All language subtitles for American.Playboy.S01E03.Becoming.Mr.Playboy.1080p.WEB-DL.AMZN.DDP.5.1.H.264

[Johnny Burnette]
♪ You've been lyin' ♪

[Hugh Hefner]
By winter of 1955,

America was rapidly changing.

[Johnny Burnette]
♪ Little boy blue ♪

[Hefner]
The polio vaccine was
officially approved by the FDA.

A small burger joint
called McDonald's

held its grand
opening in Illinois.

[man]
Disneyland is a delight
for all youngsters.

[Hefner]
Walt Disney opened
his first theme park

in Anaheim, California.

[Johnny Burnette]
♪ Little boy sad ♪

♪ Someday baby ♪

[Hefner]
And in Chicago,

we were still
making waves at Playboy.

[Johnny Burnette]
♪ ...is gonna give you
lovin' as sweet as me ♪

[Hefner]
In the year since we started
taking our own photos,

we'd begun adding playful
elements to our photoshoots,

hiding things like a tie

or a set of golf clubs,

to imply that a man
was just off camera

and giving our readers
something to look for.

[Johnny Burnette]
♪ Someday, baby,
you're gonna find ♪

♪ Nobody in the world's
gonna give you lovin'... ♪

[Hefner]
Thanks to our concept
of the girl next door,

readership had exploded
from 70,000 copies a month

in our first issue

to 500,000 a month
by the end of the year,

and with annual sales
reaching $3 million,

I saw an opportunity to
take Playboyeven further

by going after
a source of revenue

we'd barely tapped into...
advertising.

♪♪

[Carmen McRae]
♪ Skyliner, skyliner ♪

♪ Flying so freely ♪

[Hefner]
After World War II,
Americans got back to work,

and the economy was booming.

[Carmen McRae]
♪ Higher, higher,
ever higher ♪

♪ Sunbeams are... ♪

[Hefner]
Suddenly, people had cash
to spend on luxuries

like cars, TVs,
and new appliances,

and they spent a lot,
so major companies

began putting massive
amounts of money,

over $5 billion a year,
into promoting their products.

♪♪

It was the Golden Age
of Advertising.

[Christie Hefner]
For most magazines,

advertising is the
largest source of revenue,

and advertisers choose
where to advertise

based on the audience,
the price, and the environment.

♪♪

[Hefner]
But Playboy
had a different approach.

[Hefner]
We were always, even
in the very beginning

when we needed the money,
very, very tough

in terms of
our advertising policy.

I knew for starters
that if we accepted

the kinds of advertising that
appeared in the pulp magazines,

I would never be
able to turn a magazine

with nudes in it
into a class publication.

[Hefner]
I only wanted to run
high-class ads,

ones that would suit
our features and articles.

[Cooper Hefner]
My dad was very thoughtful

about who he wanted to
advertise in the magazine

because he cared more
about reputation

than he did actually
about the cash on the table.

He didn't want to be
in business with people

that didn't actually
believe in the brand.

[Hefner]
But now, with sales of
Playboyat an all-time high,

I knew it was time
to start going after

the big name brands
that I wanted.

[knocking on door]

Uh, Hef, they're here.

Okay. Stall them
five minutes,

then bring them
up to the studio.

Okay.

Get Victor to meet me
on the second floor. Now.

[Hefner]
After months of tracking down
potential advertisers,

we finally got the attention

of one of the most
exclusive brands in town.

All I had to do was convince
them to work with us.

♪Every little movement ♪

♪ Every little thing
you do ♪

♪ Is it sleight of hand ♪

♪ That commands my heart
to love you? ♪

♪Every little movement ♪

♪Every
little movement ♪♪

♪♪

I'd like you to meet
Vince Tajiri,

our photo department head,

Art Paul, art director,

and this is Victor Lownes,
head of promotions.

Welcome to Playboy.

Thanks very much.

[Lownes]
Uh, Hef?

This is Bob from
The Diners' Club.

I'm so sorry to keep
you waiting. Hugh Hefner.

♪♪

[Hefner]
In 1955, the first independent
charge card

in the world
was introduced in America.

It was called Diners' Club.

This was before
American Express, Visa,

or MasterCard were
in the credit business,

and Diners' Club members
could use their cards

at some of the best
restaurants in the world.

