Playboy is an American men's magazine, founded in Chicago, Illinois by Hugh Hefner and his associates, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., reaching into every form of media. Playboy is one of the world's best known brands. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide.
The magazine is published monthly and features photographs of nude women, along with various articles on fashion, sports, consumer goods, and public figures. It also has short fiction by top literary writers, such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, and Margaret Atwood. The magazine has been known to express liberal opinions on most major political issues. Playboy's use of "tasteful" nude photos is classified as "softcore" in contrast to the more "hardcore" pornographic magazines that started to appear in the 1970s in response to the success of Playboy's more explicit rival, Penthouse. Today, Playboy is a significant producer and distributor of hardcore pornography due to its 2006 acquisition of ClubJenna Inc and its ownership of several adult cable channels such as the Spice Network. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playboy
Playboy is an American pornographic magazine, founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., reaching into every form of media. Playboy is one of the world's best known brands. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide. Playboy also delivers hardcore pornography through its television entity, Spice Network.
The magazine is published monthly and features photographs of nude women, along with various articles on fashion, sports, consumer goods, and public figures. It also has short fiction by top literary writers, such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, and Margaret Atwood. The magazine has been known to express liberal opinions on most major political issues. Playboy's use of "tasteful" nude photos is classified as "softcore" in contrast to the more "hardcore" pornographic magazines that started to appear in the 1970s in response to the success of Playboy's more explicit rival, Penthouse. Today, Playboy is actually one of the nation's largest producers of hardcore pornography via its 2006 acquisition of ClubJenna Inc.
History
Playboy's original title was to be "Stag Party," but an unrelated outdoor magazine, Stag, contacted Hefner and informed him that they would legally protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner and co-founder and executive vice president Eldon Sellers met to discuss the problem and to seek a new name. Sellers' mother suggested the name "The gentlemen's club." But it was Alexx Mills, who had worked for the short-lived Playboy Automobile Company in Chicago, who suggested the name "Playboy."
The first issue, published in December 1953, did not carry a date, as Hefner was unsure whether there would be a second issue. It was produced in Hefner's Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used had originally been taken for a calendar, rather than for Playboy. The first issue was an immediate sensation; it sold out within a matter of weeks. Known circulation was 53,991 (Source: Playboy Collector's Association Playboy Magazine Price Guide). The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in Mint to Near Mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002.
The famous logo, depicting the stylized profile of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie, was designed by art designer Art Paul for the magazine's second issue and has appeared on every issue since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said that he chose the rabbit as a mascot for its "humorous sexual connotation," and because the image was "frisky and playful."
An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had a number of stars printed in or around the letter. The legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. The stars, which ranged in number between zero and twelve, actually indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that particular printing.
Since reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy has seen a decline in circulation and cultural relevance because of increased competition in the field it founded — first from Penthouse, Oui, and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response Playboy has attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35 male demographic it once controlled through slight changes to its content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the Playboy Interview.
Christie Hefner, a daughter of Hugh Hefner, became the CEO of Playboy in 1988 and is now also the Chairman of the Board.
The magazine celebrated its 50th Anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event.
As of 2007, Playboy is being published in Georgia.
Circulation The best-selling Playboy edition was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter (1/4) of all American college men were buying the magazine every month.[1] On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman.
Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Soderberg) became a de facto standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the "Lenna" (also "Lena") image in that field.[2]
Today, Playboy is still the largest selling men's magazine, selling about three million copies a month in the U.S.[1]
Bans on the sale of Playboy
In many parts of Asia, including India, mainland China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Brunei, the sale and distribution of Playboy is banned. In addition, its sale and distribution is banned in almost all Muslim countries in Asia and Africa, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. However, it is sold in Hong Kong. In Japan, where the genitals of models cannot be shown, a separate edition of Playboy is published under license by Shueisha.
An Indonesian edition of Playboy launched in April 2006, but the controversy started before the first issue was published. Even the publisher said that the content of the Indonesian edition will be different from the original edition, but the government was trying hard to ban it by using anti-pornography rules, since the Indonesian government cannot ban any medium. A local Muslim organization, the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF), is also opposed to Playboy being published on the grounds that it is pornography. On April 12 a group of about 150 IDF members clashed with police and stoned the editorial offices of the magazine. Despite this controversy, the edition quickly sold out. On 6 April 2007 the chief judge of the case dismissed the charges because they had been incorrectly filed[1].
In 1986, the American convenience store chain 7-Eleven removed the magazine from its stores. The store returned Playboy to its shelves in late 2003. Curiously, 7-Eleven stores had also been selling Penthouse and other more extreme magazines before the ban. In bookstores throughout the world, it is common for Playboy, as well as other adult publications, to be put on a higher shelf than other magazines, thus keeping them out of the reach of most children. They are also often wrapped in opaque plastic bags so as to not reveal the cover.
Playboy was not sold in the State of Queensland, Australia during 2004 and 2005 but has returned as of 2006. Furthermore, due to declining sales, the last edition of the Australian edition of "Playboy" published was the January 2000 issue.
Litigation
On the January 14, 2004, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s (PEI) trademark terms "Playboy" and "Playmate" should be protected even in Internet searches that prompt pop-up advertisements. The suit originally started on April 15, 1999, when Playboy sued Excite Inc. and Netscape for trademark infringement. Attorneys Barry Felder, Catherine McGrath and Matthew Moren represented Playboy.
Photographers
Many notable photographers have contributed work to Playboy, including Richard Fegley, William Figge, Arny Freytag, Ron Harris, David Mecey, Russ Meyer, Pompeo Posar, Suze Randall, Herb Ritts, Stephen Wayda, and Bunny Yeager.
Modeling payouts Playmate of the Month Modeling Payouts Year Amount 1959-1960 $500 1961-1965 $1,000 1966-1967 $2,500 1968-1969 $3,000 1970-1977 $5,000 1978-1983 $10,000 1984-1989 $15,000 1990-1999 $20,000 2000-2006 $65,000 Playmate of the Year Modeling Payouts Year Amount 1960-1963 $500 plus $250 bonus 1982-today $140,000, an automobile, and a motorbike.
During the 1960s and 1970s all PMOY's received pink automobiles, the hue of pink used was known as "Playmate Pink", the same shade as awarded to Mary Kay's independent sales force, a frequent source of confusion.
Photo editing
There is some controversy over airbrushing (or, in recent times, image editing) that is done on the photos featured in the magazine. Some readers say that this kind of photo-editing takes away from authenticity and makes photographs look unnatural.
One example was the case of Pamela Anderson and the "disappearing labia". In Pamela's original Playboy appearance in the issue of February 1990, there was a rear-view photo with her legs slightly apart and her labia minora plainly visible. In reprints in later "Newsstand Specials" as well as a poster-sized print, Pamela had been "defeminized," this area having been painted over in the color of the object in front of which she was standing.
