PLAYBOY - LIMITS of LIBERATION - EXPLORING THE NUANCES OF a CONTROVERSIAL LEGACY

What if the infamous Playboy empire and its founder, Hugh Hefner, played a significant role in the fight for civil rights and personal freedoms? In this eye-opening episode, we unravel the complex history of Playboy, its battle with the Nixon administration's war on drugs, and the FBI's targeting of Bobby Arnstein, a close friend of Hefner. Our guest, John Champion, offers valuable insights on the historical context of the sexual revolution and its impact on Playboy's legacy.

We delve into the life of Hugh Hefner and the darker aspects of his reputation, examining allegations of sexual harassment and assault that emerged following his death. As we ponder the implications these accusations have on the Playboy brand and the women who worked for him, we also explore the magazine's role in igniting conversations on sexuality, gender roles, racism, and politics.

Finally, we emphasize the importance of Playboy's editorial voice in addressing sexual politics and the power of media in sculpting public perception. To dig deeper into the fascinating story of Playboy and its undeniable influence on American culture, we highly recommend watching the Amazon Prime show 'Playboy: American Playboy.' Join us on this journey to reveal the truth behind the Playboy empire.

A HUGE THANK YOU to JOHN CHAMPION + RODDENBERRY STUDIOS
podcasts.roddenberry.com /  thebunnychronicles.com

WITH LOVE & GRATITUDE - Corinna & Echo

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Transcript

Hi, my name is Corinna Harney, Playboys, Playmate of the Year 1992. And I'm Echo Johnson, Miss January 1993. Welcome to the Bunny Chronicles, let's go.

 Welcome back to the show. We're coming to you today from Rod and Barry Studios And we are going to do some reaction vids and conversation regarding a podcast called Power, the Hugh Huffner Story. It again is a very salacious, false narrative of the history of Playboy, and so we're going to go through and discuss the shows and actually tell you the truth. So the first one that we're going to start with is the limits of liberation. But before we do that, john, introduce yourself and Sure, so I'm John Champion. 

Speaker 1: I'm currently a producer and host with Rod and Barry, so podcastrodandburycom And I worked for Playboy in the 90s up through 1995. And you know, for a good chunk of the time that I was there worked in PR and was kind of the trivia nerd of the group. 

Speaker 2: Love it, yay, he's teaching me stuff. 

Speaker 1: But you know, i took a lot of joy in just being able to read and do my research and go through whatever it was whatever if it was something that was published, or even just enter office memos, learning who these personalities were and what drove them from half on down. Right, you know, i will say I did not meet him and some of the stuff that we're getting into today was before my time, before your time there, but also pretty well documented. 

Speaker 2: Yes, it's history Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's not like we're sharing anything that is newer, groundbreaking here, but it's important to add a little perspective. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, i would say I'm going to read the show, note of what this particular episode is about, and then we're going to get into the conversation and I'm and John's going to speak about it a little bit more, because he does have a better understanding about it. So the limits of liberation. Hugh Hefner's world is knocked off its axis when he's targeted by President Nixon's new war on drugs. Bobby Arnstein is Arnstein Arnstein. 

Speaker 1: Arnstein. 

Speaker 2: The Playboy Founders, confidant and close ally, is caught up in the middle. Arnstein's friend, keith Strupp, tells the story of her life and death. Yeah, okay, yeah, let's get into it. 

Speaker 1: So, and first of all, you know I don't want to it's impossible to take away from somebody's personal experience. So history is you know his story and that is all well and good. 

Speaker 2: Disclaimer Yeah. 

Speaker 1: What we love to do is is that you and I can talk through some of the historical context that's going on there, and there's honestly a few aspects to this that I think are important. First of all, let's put ourselves there in time. If you were to sum up each of these decades, you know, particularly in Playboy's history, you know in the fifties, playboy is finding its feet and it's this reaction to the very conservative kind of post-war America. The sixties, things get crazy because it is the sexual revolution. There is a youth counterculture revolution, there is a national conversation about drugs and sex And the entire pop culture is shifting and Playboy is shifting along with that. The seventies then come along and in ways the sexual revolution continues and expands in other ways There is a pushback. That rubber band needs to snap back into place and Nixon probably better than anybody is. 