The card was revolutionary,

and I had a plan to get it
into our magazine.

What do you think
of the studio?

Everything looks great.

As you may know,
Janet here

was the first Playmate
we photographed ourselves.

Photographing
our own models has seen

a real spike in readership.

When they see your ad
on our pages,

I'm predicting they'll
choose to spend their money

using a Diners' Club card.

♪♪

[Hefner]
All it took was
one look from Janet

and Diners' Club was in.

♪♪

[Richard Rosenzweig]
These advertising guys didn't
want to talk advertising.

They wanted to ask
about the Playmates.

They were fascinated by it,

and we were able to take
advantage of that.

Why don't you come
to my office

and we'll talk
some numbers. Sellers?

Bye, Janet.

♪♪

[Hefner]
With Diners' Club on board,

it wasn't long before
other big names followed,

and soon,
Playboywas featuring ads

from Marlboro,

Chanel,

Imperial Whiskey,

and Budweiser.

[Victor Lownes]
When we went to see
people like Anheuser-Busch,

we could say to them,
look,

you've got to be
in this magazine.

This magazine reaches
more college men

who are the next
generation's leaders.

That was very influential.

♪♪

[Hefner]
Our new stream of revenue

was enough to keep the
business running comfortably...

♪♪

...meaning I could stay focused
on the creative side of things.

♪♪

[Charlaine Karalus]
She looks amazing, Vince.

It's a shame they can't be
this big in the magazine.

Let's put this up
on the board, Vince.

[Hefner]
Charlaine had a point.

Here in the office,

the photographs felt
more lifelike.

We started out with
these great proofs,

but then we had to
shrink them down

to fit in our magazine.

I knew there had to be a way

to give our readers
a better experience.

[Art Paul]
I mean, what are
our options here?

Hef wants a bigger photo,
so, tabloid, am I right?

[Eldon Sellers]
Are you talking about

making the entire magazine
twice as big?

That means everything
costs twice as much.

What's wrong with that?

[Sellers]
We've spent three years

building a bond with
our readers, right?

They like the magazine
the way it is.

[Ray Russell]
Think about the ad sales.

[Sellers]
Bigger ads. More money.

[Russell]
There you go, Eldon.
Problem solved.

Look, don't get mad at me
'cause I'm the only one here

willing to tell the truth.

Don't get mad at me
for calling bullshit.

[laughter]

We'll just fold it.

Yeah.

Ladies and gentleman,
the Playboycenterfold.

[laughter]

[Bobby Bland]
♪Love and affection ♪

[Hefner]
In March of 1956,
we put out

our first issue ever
with a fold-out centerfold

featuring model
Marian Stafford.

[Bobby Bland]
♪ I've got it all
right here for you ♪

♪ You needn't be lonely ♪

[Jason Buhrmester]
The first Playboy
centerfold I ever saw

was probably in fourth
grade at a friend's house.

And it's not just
opening the cover.

That centerfold,
that fold-out

is that tactile experience
of opening something

and revealing something.

It just seemed like
you were opening a door

to a whole other world.

♪♪

[Brett Ratner]
It wasn't life-size,

but you have no idea
how many times

I made love
to that centerfold.

It took me there,
visually took me there.

I thought that that girl was
right there in front of me.

[Hefner]
The larger centerfolds were
an instant hit with readers

and quickly became
synonymous with our brand.

To this day, when people
hear the word "centerfold,"

they immediately
think of Playboy.

♪♪

Sales and subscriptions
skyrocketed,

and in December 1956,
we hit a milestone

when our third anniversary issue
sold over a million copies.

And after just three years,
Playboywas the number one

men's lifestyle magazine
in America.

We had beaten out Esquire,

the magazine that,
three years earlier,

had refused to give me
a $5 raise.

♪♪

We were doing so well,

I needed to bring on
someone who could focus

on the business side
of the magazine.

So, I turned to
an old friend who knew me

better than any of
the other guys, Bob Preuss.

Balance sheet?
Perfect.

Hef always had someone
that he relied on

to be the business head.

In the early years,
it was Bob Preuss,

who'd been
his college roommate.

[Hefner]
Demand for the magazine
was rising every month,

and our staff could
barely keep up.

If we were going to
sustain the quality

our readers expected
from us,

we not only needed
to add more staff

but we also needed
someplace to put them.