Similarly, in Rena Mero's ("Sable") first Playboy shoot, one photo of Mero lying on her back was edited to add extra pubic hair over her genitalia. However, in the 50th Anniversary issue, this picture was printed in its original, unedited state.
Rival adult magazine Hustler and owner Larry Flynt has often been critical of Playboy and their airbrushing. This has often led Hustler to promote the fact that their nude pictorials are never airbrushed and are completely natural. This is a separate issue from whether the models are completely natural: that is, free of silicone breast implants.
Firsts
* First issue with Leroy Neiman's Femlin: August 1955 * First issue with a Playmate showing pubic hair: February 1956 (Marguerite Empey) * First issue with a Vargas girl: March 1957 * First issue with Ian Fleming story: March 1960 * First issue with Playboy Advisor column: September 1960 * First issue with Playboy Interview: September 1962 (with Miles Davis) * First issue with Playboy 20Q: Cheryl Tiegs in October 1978[3] * First issue with a man on the cover: April 1964 (Peter Sellers) * First issue to show a celebrity or non-Playmate's pubic hair: August 1969 (dancer Paula Kelly)[4] * First issue with centerfold showing pubic hair: December 1969 (Gloria Root) - (Liv Lindeland's January 1971 centerfold is the first full frontal nude centerfold) * First issue with identical twins in centerfold: October 1970 - (Mary and Madeleine Collinson) * First issue with a double sided centerfold (the reverse side was a rear view). January 1974 (Nancy Cameron) * First issue with signed centerfold: October 1975 (Jill De Vries) * First issue with Playmate data sheet: July 1977 (Sondra Theodore) * First issue without staple in the centerfold: October 1985 * First national magazine with Web site: August 1994[citation needed] * First issue with identical triplets in the centerfold, The Dahm Triplets: December 1998 * First issue with www.playboy.com explicit on cover: February 1999 http://www.answers.com/playboy%20magazine
The series not only showcased events at the Playboy Mansion (e.g. Fight Night, 4th of July celebration,etc.) but also shed light on other Playboy related events such as the Playboy Jazz Festival at Hollywood Bowl, playmate test shoots at Playboy Studio West, Operation Playmate, pillow fights, party night, birthday parties, etc.
To celebrate the success of the series, Playboy published a special nude pictorial of Holly, Bridget, and Kendra in the November 2005 issue. The original eight-episode run of the series was expanded to fifteen episodes with the first season finale airing in early December 2005. The series' second season began on July 30, 2006. To celebrate the launch of the second season, a second nude pictorial of the trio was published in September 2006. The third season of the show began airing March 4, 2007. The tagline of the show is "We call it a fantasy. They call it home."
Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois), also referred to colloquially as Hef, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine. He has become an icon of American sexuality and a spokesman for the sexual revolution and libertarianism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hefner What I've Learned: Hugh Hefner Philosopher king, 76, Los Angeles http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/ESQ0602-JUN_WIL If they say Hef, they know me. If they say Hugh, they don't.
I have slept with thousands of women, and they all still like me.
Women were the major beneficiary of the sexual revolution. It permitted them to be natural sexual beings, as men are. That's where feminism should have been all along. Unfortunately, within feminism, there has been a puritan, prohibitionist element that is antisexual.
Playboy is the antidote to puritanism.
In the 1950s and '60s, there were still states that outlawed birth control, so I started funding court cases to challenge that. At the same time, I helped sponsor the lower-court cases that eventually led to Roe v. Wade. We were the amicus curiae in Roe v. Wade. I was a feminist before there was such a thing as feminism. That's a part of history very few people know.
Sex is the driving force on the planet. We should embrace it, not see it as the enemy.
There isn't a whole lot of point to living half the year in a lousy climate.
Every man should have a Hitachi Wand. It's a very good vibrator.
We're separated by our myths.
One of the problems with organized religion is that it has always kept women in a second-class position. They have been viewed as the daughters of Eve.
I stand in total awe of existence. I don't pretend to know what it's about.
My best pick-up line is "My name is Hugh Hefner."
Most people don't have much of a clue as to why they act the way they do. Usually when they're angry, they're not angry about what they think they're angry about.
It's good to be selfish. But not so self-centered that you never listen to other people.
My life has been a quest for a world where the words to the songs are true. Not the songs today. Not "Who Let the Dogs Out." The romantic songs. Gershwin, Cole Porter...
Hollywood has many, many excesses and a great many not very nice people, but that's true anywhere. The difference between Hollywood and New York is that it's all out in the open.
Living in the moment, thinking about the future, and staying connected to the past: That's what makes me feel whole.
A lot of people go through life never quite understanding that if things aren't as wonderful as they should be, it's their own fault.
This is the blessing of humankind, what separates us from the animals: to dream.
When I'm alone, masturbation isn't bad. But I don't spend a lot of time alone.
There's a real hypocrisy about people who pursue fame for the first half of their lives and then pretend to resent it afterward.
What surprises me about getting older is that I remain so young.
If you don't have a sense of humor about life and yourself, then you are old.
Loneliness doesn't have much to do with where you are.
Gloria Steinem said that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. And now she's married to a wealthy guy. So what does that say to you?
Everybody, if they've got their head on straight, wants to be a sexual object, among other things. They want to be attractive. Otherwise, what a sad and pathetic life. To really live a worthwhile life is to be attracted to and attractive to other people.
One of the great ironies in our society is that we celebrate freedom and then limit the parts of life where we should be most free.
When you are in a position to not be a nice person, that's when you find out who you really are.
I wake up every day and go to bed every night knowing I'm the luckiest guy on the fucking planet.
My house is pretty much in order. When it comes, it comes. But my mother lived to be 101, so knock on wood.
The best part of any relationship is the beginning.
My favorite nightcap is Jack Daniel's and Coke. Or Pepsi. You get the Jack Daniel's in there, it doesn't matter.
My views have evolved from childhood, but I haven't changed my mind in a very dramatic way. I've always felt I was on the side of the angels.
FOR most glamour models an appearance on Playboy magazine’s centrefold is the pinnacle of their career.
But the title of Playmate Of The Month seems to come with a terrible curse.
Anna Nicole Smith is one of 25 women who met an untimely death after stripping naked for the mag’s centre pages.
Three Playmates have been murdered, four have died from overdoses, four were victims of car accidents, 12 died from illness including cancer, and one died in a plane crash.
Anna’s own tragic end mirrored that of her blonde bombshell heroine Marilyn Monroe, who died at the age of 36 — like Anna, from an overdose.
Here The Sun looks at the curse of the Playboy Playmates in alphabetical order — and click on the thumbnails above to see the stars.
LINNÉ AHLSTRAND: The blonde was Playmate Of The Month in July 1958 and managed a brief movie career. But she died, aged 30, from cancer in 1967.
BETTY BLUE: Miss November 1956 was once married to adult movie director Harold Lime. She died from heart failure in 2000, aged 69.
