American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Becoming Mr. Playboy - full transcript

By winter of 1955,

America was rapidly changing.

The polio vaccine was
officially approved by the FDA.

A small burger joint called McDonald's

held its grand opening in Illinois.

Disneyland is a delight
for all youngsters.

Walt Disney opened his first theme park

in Anaheim, California.

And in Chicago,

we were still making waves at Playboy.

In the year since we started
taking our own photos,



we'd begun adding playful
elements to our photoshoots,

hiding things like a tie

or a set of golf clubs,

to imply that a man was just off camera

and giving our readers
something to look for.

Thanks to our concept
of the girl next door,

readership had exploded from 70,000
copies a month in our first issue

to 500,000 a month by
the end of the year,

and with annual sales
reaching $3 million,

I saw an opportunity to
take Playboy even further

by going after a source of revenue

we'd barely tapped into... advertising.

After World War II,
Americans got back to work,

and the economy was booming.



Suddenly, people had
cash to spend on luxuries

like cars, TVs, and new appliances,

and they spent a lot, so major companies

began putting massive amounts of money,

over $5 billion a year, into
promoting their products.

It was the Golden Age of Advertising.

For most magazines,

advertising is the
largest source of revenue,

and advertisers choose
where to advertise

based on the audience, the
price, and the environment.

But Playboy had a different approach.

We were always, even
in the very beginning

when we needed the
money, very, very tough

in terms of our advertising policy.

I knew for starters that if we accepted

the kinds of advertising that
appeared in the pulp magazines,

I would never be able to turn a magazine

with nudes in it into
a class publication.

I only wanted to run high-class ads,

ones that would suit our
features and articles.

My dad was very thoughtful

about who he wanted to
advertise in the magazine

because he cared more about reputation

than he did actually about
the cash on the table.

He didn't want to be
in business with people

that didn't actually
believe in the brand.

But now, with sales of
Playboy at an all-time high,

I knew it was time to start going after

the big name brands that I wanted.

Uh, Hef, they're here.

Okay. Stall them five minutes,

then bring them up to the studio.

Okay.

Get Victor to meet me
on the second floor. Now.

After months of tracking
down potential advertisers,

we finally got the attention

of one of the most
exclusive brands in town.

All I had to do was convince
them to work with us.

I'd like you to meet Vince Tajiri,

our photo department head,

Art Paul, art director,

and this is Victor
Lownes, head of promotions.

Welcome to Playboy.

Thanks very much.

Uh, Hef?

This is Bob from The Diners' Club.

I'm so sorry to keep
you waiting. Hugh Hefner.

In 1955, the first
independent charge card

in the world was introduced in America.

It was called Diners' Club.

This was before American Express, Visa,

or MasterCard were in
the credit business,

and Diners' Club members
could use their cards

at some of the best
restaurants in the world.

The card was revolutionary,

and I had a plan to get
it into our magazine.

What do you think of the studio?

Everything looks great.

As you may know, Janet here

was the first Playmate
we photographed ourselves.

Photographing our own models has seen

a real spike in readership.

When they see your ad on our pages,

I'm predicting they'll
choose to spend their money

using a Diners' Club card.

All it took was one look from Janet

and Diners' Club was in.

These advertising guys

didn't want to talk advertising.

They wanted to ask about the Playmates.

They were fascinated by it,

and we were able to
take advantage of that.

Why don't you come to my office

and we'll talk some numbers. Sellers?

Bye, Janet.

With Diners' Club on board,

it wasn't long before
other big names followed,

and soon, Playboy was featuring ads

from Marlboro,

Chanel,

Imperial Whiskey,

and Budweiser.

When we went to see
people like Anheuser-Busch,

we could say to them, look,

you've got to be in this magazine.

This magazine reaches more college men

who are the next generation's leaders.

That was very influential.

Our new stream of revenue

was enough to keep the
business running comfortably...

... meaning I could stay focused
on the creative side of things.

She looks amazing, Vince.

It's a shame they can't be
this big in the magazine.

Let's put this up on the board, Vince.

Charlaine had a point.

Here in the office,

the photographs felt more lifelike.

We started out with these great proofs,

but then we had to shrink them down

to fit in our magazine.

I knew there had to be a way

to give our readers a better experience.

I mean, what are our options here?

Hef wants a bigger photo,
so, tabloid, am I right?

Are you talking about

making the entire magazine twice as big?

That means everything
costs twice as much.

What's wrong with that?

We've spent three years

building a bond with our readers, right?

They like the magazine the way it is.

Think about the ad sales.

Bigger ads. More money.

There you go, Eldon. Problem solved.