Speaker 2: I mean, what a great avatar for exactly that. 

Speaker 1: Exactly. It is no longer the Camelot era of the early sixties or LBJ's sort of, you know, progressive, liberal social plans, so we're in a very different time here, and these concerns about drugs and sex and pornography get wrapped up into this bigger cultural conversation about, you know kind of what we went through in the eighties and continue to go through now. you know how does this reflect on American values and American ideals And, of course, playboy being, you know, the biggest part of that cultural conversation is a huge target and half, being the personification of that, becomes a target as well. And the Nixon administration is doing two things that I think are really important and one that's not mentioned in the show notes here but it is really important to understand. in 1970, the Nixon administration, under the Nixon administration, you have the release and I want to get the, the phrasing exactly right here the, the report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. 

Speaker 2: That's right. I've read about that. 

Speaker 1: Published in 1970. Not to be outdone by the 1986 Ed Meese Commission report on pornography under the Reagan administration, but I feel like these are two almost like bookended places in Playboy's history that really affected the magazine and affected that cultural conversation. Because really important to understand. That 1970 report essentially said look, we've investigated, we look through what is considered to be pornography, including Playboy, and look, you know that that is a definition of a word that is very difficult to grab, you know grapple. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think everybody has their own perception of what is considered. 

Speaker 2: That's another conversation for another day. but regardless, this Commission did that And they said look, we clearly would come down on the side of recommending the children be restricted from these materials. these are adult materials, but we don't see any scientific or socially relevant reason to prevent adults from buying and consuming pornography. Fair, okay. So if anything happened and the Senate rejects it, outright. 

Speaker 1: It is like yeah, no, we do not accept the findings of you experts in your field because we want to grandstand, we want to show America what we stand for, right. Essentially, a similar thing happened in 86, where you know the recommendations were like look, you know, there are some things that we'd be concerned about, but in general, just keep this material away from children. That's essentially it. Yeah, but then it, you know the media is reporting on that with something entirely different. Of course, you know we reject this. Oh no, like chill right. At the same time you also have this, i guess, the war on drugs 1.0 1.0 in the beginning. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. 

Speaker 1: And my favorite sort of vision of that is, you know, the famous meeting of Elvis in the Nixon. 

Speaker 2: White House. 

Speaker 1: Oh yes, that was the best. Yes, I used to. oh God, this is so weird. I can't believe I'm connecting my roles here. purely out of irony, I had a picture of Elvis meeting Nixon on my desk at Playboy. 

Speaker 2: I love you. I love that picture. It was so weird. Yeah, such a bizarre encounter, yeah, i had gone to Graceland. 

Speaker 2: I took a road trip with some friends one year and I was just like this is just too weird that they sell this in the gift shop. 

Speaker 1: So I need it Absolutely Yeah. 

Speaker 2: But that was the thing It was like. Here is this, you know, presumably counterculture figure like Elvis deciding in the late 60s, early 70s well, his drugs are okay, but he doesn't trust those hippies with their marijuana. It was a hippie problem, so then he goes to Nixon and says please make me a deputy. 

Speaker 1: That's right. Yeah, and he got deputized. Yes, wild. 

Speaker 2: It's so, banana It's great. So I say all of that to like set the cultural context of what's going on, you know. Because then what happens is here's Playboy with, as I said before in our previous conversation, depending on when this gets released, that it's one of the first national magazines with this huge platform to come out and advocate for the repeal of marijuana laws. The Playboy Foundation or, at the time, whether it was called the Playboy Foundation or whatever gave money to normal the national organizations, the reform of marijuana laws. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, i actually do remember that. What do you call it? an acronym? I remember that. Yeah, an acronym, yeah. 