ELISA REBECCA BRIDGES: The Playmate Of The Month for December 1994 died from a heroin and amphetamine overdose five years ago aged 28. The Playboy website reported her death as “natural causes”.
JEAN CANNON: The 38DD model died from cancer at the end of 2005, aged 64. She was Playmate Of The Month in October 1961.
TONYA CREWS: Brought up on native American reservations, Tonya became a Playboy centrefold in March 1961. She died in a car crash five years later, aged 28.
CLAUDIA JENNINGS: Claudia went from Playboy receptionist to Playmate of the Year and then on to a successful acting career in B-movies. She had a history of drug abuse, but was clean when she died in a car crash after falling asleep at the wheel of her VW Beetle in 1979. She was just 29.
CONNIE KRESKI: The former nurse and Playmate Of The Year once dated actor James Caan. Blonde Connie died of lung cancer in 1995, aged 48.
CHERYL KUBERT: The Playmate Of The Month in February 1958 is believed to have committed suicide in 1989. But the cause of death was not confirmed.
JAYNE MANSFIELD: A sex goddess in the 1950s, Jayne appeared in Playboy several times.
She later became an actress and won a Golden Globe. Three times married Jayne was decapitated in 1967, when the car she was in crashed into the back of a tractor trailer.
JONI MATTIS: Playboy chief Hugh Hefner’s former lover famously refused to disrobe during her Playboy photo session. She died from cancer aged 60 in 1999.
EVE MEYER: The former wife of movie director Russ Meyer was Playmate Of The Month in June 1955. She went on to produce one of his most famous films, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! She died in a plane crash, aged 48, when two planes collided on take-off in Tenerife in 1977.
DONNA MICHELLE: The Playmate Of The Year in 1964 was 17 when she first appeared nude in the magazine. Donna went on to become an actress and died from a heart attack aged 58 in 2004.
MARILYN MONROE: The official cause of Marilyn’s death in 1962 was probable suicide due to an overdose of sleeping pills, but many people believe she was murdered. Her appearance in Playboy in December 1953 was not her own decision. Hefner had bought nude photos taken of Marilyn before she was a famous actress.
MERLE PERTILE: The redhead was a Playboy centrefold in January 1962. She died aged 56 following heart surgery in 1997.
WILLY REY: The Dutch-born model died from an overdose of sleeping pills in 1973, aged 23. In the Playboy article in February 1971 she admitted to “feelings of insecurity about my future.”
GLORIA ROOT: She was jailed for smuggling cannabis into Greece in 1970, a month after her Playboy centrefold. She died, aged 57, from cancer last year.
PAT SHEEHAN: The former actress and model dated a string of famous men, including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley. Playboy’s Miss October 1958 died a year ago from a heart attack, aged 74. She had also suffered from cancer.
GAIL STANTON: The daughter of a deacon at a Southern Baptist church was Playmate Of The Month in June 1978. Gail died aged 42 from a colon blockage in 1996.
DOROTHY STRATTEN: Dorothy was 1980’s Playmate Of The Year and in the same year was found shot dead by her her possessive husband Paul Snider, who had also shot himself. Two films were made about the 20-year-old model’s violent death.
STAR STOWE: After appearing as a Playboy centrefold in February 1977, things went horribly wrong for Star. She started taking drugs, became a prostitute and was found strangled in 1997, aged 40.
TERRE TUCKER: The slender brunette was Playmate Of The Month in November 1963. She died in 1990, aged 46, reportedly from cancer.
SUE WILLIAMS: The shortest ever Playmate at 4ft 11in committed suicide just four years after appearing in Playboy. The actress died in 1969, aged 23.
CAROL WILLIS: The part-Cherokee model died in a car crash in California in 1971, aged 20. She was July 1970’s Playmate.
LAURA YOUNG: The brunette was October 1962’s Playmate. She died from cancer in 1999, aged 61.
PAIGE YOUNG: Aged just 30, Paige died from an overdose of sleeping pills in 1974. The wannabe artist was Miss November 1968.
Dorothy Stratten (born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten) (February 28, 1960 – August 14, 1980) was a Canadian model and actress.
She found fame as the Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for August 1979 and Playmate of the Year for 1980. Stratten afterwards began a modestly successful acting career.
Dorothy was raised in Vancouver, B.C., and it was in Coquitlam that Dorothy Hoogstraten grew up, and, in 1976, entered high school. She was already a beauty-- darlingly blue eyed, blonde, voluptuous. An early male admirer, Jeff Staudacher, described her as being "wholesome" and "sexy" at the same time. To earn spending money, Dorothy took a part-time job at a Dairy Queen in Vancouver, and it was there that she met a local promoter, Paul Snider.
Paul was a fanatical "get rich quick" kind of guy. Pushy, sleazy, know-it-all obnoxious - he quickly saw Dorothy's potential and after boyfriending her, he persuaded her to take some nude photos for him, which he sent to Playboy. She forged her mother's signature on the model release when she sent her nude pictures to Playboy. A year later she was a Playboy Playmate and living at the mansion in Los Angeles. On Stratten's Playmate data sheet, she listed her major turnoff as "jealous people."
Paul followed, with all his schemes always working. Although Dorothy's career began to flourish, Paul languished. Seeing that he was losing his grip on her, he constantly pressured her to marry. Finally talking her into it during an on-the-whim trip to Vegas in June 1979, but it was over almost as quickly as it began. Snider was obsessed with Dorothy and her career. He forbade her to drink coffee, because it would stain her teeth, and he supposedly poisoned her pet dog because he was jealous of it. It eventually caused their relationship to deteriorate, and by August of 1980 they were separated, pending a divorce.
Paul had a lot of crazy ideas - he once took to making weight benches, and with the scraps made a bondage bench he was hoping to market. He was inspired when visiting The Pleasure Chest, a sex shop in LA. The Pleasure Chest opted NOT to buy the bench, and it stood in a corner of his bedroom for months and months.
Anyways - Dorothy went to work on the Peter Bogdanovich film THEY ALL LAUGHED. She fell in love with the director and was basically leaving Paul for him. Now to talk to Paul and get rid of him....yeah, right. She didn't know that Snider hired a private detective to follow Stratten around after she began staying part of the time at Peter Bogdanovich's Bel Air home.
On the morning of August 14th, 1980, Dorothy agreed to meet Snider at the apartment, and showed up just after noon. She was wearing flats and slacks, carrying a big zippered handbag. She had withdrawn $1000 in cash to give to Snider, and hoped to settle her split from him, once and for all. At 12:30, the private investigator called Paul, and Paul told him that "everything was going fine."