♪♪

But we didn't just move
to a new office.

This time,
we got our own building.

♪♪

[The Grass Roots]
♪ The sound of
your footsteps ♪

[Hefner]
Four stories,
30,000 square feet.

[The Grass Roots]
♪ Telling me that
you're near ♪

[Hefner]
Plenty of space for
our newly expanded staff...

[The Grass Roots]
♪ Your soft gentle
motion, babe ♪

[Hefner]
...now over 100 people.

[The Grass Roots]
♪ Brings out a need in me ♪

♪ That no one can hear ♪

♪ Except in my
midnight confessions ♪

[Hefner]
We spent
a quarter-million dollars

to renovate it
top to bottom.

It might have been
a little indulgent,

but I wanted my team
to have the very best.

[The Grass Roots]
♪ When I say all
the things that I want to ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪♪

[Hefner]
We're in my
executive offices now

on top of
the Playboybuilding.

It's quite late at night

and my working hours
are kind of strange ones.

I usually begin work
about 1:30

or 2:00 in the afternoon.

I get in half a day
that way with the staff

and things are quite
hectic here during the day

with conferences
and various calls

and things to attend to:

layouts, editorial
matters, etcetera.

Then I go into
the second half of my day

in the evening,
and that's a little quieter.

There's nobody else
here to bother me.

It works out
pretty well that way.

[Hefner]
At this point,
I pretty much lived

in the office full-time,

but while my business
was growing,

so was my family.

In the midst of
our mounting success,

Millie gave birth
to our second child,

a boy named David.

But with the magazine
taking up all of my time,

I'll be the first to admit
I wasn't acting

like the type of father
or husband my family needed.

[Christie Hefner]
My father wasn't around a lot

when my brother and I
were growing up,

but we would spend Christmas
and birthdays with him,

so I always thought of him,
in hindsight,

as kind of like
a favorite uncle,

someone you were related to

who you knew loved you
but didn't really know

who your friends were or
how your grades were going.

♪♪

[Rosenzweig]
It was 24/7 for him,

which is why he did not
really have a family life,

even though he was married
and had two children.

But he was working
night and day.

And that was true
for decades.

♪♪

Arrange a meeting
with everybody just to...

[Hefner]
With success came attention,

and in January of '57,
I was invited

to profile Playboyon an
entirely new platform for me,

one that was
quickly becoming

an American obsession...
television.

In 1957, television was
taking the country by storm,

and with only three
networks to choose from,

CBS, NBC, and ABC,

roughly a third
of the country

might be tuned in
to one program.

Good evening,
I'm Mike Wallace.

The show isNight Beat.

[Hefner]
Mike Wallace's Night Beat
was a popular talk show

known for addressing
controversial topics,

and I thought it would be
the perfect opportunity

to spread Playboy'smessage.

But I had never appeared
on TV before,

and I'd be lying if I
said I wasn't nervous.

I knew that Night Beatwas
a very hot show in New York,

a show that was getting
a lot of reaction.

I also knew that
it was a tough show

and that he was asking
tough questions.

And I had done
very few interviews,

even for print,
in those days,

because it was the very
early days of the magazine.

A little under four years
ago, a junior copywriter

inEsquire Magazine's
promotion department

quit in a huff after
he was refused a $5 raise.

You ready?

And that refusal
turned out to be

one of the worst decisions
ever made atEsquire

because the name of that
copywriter was Hugh Hefner.

You'll be fine.

He is now the editor-in-chief
ofPlayboy Magazine,

which claims
to have pushedEsquire

right out of first place.

Hugh, we checked
this month's issue

and found 20 pictures of girls
in various stages of undress.

Now, sir, what's the kick
that you get out of it?

At the time thatPlayboy
started, and this was one

of the big reasons
for beginning the book,

we felt
there as no magazine

doing a really
successful job

of entertaining the audience
that we're trying to hit.

Let's not hide behind
altruistic motives, Hugh.

Chicago Magazine
quoted you to the effect

that sex will always be

a primary ingredient
of the magazine.

Isn't that really what
you're selling?

Kind of
a high-class dirty book?

Um, well, I don't, uh...

I'd make a pretty, uh,
strong case, uh,

in the feeling
that the magazine,

as far we are concerned,

does not over-emphasize
sex at all.

