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Season 1 Episode 05 | The Playboy Interview (I Read the Magazine for the Articles)
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00:00It was 1962, and America was changing.
00:11The space program was in full swing,
00:15and John Glenn became the first person to orbit the Earth.
00:19Johnny Carson was named the new host of The Tonight Show.
00:24And the Cuban Missile Crisis,
00:27which had kept the country on edge for 13 days,
00:31came to an end.
00:33While American culture was shifting,
00:37the world of Playboy had exploded.
00:45Our magazine had over one and a half million readers each month.
00:51And the Playboy Club had become the biggest party in Chicago.
00:56For half a mile
00:58With over a hundred thousand key holders.
01:00Stop and talk a while
01:02Yeah, I was looking back to see you
01:04She was looking back to see you
01:06With the mounting success of the Chicago Club,
01:10it was time to take our party national.
01:13And I knew the perfect location for the next Playboy Club.
01:18New York City.
01:20New York City
01:20New York City wasâ…”
01:21New York City.
01:25So the competition wasâ…”
01:26New York wasâ…”
01:27New York was home to some of the world'sâ…™ hottest
01:30And most iconic nightlife.
01:37So I sent Victor Lowndes to get aâ…” feel for the market.
01:45hotel and I noticed a Ford rent sign on a building that I could see out of my
01:52window at the Plaza Central Park here Cartier Tiffany's and you see these
02:02picture windows here all the advertising will need when people walk by and see
02:07that spiral staircase filled with a rainbow of bunnies we got him when can
02:13renovations begin we should be clear to start in two weeks I'm finalizing
02:16everything with the Department of Buildings today which reminds me Victor
02:19preliminary budgeting has us a 2.5 million right now we're overextended by
02:23a lot we're pre-selling memberships that'll help no it will help you're
02:27right but Bob it's New York I know it's New York but it doesn't hurt to limit
02:32risk this is what I want this design at this address to me that's worth the risk
02:43they put seven million dollars into renovations and that was a huge amount
02:49at that time and that did not even take into account the advertising budget so
02:54Victor really had high hopes for this club being really the jewel in the Playboy
03:00Club chain with our plans in place we started construction
03:11and it's seven stories high the club would have twice the capacity of our
03:18Chicago location but I soon realized that doing business in New York had risks I
03:27hadn't anticipated to open a club you needed a liquor license and to get a
03:34liquor license you had to go through the state's licensing board but no state
03:40government was more corrupt than New York's Albany was since the 19th century
03:50and continues to this day a cesspool of corruption you want to get anything done
03:55in New York State you got to pay somebody you got to pay some elected official
04:00right to get the go-ahead that is how things are done in New York soon enough we
04:09were informed that in order to open our club we had to pay a corrupt government
04:13official a bribe of a hundred thousand dollars
04:19this is blackmail that's how it works
04:24well we're not paying them we need to open the club now and we can't do that without a liquor
04:32license plus we've already started selling memberships we have over 10,000 customers who
04:38already paid how would they react if we cancel the opening Arnie insisted that payoffs were the cost of doing business but paying a bribe went against everything I stood for
04:47after this extremely moral person you had to be there were so many trumped-up charges and efforts to indict us for things that we didn't do wrong that we had to keep our nose clean
05:05I knew it was a risk to involve playboy in any illegal activity but if we wanted to get our liquor license to open our club I had no choice so I paid the bribe
05:12so I paid the bribe
05:32what I didn't know then was that in going against my conscience I was making a decision that would haunt playboy for years to come
05:39what I didn't know then was that in going against my conscience I was making a decision that would haunt playboy for years to come
05:46what I didn't know then was that in going against my conscience I was making a decision that would haunt playboy for years to come
05:54every little movement every little thing you do is it's light of hand that commands my heart to love you every little movement every little movement
06:19on December 8th 1962 after a rocky start our biggest venture yet the playboy club New York finally opened its doors
06:38with its spiral staircase elevated piano bar and 360-degree fireplace it was even more stunning than our Chicago operation
06:56we had comedians and singers a queue around the block it was a huge
07:08success rate from the start
07:15you cried me a river you cried me a sea and I believe without a doubt that you really really really love me don't cry no
07:21and I had the most beautiful date in the room
07:33my girlfriend Cynthia Maddox
07:38Cynthia wasn't the only woman I dated but anytime I was at the club she was at my side
07:45within weeks we were averaging over 3,000 guests a night
07:52you cried me a river you cried me a sea and I knew if we could conquer the New York nightclub scene we could succeed anywhere
08:09within a year we had playboy clubs in Miami, New Orleans, St. Louis, Phoenix, Detroit, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles
08:24playboy was on top of the world
08:31but just when it seemed like everything was going our way
08:35the decision I made months earlier
08:38was about to threaten the entire playboy empire
08:43it's 10 a.m.