Look, don't get mad at me
'cause I'm the only one here

willing to tell the truth.

Don't get mad at me
for calling bullshit.

We'll just fold it.

Yeah.

Ladies and gentleman,
the Playboy centerfold.

In March of 1956, we put out

our first issue ever
with a fold-out centerfold

featuring model Marian Stafford.

The first Playboy centerfold I ever saw

was probably in fourth
grade at a friend's house.

And it's not just opening the cover.

That centerfold, that fold-out

is that tactile experience
of opening something

and revealing something.

It just seemed like
you were opening a door

to a whole other world.

It wasn't life-size,

but you have no idea how many times

I made love to that centerfold.

It took me there,
visually took me there.

I thought that that girl was
right there in front of me.

The larger centerfolds were
an instant hit with readers

and quickly became
synonymous with our brand.

To this day, when people
hear the word "centerfold,"

they immediately think of Playboy.

Sales and subscriptions skyrocketed,

and in December 1956, we hit a milestone

when our third anniversary
issue sold over a million copies.

And after just three years,
Playboy was the number one

men's lifestyle magazine in America.

We had beaten out Esquire,

the magazine that, three years earlier,

had refused to give me a $5 raise.

We were doing so well,

I needed to bring on
someone who could focus

on the business side of the magazine.

So, I turned to an
old friend who knew me

better than any of the
other guys, Bob Preuss.

Balance sheet? Perfect.

Hef always had someone that he relied on

to be the business head.

In the early years, it was Bob Preuss,

who'd been his college roommate.

Demand for the magazine
was rising every month,

and our staff could barely keep up.

If we were going to sustain the quality

our readers expected from us,

we not only needed to add more staff

but we also needed
someplace to put them.

But we didn't just move to a new office.

This time, we got our own building.

Four stories, 30,000 square feet.

Plenty of space for our
newly expanded staff...

... now over 100 people.

We spent a quarter-million dollars

to renovate it top to bottom.

It might have been a little indulgent,

but I wanted my team
to have the very best.

We're in my executive offices now

on top of the Playboy building.

It's quite late at night

and my working hours
are kind of strange ones.

I usually begin work about 1:30

or 2:00 in the afternoon.

I get in half a day
that way with the staff

and things are quite
hectic here during the day

with conferences and various calls

and things to attend to:

layouts, editorial matters, etcetera.

Then I go into the second half of my day

in the evening, and
that's a little quieter.

There's nobody else here to bother me.

It works out pretty well that way.

At this point, I pretty much lived

in the office full-time,

but while my business was growing,

so was my family.

In the midst of our mounting success,

Millie gave birth to our second child,

a boy named David.

But with the magazine
taking up all of my time,

I'll be the first to
admit I wasn't acting

like the type of father or
husband my family needed.

My father wasn't around a lot

when my brother and I were growing up,

but we would spend Christmas
and birthdays with him,

so I always thought
of him, in hindsight,

as kind of like a favorite uncle,

someone you were related to

who you knew loved you
but didn't really know

who your friends were or
how your grades were going.

It was 24/7 for him,

which is why he did not
really have a family life,

even though he was married
and had two children.

But he was working night and day.

And that was true for decades.

Arrange a meeting with
everybody just to...

With success came attention,

and in January of '57, I was invited

to profile Playboy on an
entirely new platform for me,

one that was quickly becoming

an American obsession... television.

In 1957, television was
taking the country by storm,

and with only three
networks to choose from,

CBS, NBC, and ABC,

roughly a third of the country

might be tuned in to one program.

Good evening, I'm Mike Wallace.

The show is Night Beat.

Mike Wallace's Night Beat
was a popular talk show

known for addressing
controversial topics,

and I thought it would
be the perfect opportunity

to spread Playboy's message.

But I had never appeared on TV before,

and I'd be lying if I
said I wasn't nervous.

I knew that Night Beat was
a very hot show in New York,

a show that was getting
a lot of reaction.

I also knew that it was a tough show

and that he was asking tough questions.

And I had done very few interviews,

even for print, in those days,

because it was the very
early days of the magazine.

A little under four years
ago, a junior copywriter

in Esquire Magazine's
promotion department

quit in a huff after he
was refused a $5 raise.

You ready?

And that refusal turned out to be

one of the worst decisions
ever made at Esquire

because the name of that
copywriter was Hugh Hefner.

You'll be fine.

He is now the editor-in-chief
of Playboy Magazine,

which claims to have pushed Esquire

right out of first place.

Hugh, we checked this month's issue

and found 20 pictures of girls
in various stages of undress.