You think that this really
reflects the tastes

and the standards
of young, male Americans?

Truthfully?

Truthfully, without
any reservation, yes.

[Mike Wallace]
When I first did my
interview with Hugh Hefner,

I wasn't just playing
devil's advocate with him.

I thought that he was about
to subvert the republic

with some of the stuff

that he was putting
in PlayboyMagazine.

What he was doing,
basically, was, I thought,

vaguely pornographic,
vaguely obscene,

and he was putting
a nice cover on it

by finding interesting
intellectual stuff

to lend a little class

to what was essentially
a trifle tawdry.

[Hefner]
When I look at the tape,

I see a very nervous kid

who didn't have
his act together

and was
searching for words.

Mike didn't take me
very seriously.

He said, in between
segments of the show,

that he figured I'd be
doing something else

in five years,
and I was hurt by that

because it suggested to me

that he didn't think
I was sincere.

[Hefner]
Mike Wallace had torn me
apart on national television,

and all I could think

was that by appearing
on the show unprepared,

I had done Playboy
more harm than good.

Part and parcel of being
in the public eye is,

people are going to have
something to say about you.

You can either
let it bother you,

or if you are on the right side,
just speak the truth.

[Hefner]
I had to do something.

I needed to make it clear

that I was making a magazine

for a sophisticated audience.

[Hefner]
The first initial dream
was to try to package

the sort of magazine
for a young urban man

that I would enjoy
if I was a reader,

and the perception didn't go
much further than that.

Once that began,
a time came

when I really began to see

the possibilities
of livin' the life.

♪♪

[Hefner]
If I was going to change
people's opinion of Playboy,

I had to put myself
in the spotlight

and show the public

that I wasn't just
some creep peddling sex.

I was the epitome
of a modern gentleman.

♪♪

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Keep on runnin' ♪

[Hefner]
Taking inspiration from famous
figures like Frank Sinatra

and characters
like James Bond,

I changed my look.

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪Oh yeah ♪

♪Keep on runnin' ♪

[Hefner]
I started dressing
sharper...

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Runnin' from my arms ♪

[Hefner]
...and I even added a new
accessory to my image, a pipe.

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ To make you understand ♪

[Hefner]
For the first time, my photo
was prominently featured

in the pages of Playboy...

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Hey hey hey ♪

[Hefner]
...paired with an article
detailing my interests,

fashion sense,
musical taste...

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Hey hey hey ♪

[Hefner]
...and my rise to success.

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ It makes me feel so sad ♪

[Jason Buhrmester]
He invented the character
and then became the character.

I think, in a lot of ways,
he was surprised

how many American men
responded to that

and wanted to engage in
a lifestyle on that level.

♪♪

[Hefner]
In 1959, I was
even asked to appear

in an ad from a Chicago
Mercedes dealership,

promoting their
300 SL convertible.

In Chicago, Hefner
was almost immediately

the biggest
celebrity in town,

but that spread quickly
to the rest of the country.

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Hey hey hey ♪

♪ Everyone is talking
about me ♪

[Hefner]
For the next two years,

I started giving interviews

to any publication
that would have me...

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Everyone is
laughing at me ♪

[Hefner]
...and little by little,

I started gaining
national notoriety.

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Keep on runnin' ♪

♪♪

I literally became
a different person,

and I think
that the commitment

in terms of changing my
lifestyle, that wasn't so tough.

There was already
a fascination with Playboy

as a phenomenon.

It was just a matter

of sort of takin' off
the Clark Kent outfit

and puttin' on the cloak
and flyin' out the window.

♪♪

[Spencer Davis Group]
♪ Hey hey hey ♪

♪Everyone is talking
about me ♪

♪ It makes me feel so sad ♪

♪ So keep on runnin' ♪

♪♪

♪ Hey hey ♪

♪♪

[Hefner]
With my star on the rise,

all kinds of new
business opportunities

were on the table for me,
and in 1959,

the most intriguing

was from a local television
producer from Chicago

named James McGinn.

♪♪

I want to make
a variety show.

Special guests,
celebrity performers.

Playmates...
dressed, of course.

Who did you have
in mind to host?

You.

You're Mr. Playboy.

♪♪

[announcer]
From Broadway,
from Hollywood...