At 5 in the afternoon, the two female occupants of the apartment came home and noticed the two vehicles (Dorothy's and Paul's) in the driveway. They saw that Paul's door was closed, and they heard no sounds. They assumed that Paul and Dorothy wanted privacy. At 6:00 they watched the news, and then went out to eat. At around 7, Dr. Cushner came home and he too decided to give them privacy. At 8, the women returned home. At around 11, the investigator called the Doctor on his private line (no one was answering Snider's phone, and it was continually ringing), and suggested they take a peek into the room. Boy oh boy did they get a surprise. They called the cops.
Cops arrived at 12:30am. They found Dorothy lying across the end of a low waterbed. Get this: she had black ants crawling all over her. Wild, eh? They found a bullet hole from a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun (that Snider had bought from and ad in a local newspaper) on her cheek, blood on the walls and curtains, and she was missing the tip of her left index finger.
No one knows for sure what transpired during their meeting, but blonde hair was found in Snider's fists. The only scenario that makes sense, was that Dorothy was sitting on a corner of the bed when Snider put the gun up to her cheek. She tried to shield her face with her left hand, thus destroying her left index finger when Snider pulled the trigger. A half an hour later, Snider turned the gun on himself, and fell on top of the shotgun. Kinda makes you wonder what he did for 30 minutes. No wait, I don't want to know. There were bloody handprints on Dorothy's buttocks. Oh yeah, Paul had ants crawling all over him too.
Near Dorothy, was the "love seat." According to police, it was set in a position for "possible rear entry intercourse." There was evidence that the seat had been used, and she had been fastened to it with medical tape. In Bob Fosse's film about the murder of Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten (Mariel Hemingway), the main character is actually her sleazy husband Paul Snider (Eric Roberts), who discovered her, pushed her toward stardom, and worshiped her at the altar of the Playboy mystique. Snider wants people to "treat us that special way, the way they treat Stars!" and when Stratten tries to shake him off her coattails, he explodes. The film is an example of the very exploitation it was condemning, and that's what's so powerful about it. It puts us inside Snider's skin-glitter dreams Dorothy Stratten Memorial Tribute
Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933—29 June 1967) was an American actress working both on Broadway and in Hollywood.
One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s,[citation needed] like Marilyn Monroe, Mansfield was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy in February 1955. She appeared in the magazine several more times over the years. She won the Theatre World Award, Golden Globe and Golden Laurel. Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, dramatic hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes.
Despite several box office successes, her status in the industry proved short lived, and she was quickly relegated to low-budget melodramas and comedies. Negative publicity and poor business decisions eventually forced her into regional nightclub appearances before her death in an automobile accident at the age of 34. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield, Actor Born: 19 April 1933 Birthplace: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Died: 29 June 1967 (automobile crash) Best Known As: Blonde bombshell of the 1950s A Hollywood celebrity of the mid-20th century, Mansfield is often regarded as a less talented version of fellow bombshell Marilyn Monroe. Mansfield was famous for her bleached-blonde hair and ample bosom, which she displayed in several Playboy magazine photo shoots. She had roles in two dozen films in the 1950s and 1960s. She was killed in a violent late-night car crash in 1967.
A too hot to handle brainy blonde bombshell! During the 1950s, she was a leading sex symbol. In February 1955, she was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy. She would appear in the magazine several more times over the years.
Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, dramatic hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes. In her heydey, she "competed" with Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren. http://www.squidoo.com/jayne_mansfield/
Death of Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/m/Mansfield/jayne_mansfield.htm She was born Vera Jane Palmer in Bryn Mawr, Pa, in 1933. She went on to become a Ma girl. Marilyn, Mamie (Van Whoran) and Mansfield. I’m sure there are more, but you get the idea. They were practically cut from the same cloth. What they went on to become was something very individual.
Jayne lived in a house located at 10100 Sunset Boulevard, in Beverly Hills. The house was built for Rudy Vallee, and Jayne and her then husband Mickey Hargitay had it painted pink, because Jayne was obsessed with pink. It has a heart shaped swimming pool, which used to have "I love you Jaynie" in mosaic on the floor of it. The old front gates still boast her initials. Since 1976, Englebert Humperdinck has lived there. He claims to have seen Jayne’s ghost in the house. I have no time for that. A couple of years ago he was supposed to be selling the house on QVC, but I think it fell through. Meanwhile, we quando quando away.
Sadly, early in November 2002, the famous house on Sunset was demolished. Engelbert finally got rid of it, and some jerk tore it down. Luckily, before it was completely gone, it was a rainy weekend and my friend Steve and I decided to go on a little creepy crawl in Beverly Hills. Here are the results. These photographs are amazing.
About two years ago, Frank Ferruccio had the opportunity to see the inside of the house, and document some of it for us, in photographs. We are so very grateful, Frank. Thank you.
At the end of her life, Jayne had already divorced Mickey Hargitay, with whom she had three children, Mickey Jr, Zoltan and Mariska. Her career had hit the skids, and she was performing in night-clubs, and getting to and from gigs by car.
On the evening of June 28th, 1967, Jayne had a show in Biloxi Mississippi, in a club called the Gus Stevens Supper Club. Death Hag Diane Culpepper sends us this advertisement for Jaynes show. Excellent work, Diane! Jayne was performing twice a night, at 9 and 11pm. Thanks to Diane, we have a recap of Jayne's last show.
After her gig, she and her companion and attorney Sam Brody, and the three little Hargitays left in the 1966 Buick Electra (owned by Gus Stevens himself), driven by Ronnie Harrison, who was only 20 years old. Think he kept his eye on the road? Naw. The group was heading to New Orleans, so Jayne could do a television show the next day. Got to plug the act! It must have been very late when they went on their way. The interview was to take place in the WDSU-TV studios. When in New Orleans, Jayne had reservations at the Roosevelt Hotel, now the Fairmont.
On their route, they passed a waterway called the Rigolets, the proceeded to travel down a "winding, narrow stretch of the two-lane route known as the Old Spanish Trail, US90." about 2:25am they passed over this bridge, then passed through this curve in the road. What’s that? An insecticide truck? Whoops. Blam. There they go. Killed Brody, killed Ronnie and killed Jaynie. The car plowed underneath the truck which was spraying chemicals, thus making it very foggy. The impact sheared the top of the car off. The car was described once as, "crumpled like a piece of tinfoil after a cookout." The kids made it out okay, because they were asleep in the back, but the top part of Jayne’s head was ripped off. This does not mean decapitation. The death certificate reads "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain." The dictionary definition of avulsion is the forcible tearing away of a body part by trauma or surgery. So it was just the top of her head, if you want to get anal. Scalped. And she was wearing a wig, so that hair picture you usually see wasn’t her head. I’ve had people tell me that they’ve seen Jayne’s decapitated head in a photograph, but not one single person has been able to produce the goods.
Until now. Thank you Frank Ferrucio for making our death hag dreams come true. Here are the dead Jayne photographs. Don't click if you are easily oogied out.