08:58it's important
09:02just a few months after the New York club opened
09:17my staff caught wind of a government operation
09:21that could shut us down
09:23New York governor Nelson Rockefeller had announced a corruption investigation
09:33with a specific focus on the state liquor authority
09:36the same organization that had forced me to pay a bribe to get my club open
09:42I knew it was only a matter of time before Rockefeller's investigation would lead directly to playboy
09:50the state liquor board
09:52Hefner had apparently given a bribe to two New York state officials
09:57the chairman of the Republican Party of New York
09:59and the chairman of the state liquor board
10:02in Hugh Hefner's mind
10:04he had done what he needed to
10:06to get playboy's liquor license in New York
10:09practically every club owner in New York City had paid a bribe
10:15but I knew our success made us a big target
10:20and if investigators found out
10:26the club could be shut down
10:29the playboy name could be tarnished
10:32and we could face criminal charges
10:38to save playboy's reputation
10:40and my own
10:41I decided there was only one thing to do
10:45once one succumbs to a bribe transaction
10:58you are hooked
11:00forever
11:02anything you need names dates playboy will get
11:04we went to the district attorney's office in New York
11:08and we told them what had occurred
11:11and they said they would work together on this
11:14first time I think that had ever happened in New York
11:17Hefner and Morton
11:21the way they felt about it had a certain rationale
11:24and with all the evidence
11:26we even paid the bribe with a check
11:29and I mean so there was no question about evidence
11:32and there was no question about blowing the whistle
11:38I followed through with my promise
11:39and turned over all of our books
11:44by handling it
11:46the way we handled the approach works out in the end
11:50and the word gets out to these people
11:53that you cannot touch us
11:55with these unlawful suggestions
12:07after months of investigation
12:09and a high-profile trial
12:11Judson Morehouse
12:13the man who had forced us to pay the bribe
12:15was removed from office
12:17disbarred
12:18and convicted on charges of both corruption
12:21and extortion
12:26our testimony proved so vital to the state's case
12:30Playboy was forgiven on all counts
12:34Hefner had in fact come clean
12:36and then he did whatever he could
12:38to break the whole scheme of corruption
12:40by providing testimony against these two guys
12:44who were convicted
12:49While I was dealing with the clubs
12:50the world was changing
12:57and I quickly realized
12:58Playboy needed to change with it
13:04The pill came in in 1960
13:06and there were topless go-to-go dancers
13:09in both New York and San Francisco
13:11and the sexual revolution
13:14has become a reality
13:15and with that a permissiveness
13:17that offered a new possibility
13:18in terms of freedom
13:20It was also a time of revolution too
13:23and you can't separate that either
13:25I have a dream
13:28It was a time of questioning old mores and values
13:31It was a reaction to the very repressive values
13:35that had existed in the 40s and 50s
13:37It was questioning a lot of the fundamental views
13:40that people saw were hurtful
13:42people saw were hurtful
13:43We hold these truths to be self-evident
13:46that all men are created equal
13:49At City Hall Park, another multitude
13:51welcomes a young democratic Bay Stater
13:54With John F. Kennedy pushing a progressive agenda
13:57in the White House
13:58it seemed like America was on the cusp of a new era
14:01And I knew then the playboy needed to be at the forefront of the revolution
14:08Hanging round my bed
14:13Every day in the same old way
14:24I'm a 9 to 5
14:26We began publishing articles tackling the changing times
14:30We slammed nuclear testing
14:33Criticized America's corrupt auto industry
14:37And blasted America's outdated government leaders
14:42We were even covering social issues
14:45like economic reform
14:47Even some of my early critics had to admit
14:50the magazine was doing important work
14:53The come on for playboy in the 60s
14:58was the fact that you were going to see the playmate of the month
15:02Once you bought the magazine and began to read it
15:05then you understood that there was stuff worth looking at
15:10Worth reading, worth thinking about
15:13And some of it was indeed groundbreaking
15:16Playboy in its 10th year
15:19was becoming more influential than ever before
15:22Writers, cartoonists, photographers, artists
15:28They all wanted to be part of this cultural revolutionary piece of work that we were doing
15:37And some of them and many of them actually worked for less than their normal fees
15:43Just to be part of it
15:47Because I was the face of the company
15:49I wanted to start my own column to address topics I cared about
15:54From drug law reform to separation of church and state
15:59I called it the playboy philosophy
16:06But our biggest addition was inspired by the conversations I was having with celebrities and intellectuals
16:12At my parties and on my TV show
16:15I thought it would be great to give them a platform to talk about the issues they cared about
16:19And I knew our readers would love it
16:21We called it the playboy interview
16:30The first playboy interview was with my good friend Miles Davis