Speaker 2: Because it fell very much in line with Playboy's overall position of advocating for personal freedoms. Interesting And yes, the world tends to kind of get stuck and fixate on the sexual aspect of that. But you also have to understand that this is a sincere part of the overall editorial package. Exactly, Civil rights personal rights sexual rights, et cetera. 

Speaker 2: Drug rights became a part of that as well. No-transcript. All the eyeballs go on to have, of course, because they go on to playboy, because playboy is part of this Advocacy for something that, well, the establishment just sees it won't do. 

Speaker 1: Exactly. And then general public, you know, jumps on that bandwagon right away And and and this is how it's always been and in the 60 years that you know have ran that company is right away They're gonna attach him to that, they're gonna say that he is this type of person. You know he's pro-drug and again, hefner was so anti Drugs you were not allowed to have drugs in the mansion. And mark my word, if he caught even one of his best friends And there were people that were caught doing drugs They were removed from the property by security and they were banned on the list for two to three years. And that is that is true. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, see, isn't that so interesting, that, as all this salacious stuff comes out, Yeah, on the one hand, you look at it and go okay. In the 60s and 70s There was a lot of experimentation with drugs. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, no question about it. 

Speaker 2: And and hef was open about taking Amphetamines, which were prescribed because he wanted to work all night. 

Speaker 1: I get it, i understand, but then he was and he spoke pot and I know that, and then he cares like pot. Everybody should smoke weed in my pen. 

Speaker 2: But, but then you know, you get to this point later where, yeah, you've got parties at the mansion and and harder drugs are becoming. Yeah, yeah and And this is a place you know, the mansion. Under his rule, that says no absolutely absolutely not you know. So flashback to the early, well late, 60s, when Bobby Arnstein started, and into the 70s when she was so close to Hef And again, preface all of this, i did not know her. She was gone well before my time. 

Speaker 1: And again, it's just everything that's been documented in documentaries. Have spoken about it. Yeah, you're knowledgeable about it. 

Speaker 2: She was an executive assistant. She worked at the mansion. 

Speaker 1: She was very dear to have. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah and Yeah, extraordinarily close, it devastated him what happened I would say that anybody has not watched the. 

Speaker 2: You know, for better or for worse, there are production things you might take issue with, but as far as telling the complete story, the Amazon series, american Playboy, yeah, dedicates almost an entire episode to this story and what's nice about it is they have the actual Film footage from the time. I don't use 1974, when yours or five, when she committed suicide. I have reading his statement After she had died, correct, and the thing that is so important to understand, first of all, his emotions, i believe, are very honest and very raw what you see is what you get. 

Speaker 2: And what is so important to understand about what happened is that she was targeted Because of her association with, exactly and over and over again, the FBI and any of the enforcement and vestigal All going after her in order to get to him, because they thought oh look, we pinned something on her that we can pin on half and we pin it on the magazine and we bring this Empire of pornography Crumbling down. Look what we've done to save the moral future of the country. It's all nonsense and guess what? 

Speaker 1: they didn't find anything the. FBI, the CIA and again, people. It's all documented and and that is why you know, karina, and I keep saying like we beg you and we plead with you, especially for a younger generation, do your research. Everything is out there. Everything has been, has been documented About Hugh Hefner's life, even even before playboy. So it's all out there. There are facts out there. 

Speaker 2: I can remember. I asked you and I can't remember if you had it or not tasha and put out this six volume Or wait for this huge set of books. I don't have it. You showed me but I. 

Speaker 1: Instead I went on his website and I was going away, so instead I ended up buying the big breast book and it's phenomenal. And and the first woman um, because they do the 50s, 60s and 70s The first woman in the 70s was a playmate, and she shot her um her victorial and hef's office And it was a big, you know, homage to Hugh Hefner. 

