Penthouse July 1976

Penthouse

July 1976 

July, 1976. I've just turned 16, and on the Fourth, a few block from my house, there is a big parade: the local National Guard armory has rolled out its vehicles, there are high school marching bands, police cars and fire trucks, and a celebratory air: it's the Bicentennial ! What a great occasion !

 

On the little AM radio, we listen to the 'American Top 40' with Casey Kasem. Super Seventies folkies The Starland Vocal Band are atop the chart with 'Afternoon Delight.' 

The July issue of Penthouse magazine features some provocation in the form of a model in  a tight-fitting tank top, with a carefully poised cigar in her mouth. Ahh, that Seventies Style !

 

For articles, we have journalist Tad Szulc (1926 - 2001), who had some currency back in those days as a sort of visionary analyst of world affairs. Accompanied by a brilliant photograph by Richard L. Schaefer, Szulc declares that the U.S. would do well to support the anti-apartheid movements in Rhodesia and South Africa, as a way of endearing the nation to the Third World. The US eventually did do this, but Szulc was wrong about such actions improving things with the Third World....

The fiction piece in this July issue is 'The Ledge,' by Stephen King. The story also features an excellent illustration, by Vincent Topazio. 'The Ledge' would be included in King's first short story collection, 'Night Shift' (1978).

 

There are some genuinely strange advertisements in this issue. First, we have a 'scratch and sniff honey,' which consists of a 'total fantasy system' with one poster, two perfume capsules, and a record with 'Honey's voice.'

Second, we have 'The Male Scale,' an implement which is so Seventies, and so Penthouse, that I launched an immediate Google search for it, without success. If someone has one of these artifacts in their possession, please let me know, so it can given a more in-depth profile here at the PorPor Books Blog.
 

Thirdly, we have the 'Orgy' t shirt, which 'shows you how' and is for 'men & women.' Someone is actually selling one of these on eBay; warning: it isn't cheap.....

The July Pet is the petite brunette Helen Lang (1951 - 1994). This is another portfolio that uses the Penthouse photographic style to good effect: intimate moments in the boudoir, and all that..... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there's your nudie action and your pop culture detritus, as it was in the summertime, fifty years ago.....