All language subtitles for American.Playboy.S01E06.Rebel.with.a.Cause.Civil.Liberties.and.Government.Crackdowns.1080p.WEB-DL.AMZN.DDP.5.1.H.264

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
The year was 1963.

The first James Bond
filmDr. No

was a hit in the theaters...

♪ Here's a little song you
can all join in with♪

♪ It's very simple
and I hope it's new, yeah♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Coca-Cola introduced a new
calorie-free soda called Tab

and a little-known band from
Liverpool named the Beatles

had shot up to the top
of the charts in the UK.

♪♪

But on November 22nd
of that year,

the assassination of John F.
Kennedy changed everything.

♪♪

While the country
was still in shock,

I was in the midst
of a trial,

facing jail time
on obscenity charges

for publishing nude pictures
of actress Jayne Mansfield

in the pages
ofPlayboy magazine.

♪♪

After weeks of arguments,

it was finally time
to hear the verdict.

[Judge]
Bailiff...

I know what pornography is
and I know what obscenity is,

and it certainly isn't
Playboyand never has been.

But again, we were questioning
the traditional values,

and that context, I think,

is what got us
into the most trouble.

Defendant, please rise.

On the counts of publishing

and distributing
an obscene publication,

the jury has been unable
to reach a verdict.

Mr. Hefner,
you are free to go.

♪♪

♪ All right♪

♪♪

♪ I been a-hopin'
and a-prayin'♪

♪ For such a long time♪

[Hugh Hefner]
The jury was deadlocked
7 to 5

in favor of acquittal...

♪♪

...and all charges
against me were dropped.

♪ Ain't it a good thing?♪

♪♪

♪ Ain't it a good thing?♪

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
I felt relieved

and like I'd won a major
victory for free speech.

♪♪

♪ Oh, ain't it
a good thing?♪

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
My fight was finally over,

but world events
were about to reshape

the country andPlayboy.

♪♪

[woman]
♪ 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♪♪

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
With the obscenity case
behind us,

Playboy spent
the next two years

getting back to business,
publishing centerfolds

next to articles
promoting social justice.

But by 1965,
there was one issue

that overshadowed
all the others.

[male newscaster]
This is the hot spot
in the Cold War

and this year saw it
getting hotter.

♪ The Eastern world♪

♪ It is exploding♪

♪ Violence flaring♪

[Hugh Hefner]
America had been locked

in conflict in Vietnam

since the mid '50s,

but every year,
our involvement

in the war kept increasing.

In 1963, there were
16,000 troops in Vietnam.

By '65, there were 125,000.

♪ Oh you don't believe♪

♪ We're on the eve
of destruction♪

[David Eisenbach]
Vietnam starts off
with, uh, oh,

we're just gonna
be contained,

and military advisors here

that'll support
the government

at this resistance
to tyranny,

and then it escalated
and escalated,

and more and more,
uh, kids are being sent

over to Vietnam, and more
and more kids are dying.

♪ Can't you feel
the fears ♪

♪ I'm feeling today?♪

[Hugh Hefner]
With more casualties
every day,

demonstrators took
to the streets

and young men began
burning their draft cards.

♪ Take a look
around you, boy♪

♪ It's bound to scare you,
boy, and you tell me♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Never before
had an American war

been protested so openly,

and I knew the voices
of these young radicals

belonged inPlayboy.

♪ We're on the eve
of destruction♪♪

[sighing]

[Hugh Hefner]
So I hired a new
assistant editor...

♪♪

[Steppenwolf]
♪ We'll call you when
you're six years old♪

[Hugh Hefner]
...a popular
young journalist

who had written
politically-charged pieces

forThe Village Voice
named Arthur Kretchmer.

[Steppenwolf]
♪ To train your brain
for 18 years♪

I was hired with a bunch
of other hip, connected,

intelligent young people.

Some of us were smoking dope.

Some of us were emphatically
against the Vietnam War.

I think all of our editors

were a little bit
to the left,

but Arthur represented
his generation

and he was well connected
with that world.

♪♪

[Spectorsky]
Next we have a piece

for our attire section.