Speaker 2: obviously that's funny, yeah, so but anyway, well, yeah, in this set of books, um, have I had this remarkable ability from a very young age to document his life? Yep, he said, and whether it was cartoons, or he published the neighborhood newsletter when he was like eight years old, exactly, or something, exactly. Have all of it. And what's amazing is that you, you go back and you read all this stuff, that is, from his very young childhood up until his, you know, late high school years, went to the army, uh, right afterward, and, um, and you Can very plainly connect the dots. What were his influences, what were his passions, some of the things that he cared about deeply, you know, and you can see how playboy Spraying from that very clearly, uh-huh. Then you fast-forward to the 70s, in all of this very turbulent period, right, everything that he kept about Bobby, the notes that he wrote that he gave at that press conference condemning absolutely blasting the FBI and the Drug. 

Speaker 2: Enforcement Agency who investigated this? Because the to make the long story short, the epilogue to all of this is that Bobby took her own life right rather than play along in this horrendous, unfounded game to try to pin something on somebody who is not involved Exactly. You know, and I so, from everything that I've seen and read, i so admire her wit and her, her kind of sass. You know she apparently in the suicide note she wrote on the envelope something along the lines of just another boring suicide letter. I mean which? 

Speaker 1: yeah, i mean, that speaks volumes to her character and who she was. 

Speaker 2: Gallows humor, yeah, but you know nonetheless, that's true. 

Speaker 1: She did that. Yeah, she did. 

Speaker 2: And it just seems like you know such an interesting time that that was 1974 or five, i think 74. Heff was already splitting his time. He'd already bought the mansion in LA, splitting his time with Chicago. But you can tell, you can absolutely tell that this was a watershed moment where it felt like Chicago was no longer home. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: And it felt like all the negative attention, the negative energy focused on Playboy in Chicago then and there is really what drove him to LA And to me of course you can't take away from all the great stuff that happened at the mansion in LA too and his life in LA and teaching at UCLA and doing all these other things But it also feels like that change, that life change, also just sort of changed the course of everything. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, because it was all that stuff in the late 60s, like hosting these events of the mansion in Chicago for And God forbid, they were biracial. Well, I was to say for Rainbow. Coalition and Operation Push and all of these things that really focused there. It changed, It all changed And I'm not saying it was all bad that it changed, but certainly there is this negative emotional and negative legal attention that was all centered on that. 

Speaker 1: And with that said, it was at that point when Heff did make the final move to Los Angeles. I believe Bill Farley shared this with me, i can't recall, but Heff was on the top 10 list of people to be assassinated. Wow And yeah, and he obviously he was fearful. I mean, he's got the FBI breathing down his neck, he's got CIA, he's got this outrage from everybody, and so that occurred and that is also a big reason why, when he bought the mansion and that compound, which is seven acres in Los Angeles, he stayed there. He did not leave premises for that reason, for safety reasons, and that was all this backlash of. Again. It was unfortunately a false narrative, that was skewed and they tried to come after him And it had nothing to do with him. 

Speaker 2: There is something as extraordinary a life as he had. There is something tragic about that change because there was the Heff before that. And again, I did not know him. This is sort of why PCL is from. 

Speaker 1: But this is what we know from watching documentaries. I think it was very much a reading. 

Speaker 2: But there was the Heff before that who was very much a part of Chicago's landscape and very influential in that city, and I think Playboy could have and only could have come from Chicago of that time. And you see, that's the guy who you know. There's a great mini documentary about him, made in the late fifties, early sixties. It's one of the bonus features on the Playboy After Dark DVDs. And here he is just driving around town in his Mercedes and just a working executive from a magazine with this fabulous mansion. But then you fast forward and then he's a guy who, like you said, has a target on his back, so he's at the mansion and won't leave. The good part is great, you get to shape the world around you and make it what you want it. But the bad part is, well then he doesn't get to be out there and do the things that other people would do Yeah, exactly, there's a big trade-off to that kind of thing Exactly, and that kind of infamy. 

Speaker 1: Exactly, and it was interesting. When him and Kimberly divorced amicably and Heff came out to the world and he has said this He was absolutely blown away by the way that people received him, because there was this whole new generation of people that knew of him, that knew about and also, i think, just the world as a whole like blew his mind Because he'd never left the mansion Right. 

