter contains written content. (Hefner 1953) The second reason pertains to Hugh Hefner’s mindset that Playboy was a “publishing need,” that it become a “freedom fighter,” an entity fighting both government oppression and the needs of the common man.

To this end, written content wasn’t made of simple smut stories, but of, as the intro to the first edition puts it “a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, and sex.” Contained in the first edition is an argument over the role of Alimony in modern law, a serialized edition of Sherlock Holmes, a discussion over the Dorsey Brothers (jazz musicians), a fictional short story decrying the dangers of sloth, and a few pieces on sports and interior design. (Hefner 1953)

 

  

Cover of Playboy #1, highlighting the magazine as the “VIP on Sex,” and loudly announcing that it, unlike any other magazine, contained Full Color nudes of Marilyn Monroe. (Hefner 1953) 

Out of the 13 articles in edition number one, only three contain nudity or any references to sex. This trend continued throughout the decade. As Playboy began a lawsuit with the U.S. Post Office, who had begun to censor Playboy in certain areas, and even refuse to deliver certain images to Playboy for publishing, the magazine began a war against government censorship. (Playboy Enterprises 2012)

Not only did Hugh Hefner appear in several interviews, lawsuits, and dinner-table discussions, Playboy directed its content to serve this end. One of the first publishers of Ray Bradbury’s famed anti-illiteracy and government censorship novel Fahrenheit 451 was Playboy, who serialized the literary work in issues two, three, and four. Fahrenheit 451, “the temperature at which books burn,” outlines a dystopian future where books have been made illegal, and are burned by the government. (Hefner 1953) The novel was published at a time when the US Post Office had the ability to censor any materiel it deemed “obscene,” including Playboy.

The importance of Playboy as a “publishing need” was articulated in the first issue, comparing it to the Kinsey Report, as a both a benefactor to the “common man” and as a resource for “pleasure-priming.” (Hefner 1953) As the magazine grew and developed throughout the decade, the push for censorship grew, reaching congressional debate. Through careful placement of advertising only suited to the “Playboy image,” content modified to suit the magazine’s needs at the time, and constant debate by the magazine’s creators, Playboy not only managed to keep itself in publication, but to change both the legal standing on freedom of publication, as well as the mindset of the everyday American.

Congressional Intervention

In 1955, Hugh Hefner, through Playboy’s in-house publisher, the HMH Publishing Co, took the U. S. Post Office to court, as Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield had banned Playboy from USPS delivery, deeming the magazine “obscene.” Hefner won his case, and Playboy was awarded $100,000 in damages, as well as granted a “B” class permit, which allowed the magazine to operate without risk of censorship. (BBC 2010) Playboy’s legal battles with the government established the magazine as fighting “oppressive oversight,” and, as with its serialization of Fahrenheit 451, marked it as fighting for the freedom of the individual. 

Two years after Hefner’s battle, the Congressional Subcommittee on Constitutional amendments met, intending to outline a bill that would allow each state to set standards for what material could be considered “obscene.” (Congress. Record 1957) Due to the Roth v United States ruling stating that “obscene” materiel was not protected by free speech, states would be able to ban any materiel deemed unsavory in each state. This includes materiel distributed by the U.S. Post Office. Playboy was a tool used by those testifying for and against the status quo, as it was deemed to be “fringe” but not obscene. The significance of this would have been devastating on the country’s freedom of sexual expression. In allowing each state to determine its own definition of obscenity, any form of communication not deemed appropriate would be applicable for censorship. (Congress. Record 1957) 

After several lengthy sessions wherein the committee received statements from several interest groups pushing for or against increased regulation, as well as the Postmaster, the Federal Trade Commission Director, and a review of regulations passed at the local levels to ban such materiel, the committee reached its decision. The committee determined that not only was the proposed regulation “not in the public good,” the Post Office should have its current task of filtering goods revoked, and instead focus on delivering mail quickly, safely, and at a low cost. (Congress. Record 1957) As Playboy is specifically mentioned in the hearings several times, alongside other for-profit publications it is clear that a contributing factor to the rise of Playboy can be attributed to a lessening of governmental overreach during the latter portion of the decade.





What’s important about this determination is why is arose. Although several cases opposed the idea of a constitutional amendment, it is the statement of attorney Milton Bass that the committee rearticulates in its conclusion and closing statement on the issue. Milton argues that “at the present time, the Post Office Department exercises jurisdiction over advertising… whenever the Postmaster General believes that a company’s advertising is false, he may commence a proceeding to review the company for Postal Fraud as well as stop all the companies’ mails, immediately.” (Congress. Record 1957)
 

Milton argues that this, already poses a large threat to businesses, as they cannot trust that the postal system will not suddenly stop their mails, which he likens to “preventing a seller of goods from using the principal highway which connects him with his market.” (Congress. Record 1957) He argues that the proposed amendment would break down the network further, by preventing a company from being able to trust that their goods can be sent across the country without getting held.

These statements are directly echoed in the conclusion by the committee, in their determination that “the balance weighs in favor of the legitimate business concerns who are entitled not be assured that their businesses will not be destroyed by overzealous administrative officials… our system is founded upon the principal that a person is innocent until proven guilty.” (Congress. Record 1957) In pushing for an improved free-market, these two acts by legislative bodies, one by the federal court circuit and the other by Congress, show that through Playboy and other businesses fought to end government censorship, the mindset of the Federal government began to sway to a more open market, allowing the magazine to grow without fear of its distribution becoming halted.