No man, no matter
how fashion-conscious,

enjoys having to spend
days or even weeks

breaking in
a new pair of shoes.

Jesus Christ.

I'm sorry, did you have
something to contribute?

Yeah. Who cares?

Seriously, who gives a shit?

There's a war
going on out there,

and we're sitting
around here bickering

about how many days
it takes

to break in a pair
of goddamn shoes.

Last month,
100,000 Americans

demonstrated in cities
across the country.

Last week, a man stood
in front of the Pentagon,

doused himself in kerosene,
and set himself on fire.

And what the hell
are we doing about it?

What the hell is
Playboysaying about it?

Nothing.

[Spectorsky]
In case you haven't
noticed,

you're no longer working
at The Village Voice.

Let them cover those
types of stories.

No, I think we should have
something to say about it.

If it matters to us,
it matters to our readers.

Bring in an article.
If it's good, I'll run it.

Shall I continue?

Mm-hmm.

For our humor section,

a fresh slate
of party jokes.

[Arthur Kretchmer]
Spectorsky and I
developed conflict,

and Spectorsky hated
the word "political"

and hated politics.

I really did represent
something

that he wasn't ready for.

♪♪

[The Flying Burrito Brothers]
♪ There is a man♪

♪ A tall man♪

♪ Follows no...♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Soon Kretchmer pushed us

to take a stance
on the Vietnam War.

[The Flying Burrito Brothers]
♪ Out in a storm♪

♪ Can he stay warm♪

[Hugh Hefner]
But he didn't stop there.

[Kretchmer]
Britain recently abolished
the death penalty.

If we're supposed to be the
freest country in the world,

why are we one of
the few western nations

that hasn't banned
capital punishment?

[The Flying Burrito Brothers]
♪ Can't he move on?♪

♪ Tell him it's all right♪

[Hugh Hefner]
We called for the abolition
of the death penalty,

arguing not only
that it was barbaric

but that it was
disproportionately used

against poor people.

[The Flying Burrito Brothers]
♪ There is a man♪

[Hugh Hefner]
We published pieces

promoting access
to contraception

and safe and inexpensive
abortions for women.

[The Flying Burrito Brothers]
♪ Can his new wife♪

♪ Live out her life♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Playboyhas always had

a strong editorial
point of view,

and it's reflected
in everything we do.

While the magazine
was a magazine

of entertainment for men,

the real intention
and message ran much deeper.

[The Flying Burrito Brothers]
♪ It's all right♪

♪ Say it's all right♪♪

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Fighting for change

energized
the entire office,

and soon, letters began
pouring in from readers,

letting us know
that they also

wanted to be part
of the debate.

[Steppenwolf]
♪ Staring at
the boob tube♪

♪ Turning on
the big knob♪

♪ Trying to find
some life in the...♪

[Hugh Hefner]
So I created The Playboy
Forum to open a dialogue.

[Steppenwolf]
♪ Gonna deal
with Mary Jane ♪

[Hugh Hefner]
The forum became
an interchange of ideas

between myself
and readers...

[Steppenwolf]
♪ Obnoxious Joe
comes on the screen♪

[Hugh Hefner]
...covering sex, marriage,

religion,
police, economics...

anything relevant
to social change.

[Christine Hefner]
By having a conversation

with millions
of men and women

through The Playboy Forum,

I think clearly
was a major contributor

to people feeling comfortable
and not feeling so alone.

[Hugh Hefner]
Of course, a lot of people

only wanted to talk
about Vietnam.

♪♪

Many of our loyal readers
were now serving overseas,

eager to voice
their opinions

and share
their experiences

from the front lines.

♪♪

[Steppenwolf]
♪ Well it's evil, wicked♪

When Timemagazine was still
promoting the war in Vietnam,

The Playboy Forum gave
real soldiers a chance to say

what their reality was
in Vietnam,

and it was this place
to put actual testimony

about what was going on.

Abortion is still illegal.

The Chicago Women's
Liberation Union

are speaking out about it
and so should we.

[Hugh Hefner]
But then I took it
one step further,

beyond the pages
of the magazine,

and created
The Playboy Foundation...

♪♪

...an organization dedicated
to fighting censorship

and funding
civil rights groups.