Now, sir, what's the kick
that you get out of it?

At the time that Playboy
started, and this was one

of the big reasons
for beginning the book,

we felt there as no magazine

doing a really successful job

of entertaining the audience
that we're trying to hit.

Let's not hide behind
altruistic motives, Hugh.

Chicago Magazine
quoted you to the effect

that sex will always be

a primary ingredient of the magazine.

Isn't that really what you're selling?

Kind of a high-class dirty book?

Um, well, I don't, uh...

I'd make a pretty, uh, strong case, uh,

in the feeling that the magazine,

as far we are concerned,

does not over-emphasize sex at all.

You think that this
really reflects the tastes

and the standards of
young, male Americans?

Truthfully?

Truthfully, without
any reservation, yes.

When I first did my
interview with Hugh Hefner,

I wasn't just playing
devil's advocate with him.

I thought that he was about
to subvert the republic

with some of the stuff

that he was putting in Playboy Magazine.

What he was doing,
basically, was, I thought,

vaguely pornographic, vaguely obscene,

and he was putting a nice cover on it

by finding interesting
intellectual stuff

to lend a little class

to what was essentially a trifle tawdry.

When I look at the tape,

I see a very nervous kid

who didn't have his act together

and was searching for words.

Mike didn't take me very seriously.

He said, in between
segments of the show,

that he figured I'd
be doing something else

in five years, and I was hurt by that

because it suggested to me

that he didn't think I was sincere.

Mike Wallace had torn me
apart on national television,

and all I could think

was that by appearing
on the show unprepared,

I had done Playboy more harm than good.

Part and parcel of being
in the public eye is,

people are going to have
something to say about you.

You can either let it bother you,

or if you are on the right
side, just speak the truth.

I had to do something.

I needed to make it clear

that I was making a magazine

for a sophisticated audience.

The first initial dream
was to try to package

the sort of magazine
for a young urban man

that I would enjoy if I was a reader,

and the perception didn't
go much further than that.

Once that began, a time came

when I really began to see

the possibilities of livin' the life.

If I was going to change
people's opinion of Playboy,

I had to put myself in the spotlight

and show the public

that I wasn't just
some creep peddling sex.

I was the epitome of a modern gentleman.

Taking inspiration from famous
figures like Frank Sinatra

and characters like James Bond,

I changed my look.

I started dressing sharper...

... and I even added a new
accessory to my image, a pipe.

For the first time, my photo
was prominently featured

in the pages of Playboy...

... paired with an article
detailing my interests,

fashion sense, musical taste...

... and my rise to success.

He invented the character

and then became the character.

I think, in a lot of
ways, he was surprised

how many American men responded to that

and wanted to engage in
a lifestyle on that level.

In 1959, I was even asked to appear

in an ad from a Chicago
Mercedes dealership,

promoting their 300 SL convertible.

In Chicago, Hefner
was almost immediately

the biggest celebrity in town,

but that spread quickly
to the rest of the country.

For the next two years,

I started giving interviews

to any publication that would have me...

... and little by little,

I started gaining national notoriety.

I literally became a different person,

and I think that the commitment

in terms of changing my
lifestyle, that wasn't so tough.

There was already a fascination
with Playboy as a phenomenon.

It was just a matter of sort of
takin' off the Clark Kent outfit

and puttin' on the cloak
and flyin' out the window.

With my star on the rise,

all kinds of new business opportunities

were on the table for me, and in 1959,

the most intriguing

was from a local television
producer from Chicago

named James McGinn.

I want to make a variety show.

Special guests, celebrity performers.

Playmates... dressed, of course.

Who did you have in mind to host?

You.

You're Mr. Playboy.

From Broadway, from Hollywood...

At the end of the '50s, variety shows

like The Tonight Show,

Sid Caesar's Show of Shows,

and The Ed Sullivan Show

were pulling in massive ratings.

I realized if Playboy could capture

even a small percentage
of those viewers,

we could extend our brand
far beyond just the magazine.

I think the motivation
for pursuing television

was that it offered another platform

to share the brand philosophy.

But even with the backing
of a Chicago TV station,

I knew we faced tough competition.

If we were going to succeed,

we needed to come up with a concept

that would really set us apart.

Playboy Magazine was always about

presenting a fantasy lifestyle...

beautiful women, high-end design,

and the latest in American culture.

I wanted to bring that experience

to a television audience,
and just like that,

Playboy's Penthouse was born.

The concept of Playboy's Penthouse

was the magazine come to life.

It was a show that was taking place

in Hef's living room,

and Hef was the host of the party.