16:35In an interview that took place over two days
16:38In an interview that took place over two days
16:42He went beyond talking about music
16:45And opened up about his experience
16:47As a black man in America
16:50The magazine wanted to prove itself to be broad-minded
16:54Miles Davis was this very important guy
16:58The interview was comprehensive
17:00Patient
17:02Patient
17:04Finely edited
17:08Over the next few months
17:09We interviewed Peter Sellers
17:11Jackie Gleason
17:13And Ayn Rand
17:18The interviews themselves could have up to 40 hours of material
17:22Compiled over weeks
17:24Or months
17:25Well the thing that makes the playboy interview completely unique
17:29Is it's incredibly in-depth
17:32I mean who's gonna give you know
17:34Somewhere between 10 and 25 hours to an interviewer
17:38You know
17:39I mean especially now
17:40When every celebrity is so completely controlled by publicists
17:44By spending so much time with celebrities we developed a rapport
17:49And they shared things with us
17:52They would never tell any other publication
17:54But it was a big status thing to do the playboy interview
17:57And I think I answered some things perhaps
18:01A little more frankly than I normally would
18:04Thinking I'm in the big time of playboy now
18:11The playboy interview went on to become one of the most iconic features in the magazine's history
18:16Interviewers
18:19Interviewers in the first 20 years
18:21You'll see that they are like a classical symphony
18:25One melody leads into the next melody
18:27And the third melody is a counterpoint on the first melody
18:33There is a comprehensiveness to them
18:35Many years later
18:37Steve Jobs said about his first playboy interview
18:41It was the single best thing in media he had ever done
18:53With all of our new editorial features
18:55There was so much to do with the magazine
18:57That I had little time for anything else
18:59Including my girlfriend Cynthia
19:03There she is
19:04I'm sure
19:20I've got to get this done by tonight
19:27I've uh
19:32I've, uh, I've got to get this done by the night.
19:46Cynthia.
19:56Good.
20:03Oh.
20:16You're really not making this easy for me.
20:19But I have to work, okay?
20:32I knew I should have been spending more time with Cynthia, but my devotion to the magazine
20:45was far from the only problem in our relationship.
20:49He dates other girls, and I don't like it.
20:52And he knows I don't like it.
20:54And he doesn't like when I date, and he feels it's wrong when I date.
20:57Discussions go back and forth, and we try to work things out, but I don't know what's going to happen, you know, if this continues on.
21:11I'll be right back.
21:12I'll be right back.
21:13Cynthia was a very vibrant young woman, and they had a romantic relationship.
21:18Hefner never indicated that he was a one-woman man.
21:23Was it up to you?
21:25What?
21:42And that was not to Cynthia's liking, as one can imagine.
21:45Well, what was it done? Just for fun.
21:48throughout all the years with playboy i never had a monogamous relationship
22:01i think i was committed to that lifestyle
22:05it was a young man's fantasy i was in a unique position as the publisher of playboy
22:11well let's set it up or try to
22:21i'll call you back spec okay
22:27everything okay it's great these heels though they're a killer well i'm sure if you talk to
22:37the bunny mother she'll let you go back to the dressing room and take five
22:39i don't know she seems pretty strict plus it's always fun to break the rules every once in a
22:47while isn't it
22:57cynthia mannox is really beautiful hef uh fell in love with her they started dating
23:04but cynthia wanted to have a relationship with them she just didn't want to be another girl
23:13and hef wasn't prepared for that
23:20in the spring of 1963 my relationship with cynthia came to an end part of what my pursuit of happiness
23:28has been all about has been an attempt to walk a different road and when you're walking a different
23:33road without a map uh you're gonna make mistakes and you know when you're involved in a series of romantic
23:42relationships the nature of that is going to hurt
23:45i was sad to see cynthia go but work was a welcome distraction
23:54and soon bigger issues of the day were taking up all of my attention
24:04the negro still is not free
24:07the civil rights movement was gaining momentum but the peaceful demonstrations advocated by martin
24:15luther king jr soon gave way to violence
24:25as police in birmingham alabama brutally assaulted black protesters
24:30we can never be satisfied as long as the negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality
24:46playboy had been involved in civil rights issues for years we were going to stop now
24:52we did everything there was to do about civil rights it was an overwhelming fact that black
25:05people were badly treated and that the magazine should do what it could to make that better
25:10the thing about the magazine that nobody realizes is it was the only magazine in america that was
25:18fearless on any topic you gave it playboy could cover it
25:21and could cover it honestly in early 1963 a new leader in the civil rights movement had captured the nation's attention
25:35malcolm x was a polarizing figure
25:40who unlike dr king encouraged violence as a means of protest
25:44we need an organization that no one downtown loves we need one that's ready and willing to take action
