I learned something about Hugh Hefner this morning

[Stinky The Clown]

Many years ago, when the Playboy Clubs were hot and he was franchising them, two of them in the deep south chose to keep them segregated. Hefner managed to buy back both franchises and desegregate the clubs. He never allowed a future franchise the option to segregate.






Source: CBS Sunday Morning program.

[geckosfeet]

1. Segregated clubs in the deep south.

Who could have guessed.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. But he was a leader, in his own way, in undoing that.

I'm not quite sure how to take your reply. Your intent wasn't clear.

[geckosfeet]

11. Sarcasm. Kudos to Heff - but I would have expected no less from the deep south.

[WinkyDink]

3. I learned something about him yesterday at a flea mkt, seriously! He started in publishing on chil-

drens' magazines!

[SidDithers]

4. There's a documentary about him coming out...

so you'll be hearing lots more.

Good article about his civil rights efforts here:
http://www.theroot.com/views/hugh-hefner-civil-rights-activist

Hefner had opened the nightclub just a year earlier. Playboy Bunnies -- women dressed in skimpy costumes with a fuzzy tail on the rear end and rabbit ears on their heads -- greeted guests and served drinks. Big-name acts supplied the entertainment. The club was an instant success, and franchise branches opened in cities around the country and abroad.

Men paid a $25 fee to purchase a membership "key," which quickly became a coveted status symbol. But key holders were guaranteed access to all Playboy Clubs, and that created a problem in the segregationist South. When the clubs in Miami and New Orleans turned away blacks who had bought their keys elsewhere, Hefner bought back those franchise licenses and defiantly maintained an integrated policy in all his clubs.

Sid

[glinda]

5. That was a good segment on him this morning. I like Hugh.

[AngryOldDem]

6. And did I also hear that Playboy filed an amicus brief for Roe v. Wade?

Hef kinda mumbles and my hearing ain't what it used to be.

Sunday Morning was better than usual today -- and it's almost always excellent.

[T Wolf]

7. All of "the articles" that were the "cover" for some WERE actually "a" draw for liberal fans of the

female form.

Maybe not THE major reason, but a reason none-the-less.

[saracat]

8. That was a good thing but I still have no respect for him.His trivialization

and objectification of women render him permanently unworthy of respect. Even today at his advanced age he usues his weth and authority to dominate young women who felt they have no other choice. I just read an article about Holly whatever her name is and how she had to have sex with him because it was an obligation. She was a drug addicted teenage runaway.

[noamnety]

9. Thank you.

It's really hard to give respect to people just because they only supported one type of oppression.

[saracat]

10. It was Gloria Steinem's expose of Playboy when she went undercover

as a Bunny that woke a lot of women up. I will always be in awe of her for that. She has always advocated respect for ALL , not just some. She is one who deserves respect.

[Happyhippychick]

12. +1 for Ms. Steinem

[avaistheone1]

13. However, I believe he is a big supporter of Planned Parenthood and other liberal causes

[saracat]

15. No doubt. Because they collide with his agenda. He doesn't want all

those nubile young women filing paternity suits. One thing for old Hugh, He apparently has one one child and ironically , a daughter, whom he had running his empire. He had his own daughter base her career on objectifying women.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. The OP made no attempt to rehabilitate him. It was a simple statement of fact based on .....

.... a teevee magazine segment.

I understand you don't like him, but geeze, the OP was hardly waving his flag and asking for cheers for him,

And no, I'm not arguing with anything you've said.

[Cleita]

14. Old Hugh is a mixed bag. He's very liberal in many ways

and uses a lot of his money for good causes, yet he objectifies women so much that he has never been able to have an adult relationship with a woman his own age. Also, in the early days of the Playboy Club, only men were allowed to join. I have been in those early day Playboy Clubs with a male member, but that was the only way you could get in. In later years he allowed men to buy their wives or girlfriends memberships and eventually after the women's movement of the sixties allowed any woman to buy a membership who wanted one.

[mitchum]

16. I always preferred Bob Guccione's aesthetics when it came to mainstream pornography