Monday, June 11, 2012

Jeannine does a double page spread in Playboy, no centerfold unfortunately.



It was impossible to live in Chicago, during the 60’s and not be aware or be involved with Playboy; bunnies, magazine or even Hef, as we called him.

We lived next to his mansion on the near north side, we overlooked his roof where the topless bunnies sun bathed.
It was pretty good even without a pair of binoculars. I remember when he had a fence built on the roof, we still had a view, but we did have to stand on a chair.

There was an awareness of the Playboy empire in Chicago, the mansion, the magazine, the girls that appeared in the magazine, the photographers, the whole infrastructure…all were very visible.

I know, people claimed to get Playboy for the articles and the authors, which were amazing and innovative, and not for the photos of those strangely innocent naïve girls…by today’s standards.

There was an amazing art director that was part of the creation of Playboy, he was Art Paul and was responsible for the beautiful look of the magazine. He was instrumental in the look of the photos, the retouching, the artwork, the full visual aspect of the magazine. I wouldn’t be surprised if he even designed the bunny costumes.

Every illustrator admired him and wanted to work with and for him. 

Jeannine went to see him, she was a freelance illustrator, she called him and he saw her, just like that. He loved her work and gave her a double page spread to do, not a photo, an illustration.

He had her do the Christmas food spread…a corduroy roast beef with silk potatoes.

It was no centerfold, although I liked to see the reaction when I told friends that Jeannine did a spread in Playboy. I didn’t always explain that it was an illustration.

Her double page spread was the most unique double page spread in Playboy, she was my centerfold though and always has been.






3 comments:

  1. Playfully ambiguous line, must be fun to see how people respond when you serve it to them... Beautiful spread Jeannine.

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  2. I had done so many illustrations using fabric in this way and at the time I was the only one using this technique that I was aware of commercially in many publications. So I had a lot of work, all fun and quite visible assignments. We had just moved to Chicago and being so close to " The Mansion" I called Art Paul and surprisingly got my interview, it was that easy. On my way to his office I noticed someone retouching a nude photo of unwanted blemishes on the body a surprise as I thought all the bunnies were selected for blossoming perfection, alas nothing is perfect ...Art Paul saw me, we chatted, he liked my work and said he would get back to me about the December issue. The following day I got my phone call and a double page spread assignment, roast beef it was....A quirky idea for a prized, rebellious, high end girlie
    magazine.

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