There was at least one dog that died. Supposedly there were four Chihuahuas in the car with them. That sounds like a nightmare to me. And you know that Jayne probably wasn’t the most organized of people, so I’m sure the trip was hairy, to say the least. I don’t usually like ripping off pictures, but I scanned this one in from Hollywood Babylon. It’s the only crash scene picture I have, and there is Mr. Dead Dog and Jayne’s wig. Not for the squeamish, but if you want to see it, click here.
December 2001 - Findadeath.com friend Tom Straub sends us this pic of the accident scene - its black and white, and there are bodies, but I'm pretty sure you won't get grossed out by them. Thanks, Tom!
The kids were taken to Charity Hospital in New Orleans, and later transferred to the Ochsner Foundation hospital, because their father, Mickey, demanded it. Mickey Jr. had cuts, bruises and a broken arm. Zoltan and Marie had cuts and bruises. The driver of the bug truck hopped out, flagged down a passing motorist who took the kids the rest of their journey to New Orleans, to a hospital, but he left what was left of the others for the body bag man. Jayne was 34 years old. Brody was 40.
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), was a Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, singer, model, pop icon and sex symbol. She was known for her comedic skills and screen presence, going on to become one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s and early 1960s. At the later stages of her career, she worked towards serious roles with a measure of success. However, she faced disappointments in her career and personal life during her later years. Her death has been subject to speculation and conspiracy theories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe
Birth Name: Norma Jeane Mortenson Also Known As: Norma Jeane Baker http://www.marilynmonroe.com/about/facts.html Birth date: June 1, 1926 Birth place: Los Angeles, CA Death date: August 5, 1962 Death place: Brentwood, CA Burial location: Corridor of Memories, #24, at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA
6/26/45 - Photographed by David Conover for Yank magazine
8/2/45 - Filled out an application for the Blue Book Modeling Agency (as Norma Jeane Dougherty)
7/17/46 - First interview at Fox with Ben Lyon
7/19/46 - First screen test, for Fox
7/29/46 - First time mentioned in a Hollywood gossip column
8/24/46 - First studio contract, with Fox
9/13/46 - Divorce granted from James E. Dougherty
8/25/47 - Dropped by Fox
3/9/48 - Contract with Columbia Studios
9/8/48 - Dropped by Columbia Studios
5/27/49 - Posed for nude calendar
7/24/49 - First interview with Earl Wilson
8/15/49 - Started A Ticket to Tomahawk
1/5/50 - Started Fireball
12/10/50 - Gets a new Fox contract
12/18/50 - Johnny Hyde dies
3/29/51 - Presenter at the Academy Awards ceremony
4/18/51 - Started Love Nest
9/8/51 - First full length national magazine feature (Colliers)
3/13/52 - Nude calendar story broken to public
4/7/52 - First LIFE cover
6/1/52 - Found out she had the part of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
9/2/52 - Grand marshal at the Miss America pageant
10/4/52 - Supposedly married Robert Slatzer
6/26/53 - Placed footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater
9/13/53 - First TV appearance on "The Jack Benny Show"
10/53 - Met Milton Greene at a party given by Gene Kelly and signed a recording contract with RCA
11/4/53 - Premiere of How to Marry a Millionaire
12/15/53 - Girl in Pink Tights scheduled to begin shooting; MM didn't show up
1/4/54 - Suspended by Fox
1/14/54 - Married Joseph Paul DiMaggio
2/16/54 - Went to entertain troops in Korea
9/15/54 - Shot famous skirt blowing scene from The Seven YearItch
10/5/54 - Officially left Joe DiMaggio
10/27/54 - Divorce granted from Joe DiMaggio
11/5/54 - "Wrong Door Raid" took place
11/6/54 - Hollywood's royalty honored MM at Romanoff's party
12/31/54 - Formed Marilyn Monroe Productions with Milton Greene
1/15/55 - Fox suspended MM again
3/31/55 - Rode atop a pink elephant at Madison Square Garden for arthritis benefit
4/8/55 - Appeared on Edward R. Murrow's "Person to Person"
6/1/55 - Premiere of The Seven Year Itch
11/1/55 - Granted final divorce decree from Joe DiMaggio
12/31/55 - The big new Fox contract
1/4/56 - Announced that MM and Fox had reached a signed agreement over contractual disputes
2/56 - Performed a scene from Anna Christie at the Actors Studio in New York
2/9/56 - Press conference with Olivier to announce their joint project, The Prince and the Showgirl
2/25/56 - Returned to Hollywood after her exile in New York
5/3/56 - Started Bus Stop
3/22/56 - Darryl Zannuck left Fox
6/3/56 - MM returned to New York after finishing Bus Stop
6/29/56 - Married Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony
7/1/56 - Married Arthur Miller in a Jewish ceremony
7/14/56 - Landed in London and held a press conference with Olivier to announce their joint project, The Prince and the Showgirl
10/29/56 - Met Queen Elizabeth at the royal command film performance
11/20/56 - Left England
12/18/56 - Radio show from the Waldorf-Astoria
6/13/57 - Premiere of The Prince and the Showgirl
8/1/57 - Miscarriage
8/4/58 - Started Some Like it Hot
11/6/58 - Finished Some Like it Hot
12/17/58 - Another miscarriage
3/29/59 - Premiere of Some Like it Hot
3/8/60 - Received Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress in a Comedy" for her performance in Some Like it Hot
7/18/60 - Started The Misfits
8/26/60 - Flew to LA because of nervous breakdown while shooting The Misfits
9/5/60 - Returned to the production of The Misfits
11/4/60 - Finished The Misfits
11/11/60 - Announced to the press that her marriage to Miller was over
11/16/60 - Clark Gable died
1/20/61 - Divorce granted from Arthur Miller
1/31/61 - Premiere of The Misfits
2/7/61 - Entered Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York
2/11/61 - Left Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic and entered Columbia Presbyterian Hospital
3/5/61 - Released from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital
11/19/61 - Went to Peter Lawford's beach house to be with President Kennedy
2/62 - Moved into Brentwood home
2/1/62 - Dinner in honor of Robert F. Kennedy
3/62 - Golden Globe Awards: MM presented with the "World's Film Favorite" award
4/23/62 - Started Something's Got to Give
5/19/62 - Sang "Happy Birthday" and "Thanks for the Memory" to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden
5/28/62 - Nude pool sequence shot for Something's Got to Give
6/1/62 - Last day at Fox and last public appearance
6/8/62 - Fired by Fox
6/23/62 - Bert Stern shot the sequence called "The Last Sitting"
6/28/62 - Met with Fox heads regarding Something's Got to Give
7/6/62 - Did Allan Grant shoot for LIFE
7/12/62 - Met with Fox heads at studio
7/20/62 - MM allegedly entered Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for an abortion
7/30/62 - Paula Strasberg returned to New York
8/3/62 - Appeared on the cover of LIFE for the last time before her death
8/4/62 - MM's last day
8/5/62 - Death; Autopsy performed
8/8/92 - MM's funeral
8/18/62 - Announcement that MM died from a drug overdose by the Suicide Investigation Team
8/28/62- MM's death certificate signed
Marilyn Monroe was found naked, dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home clutching her telephone by her live-in housekeeper Mrs. Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old.