♪♪

[Hefner]
At the end of the '50s,
variety shows

like The Tonight Show,

Sid Caesar's Show of Shows,

and The Ed Sullivan Show

were pulling in
massive ratings.

♪♪

I realized if Playboy
could capture

even a small percentage
of those viewers,

we could extend our brand
far beyond just the magazine.

[Cooper Hefner]
I think the motivation
for pursuing television

was that it offered
another platform

to share
the brand philosophy.

[Hefner]
But even with the backing
of a Chicago TV station,

I knew we faced
tough competition.

If we were going to succeed,

we needed to come up
with a concept

that would really
set us apart.

♪♪

PlayboyMagazine
was always about

presenting
a fantasy lifestyle...

beautiful women,
high-end design,

and the latest
in American culture.

I wanted to bring
that experience

to a television audience,
and just like that,

Playboy's Penthouse
was born.

♪♪

[Rosenzweig]
The concept of
Playboy's Penthouse

was the magazine
come to life.

It was a show
that was taking place

in Hef's living room,

and Hef was
the host of the party.

♪♪

[Hefner]
The show was going to be
a huge undertaking,

so I asked the entire staff
of the magazine to pitch in,

including one of our newest
hires, Dick Rosenzweig.

[Rosenzweig]
I began working
for Playboyin 1958.

I was hired as
an advertising trainee.

But then Eldon came to me
and asked me

to be the production
syndication manager

of this new
television show.

Nobody really in our company
was qualified to do that,

but we all chipped in,
as we did in those days,

and did double
and triple duty.

[Hefner]
We may have had
an amateur staff

and a tiny budget,

but Playboy's
growing reputation

allowed us to lock in an
incredible show line-up.

Stand-up comedian
Lenny Bruce,

best-selling author
Rona Jaffee,

1958 Playmate of
the Month Joyce Nizarri,

and my personal favorites,

jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald
and Nat King Cole.

[Hefner]
I used jazz
throughout the '50s

as a major element
in the magazine.

That music spoke to me
and contained those dreams

that I identified with
so much.

♪♪

[Hefner]
We had our lineup complete,

but with just days
before we aired,

we got word that
broadcasters in the South

were threatening
to pull our show.

You have to understand,
this was the late 1950s,

a time of
racial segregation

and growing racist
sentiments in the South.

In 1959,
this is four years

after the Montgomery
bus boycott,

a woman locked up for
sitting in the front of a bus

who paid the same fare
as white people.

In that same season,
rights workers were killed

trying to register
people to vote

and had to beg
the Department of Justice

and the FBI to intervene

during that
very ugly transition

from slavery to
Jim Crow desegregation.

It was a very violent season
of fear and polarization.

[Hefner]
Protests on both sides

were breaking out
across the country,

and with our program
planning to show

white and black people
socializing,

Southern television stations
were outraged.

So either we pull Nat
and Ella or they pull us?

Pretty much.

Look, gentlemen, we cannot
afford to lose the South.

That's half our audience.

The stations have
all the power.

Fuck the stations.
It's censorship.

Nat King Cole stays
and so does everyone else.

We're making the show
I want to make,

and if the South pulls us,
they pull us.

We start taping
tomorrow night.

[Dick Cavett]
People who were not old enough

to be around back then
and see those Playboyshows

would probably see
nothing wrong with them.

Why not have black artists
and black musicians

and black comedians
and black guests?

But in the '50s, that
was very much a red flag

to certain people
and even stations

in certain parts
of this country,

and Hefner's intentional
ability to break that barrier

was really a public service
on his part

and rather daring.

♪♪

[Hefner]
On October 24th, 1959,
we premiered

our first episode
of Playboy's Penthouse,

and sadly,
the Southern stations

stuck to their guns
and refused to air it.

But we had made something
I was truly proud of.

I'll admit, I was nervous
to be the frontman

on a brand-new
television show,

but I was excited
to see my vision on TV.

Hello there. Glad you could
join us this evening.

I'm Hugh Hefner,

editor/publisher
ofPlayboy Magazine,

and your host.

This isPlayboy's Penthouse.

Come on in and meet
some of our guests.

Well, here we have
Eleanor Bradley

and Ms. Joyce Nazarri,

two of our
most popular Playmates,

and Lenny Bruce,

foremost exponent
of sick humor and...

