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photos: T aipei times file

They couldn’t get past the ‘mimbos’

When ‘Playgirl,’ founded

ot long after Nicole Caldwell became some gorgeous hot, young, sexy guys, and 35 years ago as a having to put out a magazine with only two on WordPress, a free platform. editor in chief of Playgirl magazine, nothing’s wrong with that.” feminist response to other people. Their efforts, the women said, got Nshe realized that looking at photos Playgirl was started 35 years ago — Second week: Less shock, less virtually no support; indeed, their higher- of naked men all day was not everything as a feminist response to and ‘Playboy’ and terror, less horror. Amusement at all ups, all of them men, usually resisted their she had imagined it would be. When she Penthouse. (Playboy sued Playgirl in ‘Penthouse,’ published the full-frontal photos that regular Joes push to give the magazine editorial heft. would meet them, there was often a curious 1973 for trademark infringement; the suit — plumbers among them — mailed in. Earlier this year, warning signs vapidity to the men, who Caldwell took to was settled amicably.) Over the years, its last issue this — Third week: The realization that one’s surfaced. While newsstands sales were up, describing as “mimbos.” the magazine changed ownership, began month, more was lost eyes are glazing over at the sight of photos Caldwell said, so were production costs. Readers, Caldwell decided, deserved catering more to men, and whittled its of naked men, who all begin to look the In the spring, subscription cards suddenly more. So she and her fellow editors, operations down. Still, the magazine drew than just a platform for same. Bewilderment at the letters from vanished; the staff members were told it all women in their 20s and all relative an avid readership, Caldwell said, selling photos of naked men female fans, who wanted specific fantasies was a cost-cutting measure. Then they neophytes to the world of magazines 600,000 copies per issue in more than three- to appear. (A common theme: a naked man were told that issues would come out — and — resolved to fill dozen countries. by CARA BUCKLEY doing chores for the fully dressed lady of bimonthly. In July, a subscriber wrote to Playgirl with something different. They In contrast to much of the slender NY Times News Service, New York the house. The editors complied with a complain about a letter from Blue Horizon aspired to bring Playgirl back to its roots, offerings of pornography aimed at women, photo spread.) saying that Playgirl was no longer in print. back to a time when the magazine covered which tends to be softer and more story- Caldwell was struck by how many Caldwell entered the office of an issues like abortion and equal rights, driven than that marketed toward men, magazine about orgasm-related migraines. people assumed she was a sex expert and executive editor at Blue Horizon and asked: interspersing sexy shots of men with work Playgirl was in-your-face. Weiner was the only one who said she was then go on to disclose highly private details “Is there something you want to tell us?” from writers like Raymond Carver and Now the three editors’ nudie magazine half aspired to a career in pornography about their lives. Weiner said her parents After some blustering, she learned that the Joyce Carol Oates. with feminist leanings is gone, and with it, publishing. “It definitely was a bit intense found her job “hilarious.” Collins’ parents magazine’s end was near. All the while, the editors juggled the strange and exciting career moments. at first,” she said. “But it really didn’t were congratulatory, at first. But just And so began the death throes of Play- demands of the publisher, Blue Horizon “I think a different kind of porn is very bother me. I’m definitely all about looking after being hired, she called their home in girl, which, for all its swinging history and Media, which they said pushed to fill degrading to women, but the kind of stuff at naked dudes.” Connecticut and sensed some hesitation in sass, ended remarkably unremarkably. Playgirl with more nudes and fewer words. we were peddling was about what women Playgirl shared offices with Blue her father’s voice. There were no final cocktails, no last “It always felt like this uphill battle,” wanted,” said Caldwell, who is 26. “For Horizon’s other publications in a hive of “I thought you were really into this,” hurrah. Instead, there was a frigidness said Jessanne Collins, 29, who was better or worse, this was a real blow for gray cubicles in an old Art Deco building she said. between the Playgirl staff members and Playgirl’s senior editor. . We were the only magazine that near Grand Central Terminal. Outwardly, it “Yeah,” her father replied. “That’s the other Blue Horizon workers. “It was The women’s dreams crashed when offered naked men to women.” seemed the blandest of places, were it not before Mom went out and bought a copy of kind of like a long breakup, where you’re Blue Horizon Media, which also puts out In the end, Playgirl was run by a for the lurid photos and videos that filled the magazine.” both still living together and neither of you hard-core magazines, announced it was skeleton crew of these three editors, along workers’ computer screens. The three editors strove to publish have left the apartment,” Weiner said. shutting Playgirl. The last issue, dated with what Caldwell described as “a whole After being hired at Playgirl, each articles that were saucy but relevant. The magazine’s editors said they were January/February 2009, recently arrived on horde of eager unpaid interns.” followed a similar trajectory of They printed articles about a campaign never told why the magazine was shut newsstands. Caldwell was a New Jersey girl who experiences: to take toxic chemicals out of cosmetics down. But, they said, they were always Although the Playgirl Web site is still had helped run a community newspaper — First week: Shock at being inundated and about problems with Amsterdam’s struck by the paucity of ads. running, the graphic content is geared more and graduated from Columbia University’s with photos of naked men; slight horror red-light district. To her delight, Caldwell “I’m not a publishing expert, but it toward gay men. None of the magazine’s Graduate School of Journalism; Collins has at catching sight of photos from Blue landed interviews with Jack LaLanne and seems to me like it would be impossible to editors are involved. a master’s in creative writing from the New Horizon’s triple-X magazines; terror at Dolly Parton. sustain a magazine on the quantity of ads Caldwell said Playgirl suffered from the School; and Corinne Weiner, 26, A do-it-yourself ethic bloomed. Playgirl sold,” Collins said. twin malaises of rising costs and declining the magazine’s designer for its The magazine had no marketing On the Monday of her last week, sales; Blue Horizon Media did not return last two-and-a-half years, was a or public relations budget, so Caldwell was called into a morning repeated calls for this article. graduate of Pratt Institute. its editors sought to revive the meeting, where she received an awkward Playgirl’s passing certainly will not be Weiner and Caldwell got Playgirl brand themselves, round of applause from Blue Horizon staff lamented as would the death of a more their jobs the old-fashioned throwing parties at a Lower East members. Two days later, the executive respected magazine. Yet for its writers and way: by sending in a resume. Side bar. After Blue Horizon editor took Caldwell and Collins out for fans, something tangible has been lost with Landing such a high-profile job denied a request to finance a blog, sushi. (Weiner had already left.) its closure. just four months out of graduate Collins built one herself, starting it Caldwell’s last day was Oct. 3. Weiner “It was almost a way to get back at school seemed “so over the top,” and Collins were not around; they had Playboy,” said Pamela des Barres, the Caldwell said. “In the end,” she Left: From left, Corinne Weiner, Jessanne already found new jobs — Weiner as an famed former rock groupie, who wrote said, “that was far greater than Collins and Nicole Caldwell in Brooklyn, officer manager in Brooklyn, Collins as a a music column for Playgirl. “It was a the reservations I had.” New York. The three editors sought to in- copy editor at a male lifestyle magazine. great idea, and it could have been done Caldwell hired Collins after clude more articles (along with the ) (Caldwell now edits at Diamond better. It did offer women a way to see she wrote an essay for the in Playgirl magazine. photo: NY Times News Service District News.)