Playboy September 1974

Playboy

September 1974

September, 1974, and the number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 is 'I Shot the Sheriff,' by Eric Clapton. Quite a few classic soul / R & B tunes also on the list.

The September issue of Playboy is formidable; 246 pages, including a lot of advertising. Advertising for men's fashion, which, in 1974, was either horrible, or inspirational (depending on your point of view). For my part, I think the 'Casino' hat is pretty stylin' !

There is a lot of worthwhile content in this September issue, such as the interview with UK author Anthony Burgess. He reveals that an inspiration for his novel 'A Clockwork Orange' was a brutal incident involving his wife, that took place during the Second World War..........

It's a measure of how integral magazines were to the print media of the 1970s that this issue has some rather elaborate formatting, including a keyhole (the iris centered in the star) overlay of a brilliant illustration by Don Ivan Punchatz:

Elsewhere, we have a 'stepback' illustration for a short story by John Collier. These kinds of special inserts were expensive, but publishers (back then) deemed them valuable. It's doubtful if magazines being printed nowadays would be willing to do this sort of thing.........

The magazine's 'After Hours' section highlights the growing footprint of comics, and Marvel comics, in particular, as a pop culture phenomenon.

A noteworthy short story in this issue is 'A Place to Avoid' by David Ely. Ely (b. 1927), perhaps best known for his 1963 suspense novel 'Seconds,' presents a well-told tale of an Ugly German interacting with the peasantry of postwar Italy.

On the topic of Nudies, this issue makes clear the efforts by the Playboy editorial staff to emulate Penthouse. But they can't do it right. Trying to imitate Bob Guccione's softcore, soft-focus, simulated sex portfolios, Playboy does something called 'Do It Now !' about sex in public. The photos are cringey, even gross (an overweight middle-aged man in the steam room ?!). Guccione has Playboy beat by a mile.

 

At least this September issue gives us the traditional blonde nubile, this time in the form of 19 year-old Jane Lubeck, who is a 'Raiderette' cheerleader. I like Jane. She's that all-natural, 70s kind of a girl.

That's how they did it, fifty years ago in the Fall of '74 !