Penthouse
December 1972
December, 1972, and atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart is Billy Paul with 'Me and Mrs. Jones.'
The latest issue of Penthouse magazine is out on the newsstands ! And this December issue is a good one.
In his 'Housecall' column, publisher Bob Guccione triumphantly notes that this is the longest and largest issue yet, with '....our heaviest bookings by advertisers.' And big money advertisers, too: liquor, cigarettes, cars, stereo equipment, and cologne. All the items that a magazine, aimed at a male readership, needs to promote in order to be successful.
In the letters / forum page, 'monopede mania' continues. Reading so many early Seventies issues of Penthouse has made me inured to this rather disturbing fetish; I react to 'maniacs' with pity, rather than abhorrence. Or something like that.
We've got some cartoons......
A portfolio titled 'Dutch Treat' features a stunning young Netherlands girl named Diana van Derenter who is, in the modern parlance, 'THICC' !
Raquel Welch (1940 - 2023) was a superstar in '72, and the fact that Penthouse was able to score an interview with her signaled to the world that Guccione and his magazine were up-and-comers. She comes across as sensible and level-headed.
Also a major coup for Penthouse is an interview / profile of Carlos Castaneda, by John Wallace. By '72 Castaneda was a major pop cultural phenomenon, but also, wary of interviews; he would become a recluse as the decade went on. Wallace's article is fanboy stuff; despite his fawning tone towards his subject, Carlos comes across as a bullshitter, who at times is cruelly amused that people actually believe his 'Don Juan Matus' crap.
William Kloman, who was a music critic for the New York Times, and contributed articles to a variety of print media in the 60s and 70s, authors the fiction piece 'The Return of One Soldier.' The soldier of the title is a Vietnam war vet named Michael, who was wearing a straightjacket when he was discharged (!). Aimlessly wandering the California coast, Michael meets a hippy chick who changes his life. For the better ? Maybe......
Isaac Asimov makes another of his many appearances in the magazine, here with an overview of the phenomenon of 'corpsicles.' Asimov's piece is centered on the science, and concludes that freezing corpses is, all things considered, a bad idea.
And thus we close our issue of Penthouse, from that long-ago December of 1972..........