25:51any kind of action not when the man downtown sees fit but when we see fit
25:58by any means necessary
26:01malcolm x was a black nationalist who thought white people were barbaric but not allowing us to use
26:07public facilities in that season of fear and polarization driven by former slaveholders and segregationists
26:15the argument was malcolm did not deserve a platform in the spring of 1963 malcolm x agreed to sit down with us
26:24we can't publish this the white man must realize that the sins of the fathers are about to be visited
26:36upon the heads of the children who have continued those sins only in more sophisticated ways this is
26:42practically a declaration of war if i'm not mistaken it's what he's been saying for years it is not
26:47our place to get involved in his crusade why not because we're white because we don't like what he's
26:53saying look we've fought for years against censorship of all kind to be able to express ourselves the way we
26:59see fit live our life how we want to let's not become hypocrites here respect you print this as is
27:12malcolm x his message was really important but his rhetoric and language was definitely threatening even to
27:22those who had embraced civil rights black people you cannot trust the white devil the white devil will
27:28always try to keep you in chains so the fact that you would have hugh hefner giving malcolm x an
27:37interview in playboy magazine oh man now that's wild and they were interested hefner stood almost alone
27:45in the social political world as a force to be dealt with it was courageous he was being encouraged to
27:51not publish the malcolm x interview he did not surrender we knew that publishing the interview could mean
28:01losing subscribers but i was willing to bet america was ready to hear his words
28:09as it turns out i was right after the malcolm x interview ran letters poured in from all over the
28:17country thanking us for covering his movement
28:23after nearly a decade playboy magazine was finally being recognized as much for its editorial content
28:30as for its centerfolds but that was all about to change
28:48hef bobby hef what is it the cops are downstairs just tell them i'll deal with it tomorrow they're here for
28:57you
29:14on june 4th 1963 i was arrested and charged with creating and distributing an obscene publication
29:21newspapers quickly picked up the story and i couldn't help wonder why the city of chicago was
29:29coming after me now we knew the magazine wasn't obscene because i knew my plans for the magazine i knew that
29:38the supreme court had already established that nudity was not obscene the difference with playboy is that
29:43we went mainstream immediately the obscene publication in question was our june issue
29:55specifically an eight page spread of actress jane mansfield
29:59playboy had published nude photos of mansfield twice before but our new photos were unique
30:10taken on the set of her upcoming film promises promises it was the first mainstream hollywood
30:16movie to feature a star in the nude the standards of obscenity were very vague in these years
30:23prosecutors claimed that those pictures were particularly obscene because there was a full-dressed
30:31man another character from the film sitting on the side of the bed and they claimed that the captions
30:38were obscene they talked about jane mansfield writhing around in the bed after spending the night in a
30:52chicago jail cell i was released on bail and returned home to start working on how to fight these ridiculous
31:00charges there aren't a whole lot of things in our society
31:07not many publications that are willing to stand up and say sex is good
31:13i'm the guy in playboys the magazine that is willing to say sex is a good thing sexual imagery
31:22is a good thing the act itself is a good thing and before you can tell me that it hurts somebody
31:29you have to make a serious case
31:31what makes something obscene the supreme court still hasn't come up with a legit definition a specific
31:41definition it's intentionally written in a vague way so if you were to try to publish
31:48a national magazine you are open uh to prosecution left and right
32:01we need to avoid court at all costs
32:05i just don't think we have a choice here and we have the money you think the city of chicago is
32:09going to let us settle that in court you know what we got to try i agree with that we can afford it
32:14we need to be prepared for both eventualities
32:16you hefner was facing a criminal sentence a prison term how many people are willing to risk
32:30criminal prosecution even if you're ultimately acquitted you have enormous expenses enormous amount of time
32:38drain and a big stigma being accused of engaging in obscenity so you have to be willing to place your
32:47resources and your reputation on the line despite my team's advice i knew settling wasn't an option
32:59these charges were censorship plain and simple and no one was going to take away my freedom of speech
33:08i don't take on cases that are easy i don't take on cases i don't believe in so you're saying this
33:16case won't be easy six years ago supreme court ruled that it's not enough to point to a single
33:25article or image to label a publication as obscene you have to look at the magazine as a whole well