Oh!
[laughing]

Isn't that sick?

Oh, boy,
the champagne is really

making my nose bubbly,
Uncle Hugh.

Nat, what a surprise!
Great.

I'm very pleased you could
come up this evening.

- Thank you.
- Come on in.

[Hefner]
I was proud to feature
Nat King Cole

and Ella Fitzgerald as
two of our first guests.

Thank you.

Nat, this is Spec,
A.C. Spectorsky.

[Hefner]
They represented the best
in American jazz,

and our show wouldn't have
been complete without them.

[Rosenzweig]
These were very
talented professionals

in their line of work, jazz,

and Hefner has always felt
that it was right and proper

to have the most talented

and interesting people
on this show.

It's great having you
with us, Ella.

A real pleasure, as always.

The group is here,

and I wonder if you'd
sing a song for us.

Well, we can try and
do something for you.

[Ratner]
It was so cleverly
filmed and photographed

because it was
a subjective camera.

You were the audience
walking into that penthouse.

You were watching them.

You felt like you
were there with them.

And that's when I think Hef

started being a kind
of living, breathing

visual interpretation

of that man that
you're reading about.

[Hefner]
It was exactly what
I had envisioned.

It was hip, fun,

and thanks to
our featured Playmates,

it was also sexy.

I saw it as
a chance for Playboy

to become bigger
than just a magazine.

♪ Bring another drink ♪

[Hefner]
But without the South,
there was no guarantee

that we'd pull in
enough viewers

to keep the show on the air.

[Jesse Jackson]
There were a few people
who had the courage

of their convictions
to stand with us.

Hefner's money and
reputation was on the line.

He identified unequivocally
with social justice

and with the civil rights
movement of that time.

[chatter]

[knocking]

The ratings data came in,

and I wanted you to
hear it from me first.

Is it good or bad?

[sighing]

They want to make
a 26-week commitment.

- Really?
- Yeah.

They're even asking
about a second season.

A second...

Congratulations,
Mr. Playboy.

[laughter]

[Hefner]
Even without the South,

the response was better
than I had expected.

♪♪

[David Eisenbach]
The civil rights movement

has a particularly
profound effect

on the younger generation

and on those who want to see
themselves as hip and cool.

It is no longer cool
and hip to be racist.

And Hugh Hefner
latches onto that notion.

He feels it.

♪♪

[Hefner]
Papers across the country
were talking about us.

The show was a hit,

and we went on to book
even bigger names.

If he does that again,

I'll punch him
a shot in the mouth.

[Patty Farmer]
Sammy Davis was a big visitor,

as was Tony Bennett...

Tony's gonna wail
a little bit here.

[Patty Farmer]
...who was a great friend
to playboy Cy Coleman,

so it was just a litany

of who the cream
of the crop was

in entertainment
at that time.

♪♪

[Hefner]
The success of
Playboy's Penthouse

only solidified our status

as the top-selling men's
magazine in the country.

Let's go for two.
Thanks.

[Hefner]
We had a guaranteed circulation

of over a million copies
per month,

and I was now running a company
worth over $20 million.

This is Donna Lynn,
our Playmate for November,

and if Donna doesn't look
exactly like a waitress...

[Hefner]
But while my business
was going great...

[Hefner]
...that's because
in Hollywood,

the scene is
a little different.

[Hefner]
...not everything in my life
was perfect.

...pretty special things,
and we thought Donna

was pretty special,
even by those standards.

[Buhrmester]
Hef invents the idea
of the modern bachelor

without really knowing if
that person actually exists

other than himself,
and to tell you the truth,

he wasn't even that person.

He was married
and living in Chicago.

We'll break for just a minute
and we'll be right back.

[Millie Gunn Williams]
I wasn't seeing him that much.

We would do the holidays,
the family days, together,

but we weren't acting
together as a couple.

He lived his own life.
He didn't do it to be cruel.

It hurt, but it wasn't
a deliberate cruelness.

I always respected him,

and I think he always
respected me.

I think we recognized
that we were dissimilar.

We were dissimilar.
And what I wanted,

if I were in a marriage,
what I wanted from it

is something
he couldn't give me.

[Hefner]
After a decade of marriage,
Millie and I decided

that the best thing for
both of us was a divorce.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

[Hefner]
I believed, initially,
that marriage

would be the answer
to my romantic dreams,

and it wasn't.