Her death was ruled as an overdose of sleeping pills by Los Angeles County Coroner and listed as "probably suicide". Conspiracy theorists, however, speculate that she was murdered. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Marilyn_Monroe
Marilyn Monroe She sauntered through life as the most delectable sex symbol of the century and became its most enduring pop confection http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/monroe01.html How much deconstruction can one blond bear? Just about everyone has had a go at Marilyn Monroe. There have been more than 300 biographies, learned essays by Steinem and Kael, countless documentaries, drag queens, tattoos, Warhol silk screens and porcelain collector's dolls. Marilyn has gone from actress to icon to licensed brand name; only Elvis and James Dean have rivaled her in market share. At this point, she seems almost beyond comment, like Coca-Cola or Levi's. How did a woman who died a suicide at 36, after starring in only a handful of movies, become such an epic commodity?
Much has been made of Marilyn's desperate personal history, the litany of abusive foster homes and the predatory Hollywood scum that accompanied her wriggle to stardom. Her heavily flashbulbed marriages included bouts with baseball great Joe DiMaggio and literary champ Arthur Miller, and her off-duty trysts involved Sinatra and the rumor of multiple Kennedys. The unauthorized tell-alls burst with miscarriages, abortions, rest cures and frenzied press conferences announcing her desire to be left alone. Her death has been variously attributed to an accidental overdose, political necessity and a Mob hit. Her yummily lurid bio has provided fodder for everything from a failed Broadway musical to Jackie Susann's trash classics to a fictionalized portrait in Miller's play After the Fall. Marilyn's media-drenched image as a tragic dumb blond has become an American archetype, along with the Marlboro Man and the Harley-straddling wild one. Yet biographical trauma, even when packed with celebrities, cannot account for Marilyn's enduring stature as a goddess and postage stamp. Jacqueline Onassis will be remembered for her timeline, for her participation in events and marriages that mesmerized the planet. Marilyn seems far less factual, more Cinderella or Circe than mortal. There have been other megablonds of varying skills, a pinup parade of Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and Madonna — but why does Marilyn still seem to have patented the peroxide that they've passed along?
Marilyn may represent some unique alchemy of sex, talent and Technicolor. She is pure movies. I recently watched her as Lorelei Lee in her musical smash, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." The film is an ideal mating of star and role, as Marilyn deliriously embodies author Anita Loos' seminal, shame-free gold digger. Lorelei's honey-voiced, pixilated charm may be best expressed by her line, regarding one of her sugar daddies, "Sometimes Mr. Esmond finds it very difficult to say no to me." Whenever Lorelei appears onscreen, undulating in second-skin, cleavage-proud knitwear or the sheerest orange chiffon, all heads turn, salivate and explode. Who but Marilyn could so effortlessly justify such luscious insanity? She is the absolute triumph of political incorrectness. When she swivels aboard a cruise ship in clinging jersey and a floor-length leopard-skin scarf and matching muff, she handily offends feminists, animal-rights activists and good Christians everywhere, and she wins, because shimmering, jewel-encrusted, heedless movie stardom defeats all common morality. Her wit completes her cosmic victory, particularly in her facial expression of painful, soul-wrenching yearning when gazing upon a diamond tiara, a trinket she initially attempts to wear around her neck. Discovering the item's true function, she burbles, "I always love finding new places to wear diamonds!" Movies can offer a very specific bliss, the gorgeousness of a perfectly lighted fairy tale. Watching Marilyn operate her lips and eyebrows while breathlessly seducing an elderly millionaire is like experiencing the invention of ice cream.
Marilyn wasn't quite an actress, in any repertory manner, and she was reportedly an increasing nightmare to work with, recklessly spoiled and unsure, barely able to complete even the briefest scene between breakdowns. Only in the movies can such impossible behavior, and such peculiar, erratic gifts, create eternal magic — only the camera has the mechanical patience to capture the maddening glory of a celluloid savant like Monroe. At her best, playing warmhearted floozies in Some Like It Hot and Bus Stop, she's like a slightly bruised moonbeam, something fragile and funny and imperiled. I don't think audiences ever particularly identify with Marilyn. They may love her or fear for her, but mostly they simply marvel at her existence, at the delicious unlikeliness of such platinum innocence. She's the bad girl and good girl combined: she's sharp and sexy yet incapable of meanness, a dewy Venus rising from the motel sheets, a hopelessly irresistible home wrecker. Monroe longed to be taken seriously as an artist, but her work in more turgid vehicles, like "The Misfits," was neither original nor very interesting. She needs the tickle of cashmere to enchant for the ages.
Movies have lent the most perishable qualities, such as youth, beauty and comedy, a millennial shelf life. Until the cameras rolled, stars of the past could only be remembered, not experienced. Had she been born earlier, Marilyn might have existed as only a legendary rumor, a Helen of Troy or Tinker Bell. But thanks to Blockbuster, every generation now has immediate access to the evanescent perfection of Marilyn bumping and cooing her way through that chorine's anthem, Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Only movie stars have the chance to live possibly forever, and maybe that's why they're all so crazy. Madonna remade Diamonds in the video of her hit Material Girl, mimicking Marilyn's hot-pink gown and hot-number choreography, and the sly homage seemed fitting: a blond tribute, a legacy of greedy flirtation. Madonna is too marvelously sane ever to become Marilyn. Madonna's detailed appreciation of fleeting style and the history of sensuality is part of her own arsenal, making her a star and a fan in one. Madonna wisely and affectionately honors the brazen spark in Marilyn, the giddy candy-box allure, and not the easy heartbreak.
Marilyn's tabloid appeal is infinite but ultimately beside the point. Whatever destroyed her — be it Hollywood economics or rabid sexism or her own tormented psyche — pales beside the delight she continues to provide. At her peak, Marilyn was very much like Coca-Cola or Levi's — she was something wonderfully and irrepressibly American.
Vickie Lynn Marshall (November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), better known under the stage name of Anna Nicole Smith,[1] was an American sex symbol, model, actress, celebrity, and spokeswoman. Her highly publicized marriage to oil business executive and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior, resulted in speculation that she married the octogenarian for his money, which she denied. Following his death, she began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate; her case, Marshall v. Marshall, reached the U.S. Supreme Court on a question of federal jurisdiction.
