PLAYBOY Magazine, August 1974 - Volume 21, No. 8

People have always playfully maintained that they look at Playboy "for the articles." Personally I've enjoyed a good celebrity interview from time to time but I've only ever found the main draw to be the pictures: the nude photography (which was sparse but stylish) and the product advertisements (which were abundant and equally stylish). I've also found that 90% of my experience with this magazine has been with back issues - "vintage" Playboys from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I'd acquired from flea markets and yard sales. I subscribed for a year at some point in the early 2000s and immediately recognized the stark contrast between the magazine I was used to and what it had become; not that the format had changed much or even at all really, but I found what they were selling to be much less interesting: the advertisements were dull, the products they were advertising were dull, the pornography was dull, the models were dull - I'm sorry but there it is. Beyond the camp & kitsch of the hair and wardrobe, everything in the older issues was unironically more attractive, and not just as a historical curiosity: the cars and stereos and watches and whiskey glasses all had a lot more color and character than any of the contemporary gadgets, and they were photographed in a way that spoke loudest to me. The same with the erotica: Playboy famously pioneered that warm glow that became synonymous with sensuality and it permeated every picture on every page to the point that even a pack of Newports could evoke sexual arousal. (Or was that just the subliminal advertising?)

For those of you just in off the street looking for smut, welcome. But to you permanent residents of Bennett Land we thank you for coming on this Jive-ass journey with us this summer - I can certainly say for myself that this has been one of the more successful experiments in terms of creating a believable environment for myself; sticking solely to the media of the era for this length of time absolutely generated the 1.25 gigawatts I needed to experience the joy and the fun of the season in the sun that I'd so eagerly sought out. If you joined in I hope it worked as well for you, or at least had a few solid months of memorable experiences. To close out our Jive-ass Summertime we're further commemorating the 50th anniversary of 1974 - right down to the month with this August '74 issue of Playboy. It's admittedly not the most exciting issue I could share, but I've gone through it and grabbed the best bits - which largely consists of ads for cigarettes and alcohol -- lots and lots of alcohol, so much so that I skipped over a few for sobriety's sake. The ones I did include no doubt have secret messages in the ice cubes, I'm certain of it. That's all I'm gonna say about these pages though - they needn't any explanation and I'm burnt out on the running commentary. So here's your filth, free of articles.

- Paul