Celebrating Valentine's Day 2026
'The Permanent Playboy' romance and domestic life stories
edited by Ray Russell
Crown, 1959
'The
Permanent Playboy' was published in hardcover by Crown in 1959. It's a
slipcased, 503-page book, and a reminder that as the 1950s drew to a
close, Playboy magazine was a powerful entity in American popular
culture. The top fiction writers and essayists of that day would submit
to the magazine, as it was one of the best-selling periodicals in the
country.
Many of the stories and the essays in this anthology illuminate the social mores governing men and women back in the era before the Sexual Revolution, and the Pill (both Enovid, the first oral contraceptive, and the Margulies Spiral IUD, were approved by the FDA in 1960).
In an era when women hoping to avoid pregnancy were reliant on diaphragms, condoms, and cervical caps. An era when men seeking premarital sex had to: a. find a willing 'broad,' and b. hope she didn't get 'knocked up,' and ruin his life for ever after.
Also of anthropological value are the fashions displayed in these issues of Playboy. I had no idea that in the 1950s, it was the height of fashion for men to wear shorts accompanied by calf- or knee- length dark socks, and dress shoes. And belts were located high up on the abdomen. The mind boggles.......... So, here are my capsule summaries of the stories in 'The Permanent Playboy' that are apropos for Valentine's Day...........
'Beware of Hasty Marriage,' by Shepherd Mead, is an exemplar of this era. In a facetious tone, Mead enjoins young men to have lots of 'fiancees' and girlfriends, because it improves the odds that some of these may be willing to let a guy have some premarital nookie. Mead recommends forming an alliance, rather than antagonism, with a future mother-in-law; watching out for gold-diggers; and the best strategies for breaking off engagements. Somewhat more lyrical is 'The Goofy Girls,' by Robert Paul Smith, an
homage to those girls that you should have married, but didn't.......
'The Mask and the Maiden,' by John Collier, is an underwhelming tale about a young woman gifted with a great figure, an appetite for intimacy, but, unfortunately, marred by a plain face. In the 1950s, those days before the use of filters in social media posts, she experiences problems in gaining male attention.
'All Through the Night,' by Nelson Algren, is about a prostitute and her pimp who are living the high life in postwar Los Angeles. Unfortunately they're busted by the police and have to leave the city. Scraping up bail money allows them to escape to Chicago. But once in Chi-town, a withdrawal from smack takes hold. Then their supply of methadone starts to run out......This story is too overwritten to be effective.
'The Marvelous Lover' features a rarity: a female author, Joyce Engelson ! The eponymous lover is named 'Porter Dobey,' which doesn't seem promising, but the first-person female narrator is happy enough with him. The story has a lumbering quality, but it does feature a twist ending.
The romantic comedies 'I Love You, Miss Irvine,' by John Wallace, and 'Thank You, Anna,' by Bill Safire, all present male fantasies very much of their time: making it with swell dames, who aren't Saving Themselves for Marriage.
Darker in tone is 'A Dish of Desire,' by J. P. Donleavy, which (with
stilted prose) tells the tale of a woman who did Save herself, only to
discover that her suitor, grown tired of waiting for her to 'come
across,' has decided to end his pursuit because he's been getting nookie from other broads.
Wry observations about married life are provided by Erskine Caldwell in
'Advice About Women,' and 'The Double Cross-Up,' by T.K. Brown III (the latter tale prefigures, in some ways, Roald Dahl's classic short story 'The Great Switcheroo).
'The 44 Year-Old Boy Disc Jockey and the Sincere-Type Songstress,' by Herbert Gold, strains to be comedic; it's about a middle-aged, Jewish DJ named Tad Comet who becomes infatuated with a rising pop star named Orlee Phipps. This being Playboy of the 1950s, there is a happy ending (the Young Nubile gives in).
This story is illustrative of the magazine's attitude towards rock-and-roll music, during the 50s: it was kid stuff, and sensible adult men - i.e., Playboy readers - worshipped Jazz.
A New York City, Jewish sensibility also pervades 'A Very Human Story,' by Henry Swados. Bosley Feibush, an egotistical 'Hollywood Writer,' is working on a screenplay about '...a nice colored boy named George Washington Goldstein, a 'Jewish Negro,' who marries an Eskimo, and resists being turned into a traitor by the 'commies.' It's a satire, still relevant almost 70 years after it was written, about the schlock nature of so much of Hollywood's product.
'A Stretch in Siberia,' by John Wallace, has as its protagonist a prick of a teen named Drake, who has been exiled by his wealthy father to a reform school (the eponymous 'Siberia'). As luck would have it, the school nurse, Ms. Phillips, is not only comely, but a nymphomaniac ! No other term could so excite the 1950s male...........
Charles Beaumont contributes 'A Classic Affair,' is about a man who appears to be Straying. But the object of his affection is not what you think......
So there you have it; some humor, some pathos, some good times, some bad times. From those days when romance and relationships were a bit different from what they are today, 70 years later.......
