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I Really Read It for the Articles: An Analysis of Playboy’s First Issue
Published in 1953, the magazine is an interesting time capsule
Back in the 1950s, the concept of men’s magazines was still very far from what we understand today. The first publications of the genre were harmless: Stag (created in 1937), Peek (which hit newsstands in 1938), and Laff (quite popular in the 1940s) used to publish articles about literature, music, sports, and eventually some almost innocent sexy issues, such as striptease. They also bring black-and-white photos of movie stars or anonymous models in short clothes or bikinis, but that was pretty much all.
The style really began to change with the emergence of Modern Man (subtitled “The Adult Picture Magazine”) in 1951. It was a monthly men’s magazine whose covers were more flashy (with women in lingerie and the first hints of nudity), and articles about what was understood by the “male world” in those times: cars, yachts, guns.
And then there was Playboy…
The story of this iconic publication is already well known. Briefly, by spring 1953 a guy named Hugh Hefner decided to create his own magazine. He formed HMH Publishing Corporation and recruited friends and family as investors. According to legend, the first edition of the magazine was composed…
