Year after year, and despite certain problems with censorship in some states, the magazine did not stop growing and having imitators (the most notorious case was “Hustler”, by Larry Flynt, which began to come out in 1974 and did contain some pornographic material).
In our country, except in the brief democratic periods, “Playboy” could not be obtained in the magazine kiosks, but even within the Onganía dictatorship there was an attempt by Editorial Abril to publish an Argentine version, which was called “Adán”, and that it came out with the slogan “Entertainment for gentlemen”. “Adán” enjoyed considerable success until censorship and self-censorship hardened: it only appeared for a year and a half, between mid-1966 and early 1968. Rodolfo Walsh, Miguel Brascó, Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer and Carlos Burone wrote there, and even Borges and Bioy published some of their stories under the pseudonym of Bustos Domecq.
But what does the evocation of Orton’s farce have to do with all this? Well, in the United States Stefan Tetenbaum’s memoir “The Dark Secrets of Playboy” has just appeared, Hugh Hefner’s former personal butler at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago, who claims to have ” seen everything” and even more, according to the title of the work. Tetenbaum wrote that book four decades ago but, as he stated, he only dared to publish it now, for fear of his personal integrity if he did it sooner. He bears witness to an era and a morality that, in the #MeeToo years, seem from another galaxy as far away as those of George Lucas.
Her personal accounts of what she saw while working for Hefner also led to the recent A&E docuseries, “Playboy Secrets,” which examines Hefner’s empire through the lens of the #MeToo era. Tetenbaum himself gives personal testimony about him in the series: “My history in the Playboy Mansion West during the peak years 1978-80 was an extraordinary period of power and fame for Playboy Enterprises,” Tetenbaum told “Variety” yesterday. “Working alongside Hefner gave me incredible insight into the daily life and times of such a complex man and the world he created. It was his world: private and hidden”. Unlike the series, the book includes Tetenbaum’s account of the frequent hiring of prostitutes, the video recordings, the mistreatment of the Playmates, encounters with celebrities, and the graphic details of life in the mansion.
In the same statement, Tetenbaum says that the book explores “the dark behind the scenes of dealing with his girlfriend and the other women who wanted to be part of the Playboy world professionally and behind the doors of the room.” “Only these people who lived there knew the truth of what was expected of them,” he added. “I have not been able to publish this book until now because the publishing world could not take risks with such a gigantic figure in the media world. Hefner had tremendous power to stop anyone who wanted to tell this story. No one could believe these lurid stories back then and a certain group of his loyalists still can’t believe this world of abusive manipulation was true.” Finally, the former butler is pleased that the times of #MeToo and Time’s Up “have opened the eyes of many to believe my story in 2022.”
Hefner, who died at the age of 91 in September 2017, was always a highly controversial figure. For some (and today, for almost all) he was an exploiter of women and their bodies, the greatest architect of “female objectification.” Instead, his defenders include those who consider him a pioneering defender of LGBTI rights, abortion and birth control, as well as having been part of the sexual revolution of the 60s such as the doctors Masters & Johnson. After Hefner’s death, his family sold his financial stake in Playboy, now called the PLBY Group. Hefner’s son, Cooper Hefner, came out in defense of his father, tweeting: “Some may not approve of the life my father chose, but he was sincere in his approach and lived honestly.” Hundreds of his ex-girlfriends, Playmates and employees of his also defended him.
Source: Ambito
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