ABBA AND PLAYBOY (You didn't know? Keep reading or scroll down to ABBA, if you're here for them)

When I was growing up, Playboy magazine was something that was hidden in some houses and displayed openly in others. Personally, I didn't pay much attention as a teenager because "Baby, I was born this way". It wasn't until years later, that I started appreciating the glamour girls and celebrities on the cover - and that's when I started collecting them. However, as a teenager, Playboy WAS top of mind for my best friend, Stacey S. (We are still besties over 47 years later!) Stacey's primary goal was to be in Playboy. And she almost did! I'll give you the details of her story at the bottom of this page, but I'll tell you in advance, that it LITERALLY was the step-by-step process as described in the Playboy documentary.

The “Secrets of Playboy” documentary series was eye-opening!  All this time, I had thought of Hef as a benign, outgoing and friendly good-time guy who just liked to be surrounded by beautiful women and run his empire.  The testimonial from so many women painted a much rougher, brutal, manipulative and non-consensual environment in the Playboy Mansion and just to be a Playboy model.  Ooooofff! Here's the teaser, but I strongly recommend watching the whole series - ESPECIALLY the first season!

HUGH HEFNER:

The Hefner autograph in my collection compares authentically to in-person signatures but differs from one you can see on the copy of a signed B&W photograph (possibly secretarial?). Usually, he would have a straight line down for the g in Hugh instead of looping it into the H.  And the ending H and M (his middle initial) are usually connected.  I’m confident that my signed index card is authentic, from my own investigation and because I believe that R&R does due diligence and that their COA’s can be trusted. 

There are thousands of women and celebrities that have posed for Playboy.  I've focused here are women whose career was LAUNCHED by being in Playboy (or posing nude) BEFORE they had any fame or notoriety.  Enter the ladies ...

SURREY MARSHE (1967) - No autograph but "The Girl in the Centerfold: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Miss January" was a nice thrift store find for ten bucks.  I’ve got the first edition from 1969 in great condition that can’t be found anywhere for less than $100. This book is the FIRST tell-all from inside the Playboy mansion. Surrey is the FIRST voice that said (in a 1960’s way) everything that was said by the women in the “Secrets of Playboy” documentary.  But absolutely no pictures in the book?!!? 

LISA BAKER – Miss November 1966 and Playmate of the Year 1967 

BARBI BENTON - (1969) Barbi was my first Playboy autograph. And that's because I knew her from being on so many TV shows in the 70's. I don't think I really processed that her fame came initially from being a Playboy model in 1969 and Hugh Hefner's first Playmate long-time girlfriend. Barbi was surprisingly (or not $$$??) missing from "The Secrets of Playboy" and barely even mentioned in the docuseries.

Barbi was very responsive to fan mail when I wrote to her in 1980 - and all you had to do was write a letter and she'd send you a photo (the B&W one shown here - inscribed to Bobby). Oh, the good old days before the monetization of autographs! My two fave pix of her are the one on the Playboy cover (yes, I have an original) and the Harry Langdon photo with her hand in her hair. Nowadays, you have to meet her at a convention and pay a good chunk to get a Barbi autograph. I saw her once in Burbank (blonde and well-preserved), but I only said hi and talked to her about her music, because her prices were too high. She did like talking about her music though; she had 5 albums on Playboy Records. I think she was the first Playboy-generated "celebrity" - and her career was pretty substantial with over 25 acting credits and her song “Brass Buckles” reached #5 on the Country chart in 1975 - She sure is purdy!

MIKI GARCIA (1973) - Miki is a main lynchpin in the story about Playboy. She's in quite a few episodes of the docuseries, she still looks great and she's such an intelligent, thoughtful and well-spoken Playboy model and historian. Unfortunately, I don't have her autograph in my collection, but a shout-out to Dr. Robert who does have some beautiful Miki collectibles. Gorgeous.