The show was going to
be a huge undertaking,

so I asked the entire staff
of the magazine to pitch in,

including one of our newest
hires, Dick Rosenzweig.

I began working for Playboy in 1958.

I was hired as an advertising trainee.

But then Eldon came to me and asked me

to be the production syndication manager

of this new television show.

Nobody really in our company
was qualified to do that,

but we all chipped in,
as we did in those days,

and did double and triple duty.

We may have had an amateur staff

and a tiny budget,

but Playboy's growing reputation

allowed us to lock in an
incredible show line-up.

Stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce,

best-selling author Rona Jaffee,

1958 Playmate of the
Month Joyce Nizarri,

and my personal favorites,

jazz legends Ella
Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole.

I used jazz throughout the '50s

as a major element in the magazine.

That music spoke to me
and contained those dreams

that I identified with so much.

We had our lineup complete,

but with just days before we aired,

we got word that
broadcasters in the South

were threatening to pull our show.

You have to understand,
this was the late 1950s,

a time of racial segregation

and growing racist
sentiments in the South.

In 1959, this is four years

after the Montgomery bus boycott,

a woman locked up for
sitting in the front of a bus

who paid the same fare as white people.

In that same season,
rights workers were killed

trying to register people to vote

and had to beg the Department of Justice

and the FBI to intervene

during that very ugly transition

from slavery to Jim Crow desegregation.

It was a very violent season
of fear and polarization.

Protests on both sides

were breaking out across the country,

and with our program planning to show

white and black people socializing,

Southern television
stations were outraged.

So either we pull Nat
and Ella or they pull us?

Pretty much.

Look, gentlemen, we cannot
afford to lose the South.

That's half our audience.

The stations have all the power.

Fuck the stations. It's censorship.

Nat King Cole stays and
so does everyone else.

We're making the show I want to make,

and if the South pulls us, they pull us.

We start taping tomorrow night.

People who were not old enough

to be around back then
and see those Playboy shows

would probably see
nothing wrong with them.

Why not have black
artists and black musicians

and black comedians and black guests?

But in the '50s, that
was very much a red flag

to certain people and even stations

in certain parts of this country,

and Hefner's intentional
ability to break that barrier

was really a public service on his part

and rather daring.

On October 24th, 1959, we premiered

our first episode of
Playboy's Penthouse,

and sadly, the Southern stations

stuck to their guns
and refused to air it.

But we had made something
I was truly proud of.

I'll admit, I was
nervous to be the frontman

on a brand-new television show,

but I was excited to
see my vision on TV.

Hello there. Glad you
could join us this evening.

I'm Hugh Hefner,

editor/publisher of Playboy Magazine,

and your host.

This is Playboy's Penthouse.

Come on in and meet some of our guests.

Well, here we have Eleanor Bradley

and Ms. Joyce Nazarri,

two of our most popular Playmates,

and Lenny Bruce,

foremost exponent of sick humor and...

Oh!

Isn't that sick?

Oh, boy, the champagne is really

making my nose bubbly, Uncle Hugh.

Nat, what a surprise! Great.

I'm very pleased you
could come up this evening.

- Thank you.
- Come on in.

I was proud to feature Nat King Cole

and Ella Fitzgerald as
two of our first guests.

Thank you.

Nat, this is Spec, A.C. Spectorsky.

They represented the
best in American jazz,

and our show wouldn't have
been complete without them.

These were very talented professionals

in their line of work, jazz,

and Hefner has always felt
that it was right and proper

to have the most talented

and interesting people on this show.

It's great having you with us, Ella.

A real pleasure, as always.

The group is here,

and I wonder if you'd
sing a song for us.

Well, we can try and
do something for you.

It was so cleverly
filmed and photographed

because it was a subjective camera.

You were the audience
walking into that penthouse.

You were watching them.

You felt like you were there with them.

And that's when I think Hef

started being a kind
of living, breathing

visual interpretation

of that man that you're reading about.

It was exactly what I had envisioned.

It was hip, fun,

and thanks to our featured Playmates,

it was also sexy.

I saw it as a chance for Playboy

to become bigger than just a magazine.

But without the South,
there was no guarantee

that we'd pull in enough viewers

to keep the show on the air.

There were a few people
who had the courage

of their convictions to stand with us.

Hefner's money and
reputation was on the line.

He identified unequivocally
with social justice

and with the civil rights
movement of that time.

The ratings data came in,

and I wanted you to
hear it from me first.

Is it good or bad?

They want to make a 26-week commitment.

- Really?
- Yeah.

They're even asking
about a second season.

A second...

Congratulations, Mr. Playboy.

Even without the South,

the response was better
than I had expected.

