October 2010 - Style Of Eye

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Style of Eye - October 2010

Penthouse covers

October 21st 2010 04:20

It might sound a little unusual, but I received my most formative sexual education from within the pages of Penthouse magazine, Bob Guccione’s International Magazine for Men, which was founded in England in 1965, but came to prominence once it was launched in America in 1969. It went on to become the preeminent hardened softcore American sex magazine of the 70s, riding the crest between the creamy, coy softcore of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine and the sleazy, over-lit, hardcore of Larry Flynt’s Hustler magazine.

Penthouse first American issue Sept 1969

The inaugural U.S. edition September 1969

Whereas Hefner was a journalist, Guccione was a photographer (and Flynt was an opportunist filthmonger). Hefner’s Playmate’s were frequently blonde and the pictorials often looked the same. Guccione’s Pets were often brunettes (mmmmm) and the pictorials were far more erotically adventurous. Playboy might have enjoyed a wider social limelight, especially with Hefner’s Playboy Mansion, but Penthouse possessed a more complex sense of mischief (Caligula being one such venture) and was altogether more alluring.

However, despite the sensational pictorials, it was Penthouse Forum that provided me with so much insight into the adult world of seduction and sexual behaviour. As a budding adolescent I learned all the lingo from those dirty-minded and explicit letters to the Forum editor (years later I came to realise that most of them were fake, but hey, they read good).

Venus on the half-shell

I recently discovered a site that had pics of Penthouse covers, a reasonably comprehensive gallery from 1969 through to present day (though some faves were missing). Looking at the covers I was suddenly transported back to my father’s art studio (where he had his collection stashed). All these memories came spurting, er, gushing, er … flooding back. I realised from looking at the stylish images of erotic femininity on the covers of so many of these issues, and comparing them to the current covers of Penthouse from the last decade or so that I’d seen in shops or wherever, that they simply don’t shoot them like they used to.

Hot Summer, but no nude cigar

Never did find out if her cuffs matched her collar

There is definitely a period where Penthouse magazine was easily the sexiest magazine on the shelves. I’m talking about the allure of the cover here, not necessarily the pictorials inside, and often the woman portrayed on the cover wasn’t featured in a pictorial on the inside (but on numerous occasions reader’s – or should that be viewer’s – demand decided the woman on the cover would end up in a pictorial on a later issue.

Bowler hats never looked so cum hither

I perused the monthly covers of all the issues of Penthouse from 1969 into the 90s, and it became apparent that the aesthetics of the fashion (clothes, hair, makeup) and photographic techniques (composition, lighting, props) changed considerably. I lost interest in the late 80s. The very best covers were from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. The women were voluptuous, the colours were sexy, the poses were erotic … and there was bush. Call me old-fashioned, but I dig bush. Not necessarily big bush, but I think a pubic mound on a woman is a direct erotic statement. It says "I am woman", not "I am girl". But the pubic hair debate is another kettle of fish I guess …

So without further adieu, here is my selection of some of the very best covers that graced Penthouse magazine chronologically from 1969 to 1987; the Lush Years, as I like to fondly them.

I love 'em all, even though some of my other favourites I couldn't include because I couldn't find scanned images of them. Yes, I'm old school, but damn, these covers arer undeniably sexy, and frequently downright erotic. Playboy covers were never this good. Even Euro-styled mag Oui couldn't compete. Bob Guccione had an eye for the seriously alluring. Bless his cotton socks. Oh, and my very, very favourites amongst these? Scroll your cursor over pics: July 1971, July 1975, November 1977, August 1979, June 1982, April 1984, July 1985 ... sheesh, I can't stop myself, I even broke my Rule of 24, heh, heh.