This stuff writes itself

I am back. I guess I have to start this post in the only way I know how. I never used to think that these letters were true until it happened to me. Let me begin, I am a junior at a small, mid-western college.......


Know what I am getting at? Bob Guccione, founder, editor and publisher of Penthouse magazine (and then tried porn empire) died yesterday at age 79. As I spoke of my youth yesterday, with Barbara Billingsly and Tom Bosley, Guc was part of my adolescence. A very pleasurable part, I might add.


I had done the "Playboy" thing early in junior high. I recall buying their 25th anniversary edition in February 1978. By about this time, or earlier, I noticed that my father had a small stash of Penthouse in our basement bathroom. I can recall ones from 1974 or so and a British version, which he had bought in England. At that point in my life, my desire for more "raunch" made Penthouse a better bet than Playboy. Besides, I grew to enjoy (what a pun) Penthouse Forum and Xaviera Hollander's (The Happy Hooker) monthly article (again, more raunch than anything else). Of course, the King of Raunch, with decent production quality was Hustler.


Larry Flynt did something that neither Bob Guccione or Hugh Hefner did. He made no pretense about art and went straight for the "pink". His stuff was far more explicit and he made no bones about it. He was a peddlar of smut and he was proud.


Guccione's empire came tumbling down and Hefner's was and is in deep trouble. It seems Flynt's style, being open about his intentions, made his porn empire flourish. I know that Hef sees his magazine as one of style with some naked babe photos, but the reality is that it is eye candy. Men are very visual and the more explicit (showing the pink and the split beaver shots) hits that spot better than pretending to be more artistic. Then again, what do I know, a spank mag is a spank mag.


I guess that is all I have to say about that right now. Ciao!