Born and raised in Texas, Smith dropped out of high school and first married at the age of 17. She first gained popularity in Playboy, becoming the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She modeled for clothing companies, including Guess jeans. She starred in her own reality TV show, The Anna Nicole Show. In the months before her death, she was the focus of renewed press coverage surrounding the death of her son, Daniel Smith. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Nicole_Smith
Timeline: A look at Anna Nicole Smith's life http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-02-08-smith-timeline_x.htm Anna Nicole Smith, 39, wrote on her 1992 Playboy Playmate Data Sheet that her ambition was "to be the new Marilyn Monroe." She commanded attention whether she was dancing at a Houston strip club or on walking to the U.S. Supreme Court. USA TODAY looks at Smith's rollercoaster ride through life. Nov. 28, 1967:
Vickie Lynn Hogan is born in Houston.
1985:
At 17, she marries Billy Smith, 16, her coworker at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Texas.
1986:
Gives birth to son Daniel Smith on Jan. 22.
1987:
Divorces Billy Smith.
1991:
While working as an exotic dancer at Rick's Cabaret in Houston, she meets billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 86. He takes a liking to the matinee dancer.
1992:
Graces Playboy's March cover and is named May's playmate.
1993:
Appears in print ads for Guess? Jeans.
1993:
Named Playmate of the Year and appears on Playboy's June cover
1994:
Weds Marshall on June 27 at White Dove Wedding Chapel in Houston. He is 89; she is 26.
Appears in ads in Europe for clothing retailer H&M.
Hollywood career begins with Naked Gun 331/3 and Hudsucker Proxy.
1995:
Marshall falls ill in January. His son, E. Pierce Marshall, is appointed his legal guardian. Anna Nicole is permitted to visit her husband for 30 minutes at a time.
J. Howard Marshall dies on Aug. 5. Anna Nicole and Pierce hold separate funeral services, negotiated by lawyers. Marshall's recently revised will leaves everything to Pierce.
She is treated at a Los Angeles hospital in November, after what her lawyer describes as an adverse reaction to two prescription drugs.
1996:
Files for bankruptcy in Los Angeles after a deluge of lawsuits and focuses on fighting for a share of the estate in Texas probate court. Her lawyers argue that Pierce acted fraudulently and had her written out of the will.
2000:
A Los Angeles judge rules that Pierce tried to interfere with Smith's inheritance. She is awarded more than $400 million. Pierce appeals the ruling. Smith's lawsuit in Texas probate court begins.
She appears in ads for Lane Bryant.
2001:
Smith drops the lawsuits in Texas. She has to testify in a countersuit by Pierce, who accuses Smith of interfering with his inheritance. In March, a Texas jury says that J. Howard Marshall knew what he was doing when he revised his will. Later, the LA bankruptcy court judge tosses out that ruling.
The bankruptcy case goes to federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., on an appeal.
2002:
In January, U.S. District Judge David Carter urges both sides to settle outside court. No agreement can be reached.
In March, the court awards Smith $88 million, half in punitive damages. Pierce says he will appeal. A U.S. appeals panel later throws out the ruling, saying Carter did not have jurisdiction.
In August, E! network starts airing The Anna Nicole Show. The last episode airs June 2003.
2004:
Shows off new body in a cable-TV special in February and credits weightloss to TrimSpa, a pill she is paid to endorse. She also makes appearances at Fashion Week in New York that same month.
2005:
In September, the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case of Marshall vs. Marshall. Smith is listed in court filings as Vickie Lynn Marshall
2006:
February:
Smith's case is argued at the Supreme Court.
May:
The Supreme Court agrees with Smith's attorneys, and the case goes back to the 9th Circuit for more hearings.
Smith announces she is pregnant. She does not name the father or the due date.
Sept. 7:
She gives birth to daughter Dannielynn in Nassau, Bahamas.
Sept. 10:
Her son, Daniel, 20, is found dead in the same hospital room where Smith is recovering from her delivery. The Bahamian coroner's office calls the death "suspicious."
Sept. 17:
A second autopsy is performed on Daniel's body, and the next day, the forensic pathologist says Daniel was on prescription antidepressants when he died.
Sept. 20:
Family photos taken in Nassau of Smith and her two children before Daniel died appear in In Touch magazine.
Sept. 26:
Smith's attorney and companion, Howard K. Stern, announces on CNN that he is the father of Dannielynn Hope. Freelance journalist Larry Birkhead sends CNN a message saying Smith told him that he is the child's father.
Sept. 28:
Stern and Smith hold a commitment ceremony on a boat in the Bahamas.
Oct. 2:
In Los Angeles, Birkhead files a paternity suit challenging Smith and Stern's claims.
Oct. 19:
Daniel's body is buried in the Bahamas.
Oct. 25:
Bahamian officials question Smith's residency after the South Carolina developer who purchased the house she is residing in says she has not paid him for it.
Oct. 31:
Is treated at a Nassau hospital for pneumonia, according to her lawyers.
Nov. 2:
Appears on TV's Entertainment Tonight and pleads for everyone to "quit beating us down."
Nov. 29:
A Los Angeles judge rules that he has jurisdiction and can order genetic testing to determine the paternity of Dannielynn.
Feb. 7:
The LA court orders DNA samples from Smith and Dannielynn to be submitted for testing by Feb. 21.
Feb. 8:
Smith dies after collapsing in a hotel room in Hollywood, Fla.
anna nicole smith, playboy magazine tribute
How Hef is honoring fallen Playmate Smith http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-04-06-hefner-smith_N.htm LOS ANGELES — Take Hugh Hefner out of the running. "I can make clear at this time," he says, "that I am not the father of the child." The Playboy magnate enjoys his laugh about the paternity uncertainties still swirling around Anna Nicole Smith, but his feelings about the former Playmate turned pop icon are no joke. In serious fashion, his bunny empire will offer three upcoming Smith tributes: a 10-page pictorial in the magazine's May issue, an hourlong retrospective on Playboy TV and an online memorial on Playboy.com.
Smith, who first appeared on the magazine's cover in March 1992 and was named Playmate of the Year in 1993, was 39 when she died of an accidental drug overdose in February.
So what was it about the buxom blonde Texan that Hefner found so alluring?
"It was her presence in front of the camera," he told The Associated Press Thursday, chatting in the library of his famed Playboy Mansion. "She was one of those who loved being in front of the camera and came alive in front of the camera. There was very clearly a Marilyn Monroe quality about her and that aspiration was clear from the very beginning. She talked about Marilyn Monroe all the time."
Smith often posed like Monroe, he said. At a Halloween party in 2004, she came dressed in a "Marilyn Monroe-type outfit" accompanied by three men in tuxedos: her attorney Howard K. Stern, boyfriend Larry Birkhead and son Daniel.
"The irony in terms of Anna Nicole's fascination with Marilyn Monroe is how successful she was in building a similar kind of career, not through acting but simply through celebrity itself," said Hefner, in his usual silk pajamas and smoking jacket. "The tragedy is she lived large as Marilyn did and died in a very similar way."
She was still Vickie Smith when she first caught the eye of Playboy editors, who argued over whether to include her in the magazine.