33:31there you go playboy is primarily focused on lifestyle not nudity correct so what's the catch
33:38well when we go to court no matter how clearly we explain it we'll be at the mercy of the jury
33:46the man i chose to represent me had already won some of america's most controversial cases
33:52his name was william ming jr i look forward to seeing you at the arraignment thank you will be welcome
34:01three years earlier he had defended martin luther king jr on perjury charges
34:07winning him an acquittal in front of an all-white jury and a few years before that he served on the
34:14legal team that won the landmark u.s supreme court case brown versus the board of education
34:25ming was also involved in the naacp the aclu
34:30have very much into civil rights so it was a perfect match
34:38police yesterday carted two tons of obscene magazines films and photographs
34:43to the city incinerator and burn in the weeks leading up to the trial
34:48the city of chicago stepped up its efforts to damage our business
34:52and anti-pornography activists came out of the woodworks men who would stand by and see their
35:00women degraded and debased as they are with the breast and the buttock presentation by playboy are not
35:06men at all but the more they attacked the more i knew i had to defend playboy in your june issue
35:15you show jane mansfield unclothed lying in bed with a man fully clothed it looks like you're asking for
35:23it why uh use it looks as though the photograph is designed since we have both sexes involved here
35:31solely to arouse with the viewer the difficulty is most people that get into censorship really know
35:36very little about it they don't know much about it psychologically they don't really uh recognize
35:41the effect that these things have and so what we're really doing was reporting on a on a movie
35:45in the making and since a name personality was involved the pictures we felt had legitimate
35:51journalistic interest
35:52this morning a man is on trial in chicago charged with violating that city's laws against obscenity
36:03he is hugh hefner publisher of playboy magazine many court cases involving motion pictures books and
36:09magazines have left considerable gray areas in determining just what is salacious and obscene
36:14the trial began on november 20th 1963 and from the beginning jury selection put us at a huge disadvantage
36:29we discovered that they essentially rigged the jury with not only almost all women but people from very
36:38conservative organizations the moment the trial began it was clear we were fighting an uphill battle
36:49for more than a decade playboy magazine has done more to damage american values than any other
36:55publication currently in circulation it is up to you ladies and gentlemen of the jury to protect the
37:02basic human decency that this country stands for your sworn duty as members of the jury is to defend
37:10and uphold the laws of the constitution a constitution which not only protects the freedom of mr hefner
37:17but which also protect the freedoms of your fellow citizens help this point was the right not to buy
37:23but not the right to deny to be seen and to be read and when he was attacked on that basis he would
37:28not serve in his first amendment rights the prosecution launched into their case your honor the prosecution
37:38would like to call its first witness in your professional opinion do you find these pages to be obscene
37:45without reservation what do you think is the aim of all this in my opinion to stimulate or inflame the
37:54sexual appetite of the average person for nearly three weeks the prosecution argued that the pictures
38:01and playboy could incite readers to commit sexual crimes then something unexpected happened
38:09that was the first presidential assassination of our time
38:27it was earth-shattering
38:30and it would come to define a generation
38:32the world came to a halt
38:45for me it is a deep personal tragedy
38:51i know that the world shares the sorrow that mrs kennedy and her family bear
39:02his firm commitments to support the cause of democracy throughout the world suddenly
39:06the future of the progressive movement was in question
39:09across the country a great outpouring of grief shock and revulsion
39:16jfk's assassination for the generation of young people is the same as the attack on pearl harbor was
39:24for the prior generation subsequent generations the blowing up of the challenger and uh and 9-11
39:31in that it destroys the optimism and idealism it is a break with a sense of security in the past
39:39that everything was fine and a reminder that no one is invulnerable
39:48but just as the country was struggling to come to grips with the loss
39:52and life seemed like it would never get back to normal
39:54it was finally time to hear the verdict and now the fate of the playboy empire was in the hands of the jury
40:05everything i had worked for would be affected by this decision
40:09every little movement
40:17every motion of your hips
40:21i feel the compulsion to pull you to my sweet lips
40:27to sit up like a magic spell
40:33you put me under
40:35this miracle moment
40:39never let it end
40:43every little movement
40:47is beyond improvement
40:51you
40:53you
40:55i've been wishing
40:57forever
40:59every
41:01little movement
41:05every
41:05little movement
41:07you
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