[jimmarg]

Some kid is going to overhear his grandfather chuckling with his pals about how they used to hide copies of Playboy under their mattresses when they were young, and that kid is going to go out, swipe the latest issue, wait until his parents are asleep, then eagerly flip through the pages until he goes, "Whaaat?? Why hide this under a bed? Grandpa's weird!"

[pedonbio]

There is always a history. Esquire had done an upscale semi-nude thing a few years before, and it hadn't caught on. Truly Hef caught the Zeitgeist at the right moment, but he also did a lot of brave work. In many ways, though, Playboy has been a kind of barometer of changing mores. For example, the fact that half a dozen PMOM were underag3 in the 1950s and 1960s caused barely a flutter. Now it would be a major stink.

[Palomine]

There's already a thread on this at http://forum.bearchive.com/index.php?topic=9993267.0;topicseen

I'll mark this for the attention of mods.

Robin, per my PM the other day, PLEASE don't use 'report to mod' to suggest thread merges.

We now have a group of users ("Watchmen") who are able to do thread merges and other forum housekeeping tasks, so please simply PM one of them about it. Whenever there's any news users should know of (rule changes, etc...) we always post a pinned thread in the appropriate area, such as this one: http://forum.bearchive.com/index.php/topic,9992557.msg10318306.html#msg10318306 so whenever you see that a pinned thread has been bumped with a reply (via boldface in thread listing) you should open it to update yourself on the news. Thanks.

[Robin_K2]

Robin, per my PM the other day, PLEASE don't use 'report to mod' to suggest thread merges.

Thanks.

My apologies. I don't recall receiving such a PM, and I don't see any in my folder now. I thought the new watchdogs were providing assistance to moderators, not that some duties have been given to them exclusively. As you suggest, I will read the forum news section more often.

Pal replies: I replied to your 'notify mod' EM (not PM) but I suspect you don't use that email addy anymore so you're not going to receive any messages we (mods) or the BEA itself might send. In any case, it's not that Watchmen do that stuff exclusively, but they're there to help, so if you can remember, please ask them for moves/merges/etc... Thanks!

[salem]

Two threads now merged.

I guess Playboy will become another FHM then?

[solvegas]

Personally I have thought that Hef screwed up when he put his daughter Christy in charge a while back. Seldom are the ch1ldren as good as the parent of running a business. I remember the girls were no longer so voluptuous or as interesting to me after she took over. Anyways, very few businesses survive to see their fiftieth year or hundredth year . Playboy has been around 62 years and I believe it will be around at its 100th year but will it be the same ?    Who knows. After all, Nokia started as a lumber and forestry company and cellphones is a relatively recent event.

[pedonbio]

After all, Nokia started as a lumber and forestry company and cellphones is a relatively recent event.

Interesting. Boeing started out in the timber industry.

[Lesbian Bob]

OTOH Bloomberg Businessweek has gone hardcore:

 

[gOOber]

So who should be Playboy`s last centerfold?

[gonZo]

Good question. Who's the Marilyn Monroe of this millennium?

[gOOber]

Good question. Who's the Marilyn Monroe of this millennium?

Since you asked, "Bloody Cleaver", and it`s almost Halloween, I`ll nominate Caitlyn Jenner.

[Palomine]

Good question. Who's the Marilyn Monroe of this millennium?

Not sure we have one. To be sure, there are various celebs/actresses/popstars/singers/etc... who might seem to have more fame than we imagine Marilyn had, but let's be honest: with our hundreds of TV channels, 24-hour news cycle and the entire internet in everyone's damn pocket, we simply live in a world that's infinitely more media-saturated than 1950s America.

Though unarguably past its prime in terms of cultural relevance, Playboy's still historically significant and IMO it'd be demeaning to the magazine and it's history for it to laud "final" accolades on some facile pop star, let alone on any one of the talentless fame-whores who take up most of the broadcast hours on the E! channel.  

Maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist, but if it were up to me to select Playboy's final centerfold, I'd choose a regular/normal/wholesome woman in the vein of the magazine's earlier centerfolds: that theoretical "girl next door" (few are so lucky to have neighbors like that in reality of course ). I'd prefer her to be natural and free of tattoos, and I'd instruct the production staff to not go overboard on the retouching as is their norm.

No one would listen to me on any of these counts of course.  

[TheZookie007]

They should go out with a bang and get Miriam Gonzalez back for the last centerfold.

[Palomine]

They should go out with a bang and get Miriam Gonzalez back for the last centerfold.

That's actually a great idea, though to be realistic, perhaps she's a bit too mature by now to appeal to mainstream Playboy readers who are more used to Playmates in their early 20s.

Miriam would be appropriate though given the demographic changes to the population of America since Playboy published its first issue.

[Robin_K2]

How about Wendy? About time she got the best photographers available.

Or a retrospective of the best still with us: Lupo, Vasquez, McArthur, Greiner, etc.