And I think that that
hurt and disappointment

led me in another direction.

[Hefner]
Now that I was on my own,
nothing was stopping me

from fully embracing
the Playboylifestyle.

So I did what every guy in
his thirties dreams of doing.

I bought a bachelor pad.

♪♪

[Bobby Bland]
♪ Sometimes your love ♪

[Hefner]
The four-story,
40-bedroom house

was in the heart
of Chicago.

I dropped $400,000,
or about 3.2 million today.

[Bobby Bland]
♪Sometimes your love ♪

[Hefner]
And if you think
that sounds like a lot,

I spent another ten times that

on renovations.

And let me tell you,
it was worth every penny.

[Bobby Bland]
♪ Is just like honey ♪

[Hefner]
The main room is,
of course, my favorite.

It has woodwork in it
and a size and magnificence

that you rarely
find in America today.

It looks more as though it
belongs

on an English countryside

than in the heart of
Chicago's near northside.

♪♪

The hi-fi here in
the middle of the room

was custom-built
for the house,

and down below
the main room,

we have the swimming pool.

It's kind of like walking
into a part of Acapulco,

I guess you might say.

There are palm trees
there and a waterfall.

[Bobby Bland]
♪ You got a funny little way ♪

[Ratner]
Hef had a pool
in his living room,

but Hef didn't swim.

Hef had the finest wine,
but he doesn't drink.

He's the greatest host ever.

It was about
other people's pleasure,

for other people to enjoy.

[Hefner]
In addition to housing

Chicago's only private
indoor swimming pool,

my mansion was fitted
with the latest technology,

plus a bowling alley,
hidden walkways,

a movie theater,
and a full catering kitchen.

[Bobby Bland]
♪You got a funny little way ♪

[James Caan]
This house in Chicago
was amazing.

Me and Peter Boyle,
we started looking

all around the place,
and we found ourselves

in a swimming pool
on the second floor.

And there was this one place
where you slid down a pole

and you got into
this pillowed room

that had a glass front
and that was the pool.

[Bobby Bland]
♪Makes me feel all right ♪

[Hefner]
But the most legendary room
of all was my master bedroom.

I designed it to look like
something out of a Bond movie,

and the centerpiece
was a circular, rotating bed.

[Hefner]
And the point of this,
of course,

is not simply
a merry-go-round.

It's really turned
the room itself

into four separate
living sections

so that I can have it
facing the hi-fi area,

facing the TV over here,

or for the work service
or the fireplace.

[Bobby Bland]
♪ Yeah, and it makes me
feel all right ♪

[Hefner]
I'd transformed the mansion
into a bachelor's paradise,

and in December of 1961,

I published a ten-page
spread in the magazine

that gave my readers
an inside look.

[Bobby Bland]
♪Sometimes your love ♪

[Cooper Hefner]
Every decision
that my dad made

was about fostering
the brand,

so the mansion
in Chicago was a reflection

of the brand's values,
which were his values.

It was a place where you
could have a really good time

but still find intellectual
conversation if you wanted to.

It was an adult playground.

[Bobby Bland]
♪ That's why I don't want ♪

♪ No other lover ♪

[Hefner]
With the introduction
of the mansion,

I literally got out
from behind the desk

and then it was party time.

[Bobby Bland]
♪ I said honey child ♪

♪♪

♪ Quiet nights
of quiet stars ♪

[Hefner]
What had started out
as my home

had now become
the hottest spot in Chicago.

[Hefner]
I spent money
and invested money

in the future of this magazine
and company and this dream

in a way that made
no kind of business sense.

All reason and logic
were gone,

and everything
I touched turned into gold.

♪♪

[Hefner]
I was living the life
I'd always dreamed of,

and I'd finally become
the ultimate bachelor.

♪♪

♪Every little movement ♪

♪ Every motion
of your hips ♪

♪ I feel the compulsion ♪

♪ To pull you
to my sweet lips ♪

♪ Is it a black magic spell
you put me under? ♪

♪ This miracle moment ♪

♪ Never let it end ♪

♪Every little movement ♪

♪Is beyond improvement ♪

♪ You are the magician ♪

♪ I've been wishing for
forever ♪

♪Every little movement ♪

♪Every
little movement ♪♪