The civil rights movement

has a particularly profound effect

on the younger generation

and on those who want to see
themselves as hip and cool.

It is no longer cool
and hip to be racist.

And Hugh Hefner latches
onto that notion.

He feels it.

Papers across the country
were talking about us.

The show was a hit,

and we went on to
book even bigger names.

If he does that again,

I'll punch him a shot in the mouth.

Sammy Davis was a big visitor,

as was Tony Bennett...

Tony's gonna wail a little bit here.

... who was a great friend
to playboy Cy Coleman,

so it was just a litany

of who the cream of the crop was

in entertainment at that time.

The success of Playboy's Penthouse

only solidified our status

as the top-selling men's
magazine in the country.

Let's go for two. Thanks.

We had a guaranteed circulation

of over a million copies per month,

and I was now running a
company worth over $20 million.

This is Donna Lynn, our
Playmate for November,

and if Donna doesn't look
exactly like a waitress...

But while my business was going great...

... that's because in Hollywood,

the scene is a little different.

... not everything in
my life was perfect.

... pretty special things,
and we thought Donna

was pretty special,
even by those standards.

Hef invents the idea
of the modern bachelor

without really knowing if
that person actually exists

other than himself, and
to tell you the truth,

he wasn't even that person.

He was married and living in Chicago.

We'll break for just a minute
and we'll be right back.

I wasn't seeing him that much.

We would do the holidays,
the family days, together,

but we weren't acting
together as a couple.

He lived his own life. He
didn't do it to be cruel.

It hurt, but it wasn't
a deliberate cruelness.

I always respected him,

and I think he always respected me.

I think we recognized
that we were dissimilar.

We were dissimilar. And what I wanted,

if I were in a marriage,
what I wanted from it

is something he couldn't give me.

After a decade of marriage,
Millie and I decided

that the best thing for
both of us was a divorce.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

I believed, initially, that marriage

would be the answer
to my romantic dreams,

and it wasn't.

And I think that that
hurt and disappointment

led me in another direction.

Now that I was on my own,
nothing was stopping me

from fully embracing
the Playboy lifestyle.

So I did what every guy in
his thirties dreams of doing.

I bought a bachelor pad.

The four-story, 40-bedroom house

was in the heart of Chicago.

I dropped $400,000, or
about 3.2 million today.

And if you think that sounds like a lot,

I spent another ten times that

on renovations.

And let me tell you, it
was worth every penny.

The main room is, of
course, my favorite.

It has woodwork in it and
a size and magnificence

that you rarely find in America today.

It looks more as though it belongs

on an English countryside

than in the heart of
Chicago's near northside.

The hi-fi here in the middle of the room

was custom-built for the house,

and down below the main room,

we have the swimming pool.

It's kind of like walking
into a part of Acapulco,

I guess you might say.

There are palm trees
there and a waterfall.

Hef had a pool in his living room,

but Hef didn't swim.

Hef had the finest wine,
but he doesn't drink.

He's the greatest host ever.

It was about other people's pleasure,

for other people to enjoy.

In addition to housing

Chicago's only private
indoor swimming pool,

my mansion was fitted
with the latest technology,

plus a bowling alley, hidden walkways,

a movie theater, and a
full catering kitchen.

This house in Chicago was amazing.

Me and Peter Boyle, we started looking

all around the place,
and we found ourselves

in a swimming pool on the second floor.

And there was this one place
where you slid down a pole

and you got into this pillowed room

that had a glass front
and that was the pool.

But the most legendary room
of all was my master bedroom.

I designed it to look like
something out of a Bond movie,

and the centerpiece was
a circular, rotating bed.

And the point of this, of course,

is not simply a merry-go-round.

It's really turned the room itself

into four separate living sections

so that I can have it
facing the hi-fi area,

facing the TV over here,

or for the work service
or the fireplace.

I'd transformed the mansion
into a bachelor's paradise,

and in December of 1961,

I published a ten-page
spread in the magazine

that gave my readers an inside look.

Every decision that my dad made

was about fostering the brand,

so the mansion in
Chicago was a reflection

of the brand's values,
which were his values.

It was a place where you
could have a really good time

but still find intellectual
conversation if you wanted to.

It was an adult playground.

With the introduction of the mansion,

I literally got out from behind the desk

and then it was party time.

What had started out as my home

had now become the
hottest spot in Chicago.

I spent money and invested money

in the future of this magazine
and company and this dream

in a way that made no
kind of business sense.

All reason and logic were gone,

and everything I
touched turned into gold.

I was living the life
I'd always dreamed of,

and I'd finally become
the ultimate bachelor.