BY RICK BENTLEY • MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Most giants of industry who are in their 80s have long been enjoying the benefits of retirement. Not Hugh Hefner.
For the last 55 years, the lanky Chicago native has run his Playboy empire that has included clubs, fashion lines, TV shows, videos, an Internet presence and loads of other merchandising. The men's magazine is the cornerstone of his business.
Very few industry giants have become as closely associated with an entertainment empire as Hefner, except maybe Walt Disney.
"It is an interesting frame of reference," Hefner says during a telephone interview from the Los Angeles Playboy mansion. "Disney is somebody who inspired me when I was a kid growing up."
With Hefner manning the helm with a Captain Ahab intensity, Playboy survived despite repeated battles with people who were outraged by the nude photos in the magazine and a slew of competitors.
And Hefner's cachet shows no signs of slowing down. He will turn 83 in April and he has a popular TV show called "The Girls Next Door" on the E! cable channel. The show is about his personal life and it is a worldwide sensation. Besides the cable series, he appeared in a dozen TV and film projects last year. And a new biography by Steven Watts, "Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream" has come out.
Robert Thompson, professor of media and culture at Syracuse University, says everything Hefner has done has been part of the game plan that helped link him closely with the magazine empire.
"You have other companies linked to characters but they are usually fictional, like Ronald McDonald," Thompson says. "The main reason Hefner has remained so closely connected is that he is still out there promoting himself."
Thompson says "The Girls Next Door" helped bring Hefner and the magazine to the attention of a new generation that's too young to know it from its heyday in the '60s and '70s.
"The Girls Next Door" certainly opened up the magazine to a broader audience. The weekly TV look at Hefner and his three ex-girlfriends Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson is watched by an audience that is 70% female.
Hefner says it is no coincidence the magazine pulled out of an economic slump when his marriage to Kimberly Conrad ended in 1999.
"I found there was a whole generation waiting for me to come out and play," Hefner says. "It was kind of like Elvis being off the scene and being resurrected and showing up at a supermarket."
Most giants of industry who are in their 80s have long been enjoying the benefits of retirement. Not Hugh Hefner.
For the last 55 years, the lanky Chicago native has run his Playboy empire that has included clubs, fashion lines, TV shows, videos, an Internet presence and loads of other merchandising. The men's magazine is the cornerstone of his business.
Very few industry giants have become as closely associated with an entertainment empire as Hefner, except maybe Walt Disney.
"It is an interesting frame of reference," Hefner says during a telephone interview from the Los Angeles Playboy mansion. "Disney is somebody who inspired me when I was a kid growing up."
With Hefner manning the helm with a Captain Ahab intensity, Playboy survived despite repeated battles with people who were outraged by the nude photos in the magazine and a slew of competitors.
And Hefner's cachet shows no signs of slowing down. He will turn 83 in April and he has a popular TV show called "The Girls Next Door" on the E! cable channel. The show is about his personal life and it is a worldwide sensation. Besides the cable series, he appeared in a dozen TV and film projects last year. And a new biography by Steven Watts, "Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream" has come out.
Robert Thompson, professor of media and culture at Syracuse University, says everything Hefner has done has been part of the game plan that helped link him closely with the magazine empire.
"You have other companies linked to characters but they are usually fictional, like Ronald McDonald," Thompson says. "The main reason Hefner has remained so closely connected is that he is still out there promoting himself."
Thompson says "The Girls Next Door" helped bring Hefner and the magazine to the attention of a new generation that's too young to know it from its heyday in the '60s and '70s.
"The Girls Next Door" certainly opened up the magazine to a broader audience. The weekly TV look at Hefner and his three ex-girlfriends Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson is watched by an audience that is 70% female.
Hefner says it is no coincidence the magazine pulled out of an economic slump when his marriage to Kimberly Conrad ended in 1999.
"I found there was a whole generation waiting for me to come out and play," Hefner says. "It was kind of like Elvis being off the scene and being resurrected and showing up at a supermarket."
No comments:
Post a Comment