Penthouse magazine
May, 1974
It's May, 1974. Despite being released in March, Terry Jacks' hit single 'Seasons in the Sun' remains on the Billboard Hot 100 charts - an iconic song from that year.
The latest issue of Penthouse magazine is on the stands, with Pet of the Month Brande Howard from Mendocino, California, on the cover.
Stunt men and daredevils are the theme of this issue, with a feature article by John Baxter on the high rates of injuries and death suffered by Hollywood stuntmen. The article has arresting art by Roy Carruthers:
Then there's an Interview with Evel Knievel, certainly no stranger to danger. We have a cartoon................and advertisements for, among other things, a nudie puzzle, and 'The Sling Shot male liberation underwear' ?!In the mid 1970s Bob Guccione really was intent on presenting himself, and Penthouse, as earnest advocates for the cause of Vietnam war veterans. This August 1974 issue of the magazine deals with the problem of drug addiction among the veterans. It has some provocative statements (such as the U.S. military handing out 7,000 amphetamine tablets to its troops, per month, in 1968), but as this article is not an investigative report, it's unclear what among its content is hearsay and what is fact.As for the nudies, we have quite the selection of lissome young women. Leading off is a pictorial of Jessica Len, who remarks that "Nudity for me brings on a spiritual feeling."Then there is Pet of the Month Brande (no, not 'Brandy', 'Brandie', or even 'Brandee') Howard of Mendocino, California. Brande is the quintessential California Girl and a reminder of an era, long gone, when the Golden State still was Golden. We close with the brunette Shawn Day. Shawn assures us that "My body tells me who to love." Ponder, then, these images from long ago............ when life perhaps was a little simpler, and a little less complex, and the hedonism of the 70s firmly was emplaced.