SONDRA THEODORE (1977) Sondra was Hugh's second "main girlfriend" and she is featured prominently in the documentary. She speaks openly about the good, the bad and the trauma. The autograph I have of her is a picture from her own collection on original Kodak paper with sticker on back “Thanksgiving Day @ Mansion West by Sondra Theodore – 11/24/77 #29” Listen to 2 minutes of Sondra talking about "Pig Night" at The Mansion

TRACI DALI (1980) – Playboy’s “Most Photographed Lingerie Model” 

JULIE McCULLOUGH - (1985) - Featured on Playboy covers "The Girls of Texas" and "Farmer's Daughters" when she was 20. Then on to "Growing Pains" ... until she was fired, supposedly because star Kirk Cameron's Christianity was offended by her nude modeling. "Judge not, that ye be not judged" - Matthew 7:1. Kirk must have forgot that part.

FAWNA MACLAREN – (1989) January Playmate of the Month. She was also The 35th Anniversary Playmate for which she got paid $35,000 to do the centerfold. 

PAMELA ANDERSON (1989) We love Pam Anderson!  I'm so glad she's having a career renaissance and I love how she's embracing a more natural look. Brave and bold move for one of the most famous Playboy legends and sex symbols. I recently saw “The Last Showgirl” and it was good, but some of her lines were brutal and seemed to be semi-autobiographical about ageism and how older sex symbols are simply discarded.  Her acting was probably the best I've seen in "Showgirl", and then her comedic chops were put on great display in "The Naked Gun". But I gotta be honest and say that "Barb Wire" will live in my heart forever. THAT movie is a camp classic! Just in case you forgot ...

Pamelas's autographs: Fully legible Pamela Lee – ummm, no, never.  Pamela with the heart and xo? Possibly secretarial.  Large blue scrawl – now that looks like hers when gotten in person.  Smaller, black scrawl? Looks like an attempt to copy her in-person scrawl, but seems a little off. 

ANNA NICOLE SMITH - (1992) Anna Nicole is one of my absolute favorites! Hefner saw her photos and wanted her on the cover right away. This woman was so incredibly beautiful and photogenic! The Marilyn/Jayne look that she had in the original GUESS ads from magazines are a collector's dream. But her life seemed to be a nightmare. So much drama and tragedy. "The Anna Nicole Show" was sometimes painful to watch. You knew the money-grab to be in that show wasn't motivated by her. She simply wasn't fully present. I'm not sure about the authenticity of her autograph in my collection, but I'm sure vetting Mike McGarbo will tell me. One of my most remembered lines from her show was when there were vegetables on her plate, and she wouldn't eat them (or tasted them?) and said "I dont. Like it." in a slurred baby talk voice. But rather than show a clip from the show, I'd rather focus on the glory days of all the GUESS ads to the tune of Kylie Minogue's "Sensitized"

Anna Nicole may not have had a singing CAREER, but she certainly had a singing moment. I do have the hard-to-find collectible CD release of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" (thank you, Michael Augustine-Reed) I'm not sure why there isn't a higher quality version of her video available, but this one's the best I could find and it's so good because of her "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" look and pink gown.

There's an alternative version, recorded later and less glam but higher quality on YouTube - and there's also a fun colorful clip of her lip-syncing to the song. But if you just wanna listen to the remix ...

JENNY MCCARTHY - (1993) Being a Playboy model jump-started a career for Mrs. Donnie Wahlberg.  Now she’s ubiquitous, chatty, opinionated and sought after as a (sometimes controversial) guest or host. I have two VERY different versions of her signature; the purple pen is typical of her in-person rushed signature.  The other autograph is a typical TTM signature; neat and readable, but maybe secretarial?

HOLLY MADISON - (2005) Holly Madison’s eyes are dead in the picture shown here with Hef. It conveys exactly how she described in the docuseries how she was feeling at the mansion. Consider the drama, competition and resulting trauma of so many women after the mansion Anything you want, paparazzi, food delivered to your room, an allowance, glam team, whatever clothes you want to buy, etc. Then lights out. You're out of favor or too old. In this clip, Holly talks of cutting her hair and Hef says she looks "old, hard, and cheap". Nice guy.

GLORIA GALE - "Calendar Model" (1957) was another thrift store find in great condition for $10.  She was not a Playboy model, but the book is "the exciting dramatic and sincere life story of a girl who posed in the nude to win fame and fortune". If that doesn't SOUND like the story of a Playboy model, than I don't know what would!