Speaker 2: You know Right. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, interesting. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, i would really encourage people to go take a look. I think the story of the relationship between Heff and Bobby Arnstein is Fascinating anyway, because they really seemed like two people who got each other absolutely and and could also kind of Wrankle each other She's to be this kind of tough lady. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, he respected her immensely and he loved her and he adored her and he had very Fundamental relationships, working relationships like that with many women in the world to playboy. 

Speaker 2: Oh, that was one of my favorite things about working. Right is that I primarily worked with women right and in every department that I was in right that just kind of It was so, so obvious and so right. 

Speaker 1: Exactly the people who I worked with and really looked up to Mostly women there, right- right and and do you think that those women would have stayed there 30, 40, 50 years If they were being sexually assaulted or harassed by Hugh Hefner? No, yeah, it's laughable it's just like what are they talking about? 

Speaker 2: it's so strange, right now, where we are in this time, to hear these certain stories phrased in certain ways right because then only have to do is talk to the Dozens and does it, if not hundreds of people who can say like no, i was there exactly and this didn't happen the way you're describing it. That's what's so strange to me. I think it's a shame that this is happening, obviously after Hedifice passed away that, to me, is the biggest. 

Speaker 1: It's just wrong. Yeah, yeah and and I would not be surprised if there's some sort of lawsuit that comes from this because it's a complete, you know, defamation of his character and then it reflects on to on to Cooper and Marston and Kimberly Hefner, not to mention everybody else that was a part of Playboy that loved him. It reflects on to playmates poorly, and that's a coveted title that we own and that we love and are honored to wear, and it's just being muddied. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah. There are other cultural figures whose names I shall not name. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: You know, as these negative stories come out and they get corroborated and corroborated and over and over again Oh wow, there was a really terrible pattern there. It's a good thing that we're reexamining our past and reexamining those behaviors. 

Speaker 1: This one kind of blows my mind because again, they're just so it just doesn't fit, you know, and and with a life lived so Publicly exactly how could, how could you get away with doing something like that for 60 years? He couldn't because he didn't do it. Yeah, and and the end? the thing that infuriates me is that These women, these, these producers behind these series, including the power podcast and the A&E docu series, they're attaching the me to movement to Hugh Hefner and putting and trying to claim them as a sexual predator. Yeah, the me to movement thing is a very real thing. Sure, absolutely, and Myself and every other playmate I've spoken to it happened, every single one of us. 

Speaker 1: Yeah it did not happen to any of those, those girls that are in the docu series. Yeah and That, right there it's. It's like I don't understand how there could not be some pushback on that. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, you know. Yeah yeah, and that's you know. What I want to see is People who were there, and many of them are Coming up and saying what they saw, what they experience and they go on for this podcast, because now we have the opportunity to bring everybody, everybody on, know exactly exactly, and that's why I would say, and you know your friends with Lacey as well. That's why I would say to check out that, what would you call it? docu drama, drama series, oh, Amazon. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, i love that one, that one was great Lacey's in it quite a bit. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, dick Rosen swig Trying to think of who else who had been there for so, so long. There was a lot. I think Arthur Kretschmer is. Yeah, yeah, he's in there, because I was shocked that the person they got to play him as your younger man, i was like no, no, no, you have Arthur today talking. You can see what he looks like. 

Speaker 1: Why don't you? 

Speaker 2: use him. 

Speaker 1: The dramatization Production drama station. But yeah, that that series and I went and rewatched it again While we were filming the first season of the bunny chronicles And I learned so much more by really sitting down and just taking bits and pieces out of it. And then there's another one too. It's called I think it's Hugh Hefner playboy activist rebel. 

Speaker 2: Yes, that's a really great one. That is quite good. Yeah, and you know, i Guess more important than any of that is that you know We joked around the last time about this old meme, about how I only read it for the articles. Yeah, and then there are people who clearly have not read it for the right, but I think what's more important than any and all of that is to actually take the magazine for What it is and for the statements that were in that magazine exactly time because you can see the cultural change happen in the magazine, right, you can see Playboy grappling, from this editorial point of view, with changes in the culture over decades and decades. 

