Penthouse magazine
August 1974
Let's travel back in time to August, 1974.
'Billy, Don't Be A Hero', by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, and 'Band on the Run', by Paul McCartney and Wings, are in heavy rotation on FM radio. And on the stands is the latest issue of Penthouse magazine, with a 'retro' themed cover that reflects the Nostalgia Craze then prominent in American popular culture.
Along with the unintentionally (?) comical Penthouse Forum, 1974 offered a monthly feature called 'Couples' which provided risque 'interviews' with swingin' men and women, whose exploits were 'analyzed' by 'the eminent sexologist Dr. Robert Chartham'. Like the Forum, I know that the content of every 'Couples' feature was 100%, absolutely, utterly true and factual !
One thing that is readily apparent in looking at the 'pictorials', is that back then the girls were pretty, and personal grooming standards a bit different............
This month's interviewee is none other than film director Roman Polanski, who took care to present himself as a super-stud. In 1977, Polanski would be arrested and charged with rape of a minor, but in '74, he was living the high life. In August of '74, you could join the Occult Arts Society..........the movie The Exorcist no doubt motivated some into taking a membership. In '74 Penthouse didn't have quite the advertising portfolio of Playboy, although it was beating the former in terms of circulation. There was enough advertising to get the page count up to 152. Among the products on display were aphrodisiacal products, which are a potent (pun intended) reminder to us that back in '74, there were no such things as Viagra or Cialis.
The most you could hope for was a jolt from the 'I, Brute', supplement marketed by Joe Weider (!) which offered the promise of ginseng and other 'Oriental herbs' to those suffering from........errr.............difficulties.
And only in '74 could you get the decade's most quintessential swinging bachelor cocktail, the Tequila Sunrise, in a can ! Swinging bachelors also could take advantage of Xaviera Hollander's game to make that all-important transition from foreplay to erotic 'action'............... Let's close the show on a high note, with a consumer product sure to raise eyebrows..........do you know that back in '74 you could procure Male Comfort Spray to ensure your crotch area is free of 'chafing, stickiness, and irritation' ?! Maybe it had to do with those tight doubleknit slacks everyone was wearing............anyways, before hitting the Regal Beagle singles bar, a bit of MCS surely was a confidence-builder. There you have it...........a look back in time to a different era, and a different attitude towards what it meant to be a Manly Man..............