"She came here and she weighed about 160 pounds," Hefner recalled. "We like the voluptuous ladies but not that voluptuous. It was a wonderful statement for the simple fact that beauty has no limitation in terms of size. You can be a big lady and a beautiful lady, and she was."
With three tributes, might Playboy be opening itself to criticism for profiting from Smith's death? Not the case, Hefner quickly replied. "It's quite frankly celebrating her in a way that she would appreciate."
The publishing titan turns 81 on Monday, but makes little concession to the calendar. He just celebrated his birthday with a bash in Las Vegas, and recently started work on the third season of The Girls Next Door, an E! reality show about life with his girlfriends Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. Their upcoming adventures include an appearance at the Toyota Grand Prix, where Hefner will serve as grand marshal (and Wilkinson will drive a race car), and a trip to Monte Carlo at the invitation of Prince Albert, Hefner said.
And the chatter about Hef getting engaged? Just rumors, he said.
"I am in a very serious relationship with Holly," he explained. "I love all three of the girls, but the relationship with Holly will last, certainly, for the rest of my life. Whether it leads to marriage, we will see. I've tried marriage twice before without great success, and at this moment, I don't want to spoil the relationship
Smith joins ranks of Playmates dead before 50 Car accidents, overdoses, homicides, plane crash have claimed lives http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17218952 MIAMI - The selection of Anna Nicole Smith as a Playboy Playmate in 1992 made her a member of an exclusive sorority. Her death at 39 put her in a more grisly club — Playmates who haven’t reached their 50th birthday.
Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash — all have claimed the lives of Playmates. The cause of Smith’s death is still unclear.
“It’s sad how many girls we’ve lost,” said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centerfolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s with the help of his wife.
In 1968, Gowland photographed Paige Young. In 1974, she was dead of a drug overdose. Jayne Mansfield, another Playmate he photographed, died in a car crash in 1967 at 34.
“It’s a curse to be beautiful,” Gowland said.
More than 600 women have graced Playboy’s centerfold since the magazine began publishing in the 1950s.
Their lives after the magazine have been both in and out of the spotlight, but their limited number and Playboy’s wide circulation has meant that the death of one can become bombshell news.
Perhaps before Smith, the most headline-grabbing death of a Playmate was that of 20-year-old Dorothy Stratten. Just months after she became the magazine’s Playmate of the Year in 1980, she was murdered by her jealous estranged husband.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has said he and others never really got over Stratten’s death. The magazine ran a tribute to her and movies were made about her life.
Eve Meyer, a 1955 Playmate, was one of more than 550 people killed when two airliners collided on takeoff at Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1977. She was 46. More recently, Ellen Louise Maligo, known in Playboy as “Star Stowe,” was found murdered at 40 in Coral Springs in 1997.
Marilyn Monroe, the cover girl for the magazine’s inaugural issue, famously died at 36 from a 1962 overdose of sleeping pills.
Tonya Crews, Carol Willis and 1970 Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings all died in car accidents in the 1960s and 70s while still in their 20s. Playmate Willy Rey, pictured on Playboy’s first stock certificates, was 23 when she died of a drug overdose in 1973.
Twenty-eight-year-old Playmate Elisa Bridges died in 2002 after being found unresponsive in bed. Playboy said she died of natural causes, but a coroner’s report said Bridges died of an accidental drug overdose.
“There’ve been some that do too much booze and too much drugs, just as in the general population,” said former Playboy editor Gretchen Edgren, author of “The Playmate Book: Six Decades of Centerfolds.”
A page on Playboy’s Web site is dedicated to remembering Smith.
“Perhaps Billy Joe‘ should write a sequel to his song ’Only the Good Die Young’ simply changing the last word to ’Beautiful.’ We’ll miss you Vicki,” photo editor Gary Cole wrote on the site’s blog, using Smith’s real first name.
Many Playboy Playmates Have Died Young Anna Nicole Smith Joins Ranks of Playmates Dead Before 50, Including Eve Meyer, Marilyn Monroe http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2885541 The selection of Anna Nicole Smith as a Playboy Playmate in 1992 made her a member of an exclusive sorority. Her death at 39 put her in a more grisly club Playmates who haven't reached their 50th birthday.
Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash all have claimed the lives of Playmates. The cause of Smith's death is still unclear.
"It's sad how many girls we've lost," said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centerfolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s with the help of his wife.
In 1968, Gowland photographed Paige Young. In 1974, she was dead of a drug overdose. Jayne Mansfield, another Playmate he photographed, died in a car crash in 1967 at 34.
"It's a curse to be beautiful," Gowland said.
More than 600 women have graced Playboy's centerfold since the magazine began publishing in the 1950s.
Their lives after the magazine have been both in and out of the spotlight, but their limited number and Playboy's wide circulation has meant that the death of one can become bombshell news.
Perhaps before Smith, the most headline-grabbing death of a Playmate was that of 20-year-old Dorothy Stratten. Just months after she became the magazine's Playmate of the Year in 1980, she was murdered by her jealous estranged husband.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has said he and others never really got over Stratten's death. The magazine ran a tribute to her and movies were made about her life.
Eve Meyer, a 1955 Playmate, was one of more than 550 people killed when two airliners collided on takeoff at Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1977. She was 46. More recently, Ellen Louise Maligo, known in Playboy as "Star Stowe," was found murdered at 40 in Coral Springs in 1997.
Marilyn Monroe, the cover girl for the magazine's inaugural issue, famously died at 36 from a 1962 overdose of sleeping pills.
Tonya Crews, Carol Willis and 1970 Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings all died in car accidents in the 1960s and 70s while still in their 20s. Playmate Willy Rey, pictured on Playboy's first stock certificates, was 23 when she died of a drug overdose in 1973.
Twenty-eight-year-old Playmate Elisa Bridges died in 2002 after being found unresponsive in bed. Playboy said she died of natural causes, but a coroner's report said Bridges died of an accidental drug overdose.
"There've been some that do too much booze and too much drugs, just as in the general population," said former Playboy editor Gretchen Edgren, author of "The Playmate Book: Six Decades of Centerfolds."
A page on Playboy's Web site is dedicated to remembering Smith.
"Perhaps Billy Joel should write a sequel to his song 'Only the Good Die Young' simply changing the last word to 'Beautiful.' We'll miss you Vicki," photo editor Gary Cole wrote on the site's blog, using Smith's real first name.
The city has two sons. Only one can rule The Hill.
First Snow 2006
What if someone looked into your future and didn't see tomorrow? - A psychic's ominous reading sends a man into a tailspin
Mini's First Time (2006)
Sex. Murder. Blackmail. There's a first time for everything-A rebellious girl hooks up with an escort agency where her stepfather is a client.
Unknown (2006)
Trust no one. Fear everyone. -Five men wake up in a locked-down warehouse with no memory of who they are. They are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad to stay alive.
![Brotherhood" (2006) [TV-Series]](http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/1421/379621144723082/211/z/425926/gse_multipart33129.jpg)