CHRISTIE HEFNER - Hugh’s eldest child, daughter Christie, took over as Playboy’s chairman and CEO in 1988.  I would say the move was done primarily due to optics at the time on feminism, nudity, and anti-smut attitudes.  However, Christie was extremely successful at transforming Playboy over her 20 years as CEO. She expanded it into a global, multi-media company - reaching sales of ONE BILLION dollars by her final year.  Daddy’s little girl, done good

STACEY'S STORY

My best friend since we met in 1977. We were both twelve, bossy, talked a mile a minute and competed to see who could get more tan. (Ugggh... if only we knew about sunscreen back then!) I went with Stacey S. on countless auditions (she could really belt 'em out ... especially songs from "Annie".) She had a Marilyn look for a minute and almost got a Tropicana commercial when we were still teen-agers. But Stace's main goal was to hit the heights as a Playboy model. This is how she almost (but wisely decided against) becoming one.

Stacey was working as a “beer girl” for Stella Artois, which entailed in person appearances at conventions pitching beer, signing autographs, and mingling with primarily male guests, while wearing super-tiny booty shorts and a bustier-type top.

The marketing manager of Stella Artois sent in swimsuit photos of Stacey that had been taken on the set of “Magnum PI” when she did a walk-on role.  He also sent in some other modeling and calendar shots she had done. Playboy was interested!

During a business trip to Los Angeles with the Stella Artois marketing manager, he took her to a Playboy office building where any girl who was being considered to be a Playmate had to take Polaroid pictures. 

Playboy subsequently contacted the marketing manager and asked him to bring Stacey to attend an evening party at the Mansion West.  They flew from San Francisco to LAX (not sure if first class) and were picked up by a car and driven to the mansion.  Stacey was wearing a tight black tube dress (similar to the pic of us in our 20’s)..  They were greeted by a male employee of Hefner’s as soon as they got through the gate and then led up to the mansion, offered drinks and then a quick walk-through tour of the lower part of the mansion and a tour of the grounds.  Left to her own devices, the first thing Stacey did was engage with Playmates and models asking questions like “Are you glad you did this? Do you like it here? How has it changed your life? How does your family feel? Are you close to your family”.  Stacey’s takeaway from the models was that the Playmate life was a little sad, a lot of the girls came from dysfunctional families and Stace felt differently from them, primarily because of Stacey’s close connection to her own family.  There was a lot of conflict in being a playmate, primarily about what her family would think.

While Stacey was outside, she was introduced to Hefner by an employee of his and the conversation was a brief introduction.  Hef was friendly, assessing her and saying niceties like “Nice to meet you and enjoy yourself at the party”.  But he was being pulled in many different directions and their time together was brief.

During a sojourn inside of the mansion, continuing her fact gathering and watching people dance and party, Stacey saw Kimberly Conrad descend the grand staircase with a baby.  She did not look friendly. Stacey checked out the grotto and the zoo and at a certain point she was “done” – everything was different than she had expected – and she got the feeling out of her system of being in the mansion and seeing the life of a Playmate wasn’t as great as she expected. She and the marketing manager were taken back to the airport; all in all she spent about 3-4 hours.  That’s where the notepad came from – along with some other Playboy mementos which are long gone or misplaced.

Within a few weeks Stacey got a call from a female employee at the mansion, inviting her to stay at the mansion for a week. “You have a great face.  You are what we are looking for.”  Stace was thrilled to get the invite but needed to process. “Let me think about it and get back to you.” After consideration, conflicted feelings and a deep discussion with her soon-to-be fiancé, she decided that the life of Playboy Playmate was not for her.

Anybody who has watched the "Secrets of Playboy" docu-series will note that Stacey’s experience is literally a step-by-step indoctrination blueprint which was laid out multiple times, by multiple girls in the documentary.

The only difference is that my friend Stacey luckily avoided the inferno.

ABBA - WTF do they have to do with Playboy? Don't go rushing looking for those vintage nude layouts of Agnetha or Anni-Frid. They don't exist. What DOES exist is the very first single by ABBA, "People Need Love" which was distributed by Playboy Records in 1972. It was credited to "Bjorn & Benny". I have a great promo copy in mint condition with the original Playboy logo sleeve. Talk about collectible! Try finding one in that condition for less than $150. Watch the pre-glam ABBA performing "People Need Love"

Check out this rare clip of them performing the song with an Agnetha substitute! I can't embed it on my site, but you can click and watch it directly on YouTube