Speaker 2: I think that's more important than anything you could say about one particular person. I agree is just like hey look, here was a real attempt, a real honest, thoughtful, deep attempt to take on important cultural and social topics, force that into the public conversation. And I think I said it last time, i'll say it again It breaks my heart that we don't have that now because our media is so fractured, but at the time you know, i love seeing 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond here's a magazine that very thoughtfully takes on issues of sexuality and gender roles and gender identity. 

Speaker 1: And racism and politics. 

Speaker 2: Exactly I mean everything. 

Speaker 1: It was endless. 

Speaker 2: If you had that brain trust from then talking about what we're talking about now, whether it's Me Too or it's gender roles and the current kind of political landscape around that. I would love for that to be the case, But we don't have that. We don't have it. 

Speaker 1: And I just don't see that happening, because the way the media landscape is, i don't ever see it reverting back to real, true, authentic journalism. And that's unfortunate specifically for these young generations, because they're taking everything at face value And it's like no this is history. This is a historical figure. Very major university in this country has a class that they teach about Hugh Hefner. Whether you're going into the business or publishing industry, You know. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you need to do. So, literally, it doesn't cost that much. You can go sign up at iPlayboy, i think, and see the magazine, like actually go read the articles. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. 

Speaker 2: Because that's where the interesting stuff is happening. 

Speaker 1: Exactly, and I will mention this too, because you were speaking about not only half archival skills, and that has just been a part of his entire life. 

Speaker 2: I wish I had that kind of time and energy. Yeah. 

Speaker 1: So April 9th there is a book that's being published And April 9th is Hugh Hefner's birthday and it's being published by Stuart N Brotman And it's called The First Amendment Lives On and it's commemorating Hugh Hefner's free speech, values and the impact that he had on our world. So that's a really that's going to be a very fascinating read and we're also going to interview him. So also, people out there, go get the book. You can get on Amazon right now The First Amendment Lives On. 

Speaker 2: That was something that really meant a lot to me when I was working at the magazine is just sort of getting focused on First Amendment issues, because obviously that's going to be a big part of Playboy's history as well And we were doing things, we were aligning with groups like Feminists for Free Expression, women from All Walks of Life. 

Speaker 1: It was so supportive of women. 

Speaker 2: And we were doing like arranging events for Band Books Week. I remember like getting celebrities to read sections from Band Books on the steps of the New York Public Library. That stuff was so exciting and wonderful and really spoke to what Playboy's values were and, frankly, should still be. 

Speaker 1: And I think that if these generations did take the time to do so, i think that their minds would be blown and I think their consciousness would be elevated, and I think that they would learn a lot and really have a different perspective. And that's really what we're here to do. 

Speaker 2: I wish that that editorial voice still existed. There are important conversations to be had right now, particularly about me too, about gender politics, etc. There was sort of like a last gasp that I thought was really important. Several years ago, when there was this gosh, somebody had broken into iCloud accounts for some celebrities. 

Speaker 2: Oh, I remember that I remember, and released some nude and compromising photos And I got a hand it to whoever was an editor or writer at Playboy at the time who published this great takedown of the whole thing saying, look, jennifer Lawrence is not a thing for you to pass around, and I thought, yeah, that's the kind of relevant voice to something that is happening. 

Speaker 2: That we need It has to do with sexual politics. It has to do with personal freedoms, individual freedoms, and we don't get that now. We don't have an editorial voice at Playboy trying to contextualize what's happening now. 

Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, interesting stuff. Okay, so that I think that was show number seven. And again, i would suggest to our listeners to watch the Amazon Prime. It's called Playboy. 

Speaker 2: American Playboy. 

Speaker 1: And there is a show and that's dedicated to this whole topic that we're talking about. And I do know that, you know, health was absolutely devastated by that And it's unfortunate that this show and the power is she's turning it into something that it wasn't. So all right. So we're going to wrap up this reaction And then we're going to go into another one. So stay tuned. Thanks, john, thank you, thank you.