[Christie Hefner]
Hef had said that
The Playboy Foundation

was intended to put his
money where his mouth was

for issues that were not
just relevant to Playboy

but were relevant to
a broader philosophy

of what makes
for a just society.

[Hugh Hefner]
We donated hundreds
of thousands of dollars

to the Kinsey Institute,

an organization whose
research on sex and sexuality

had inspired the founding
of the magazine.

We involved ourselves in
landmark civil rights cases

such as Roe v. Wade
and continued to support

the African-American
struggle for freedom.

♪♪

♪ When I left before♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Across the country,
the civil rights movement

was making
significant progress,

and just a year earlier,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

was awarded the Nobel Peace
prize for his work.

It was an incredible moment

for the
civil rights movement,

one we wanted to celebrate.

So, in January of 1965,

we published an interview
with Dr. King,

the longest one
he ever granted.

♪ But I keep coming back♪

[Jesse Jackson]
When Playboyinterviewed
Dr. King,

it was a serious breakthrough

because it was a chance
for another market.

I mean, those days you
didn't have cable television.

We didn't have much access.

♪♪

[Cooper Hefner]
MLK Jr.'s voice was
perfectly suited for Playboy.

If you take a step back and
look at all the other pieces

of what makes Playboy
Playboy,

I can't think of another
magazine or media company

where the conversation would
have been more appropriate.

[Hugh Hefner]
In his interview
withPlayboy,

King emphasized
how far we'd come,

but he also explained
how far we had to go.

♪♪

[Martin Luther King Jr.]
With a nonviolent movement,

the end is to
convert the opponent

and to bring about a society

where all men will live
together as brothers

and every man will
respect the dignity

and worth
of human personality.

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
So, just months after being
featured in the magazine,

King led a march
of 25,000 Americans,

black and white,

on a 54-mile journey

from Selma, Alabama,

to the state's capital,

to show their support for
a new voting rights bill

in the face
of ruthless opposition.

[people shouting
and screaming]

After being attacked

with nightsticks
and teargas,

Dr. King and protesters
arrived in Montgomery.

We are standing before
the forces of power

in the State of Alabama,

saying we ain't gonna
let nobody turn us around.

[cheers and applause]

[Hugh Hefner]
What we saw in the news
shocked the entire nation.

♪♪

[Eisenbach]
There's no question that
the power of the media

was a major force

because it allowed
the civil rights protestors

to get their message out

by generating
images of oppression

that were compelling
because they were so violent.

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
After considerable
public pressure,

President Johnson passed

the Voting Rights Act
of 1965, which outlawed

discriminatory voting
practices based on race.

♪♪

This bill will
strike down restrictions

to voting in all elections.

[applause]

[Hugh Hefner]
America was beginning
to see we needed change.

♪♪

With progress being made
throughout the country,

I wanted to break
the color barrier

in all aspects
of our magazine.

♪♪

Hi.

Hi.

If you could just
slip this on.

♪ And when you come
to see me baby♪

♪ You don't have to
bring no note♪

♪ You gotta have sweet
sweet lovin'♪

[Hugh Hefner]
In March of 1965,

we published
the first ever

African-American
Playmate of the month,

Jennifer Jackson.

♪ I said baby♪

[Hugh Hefner]
We found Jenny
working part-time

in our Chicago
Playboy Club.

She was a Bunny alongside
her twin sister, Jan,

while studying at
a Chicago Teachers' College

and doing some freelance
modeling on the side.

♪♪

When Playboypublished its
first African-American Playmate,

it was a really
important comment

on race relations
at the time.

This was an important
acknowledgment of black women

and their sexuality
and their beauty.

♪ Sweet lovin'♪

♪ And that's all you need♪

♪ Oh yeah♪♪

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Reader responses
to Jennifer's centerfold

were mostly positive,

but we still got
some backlash,

which convinced me

there was still a lot
of work to be done.

♪♪

I need it by 2 p.m.
Thank you.

Uh, Spec.

[Hugh Hefner]
AsPlayboy became
more political,

I continued
to personally oversee

every page
of the magazine

to make sure it was
as good as it could be.

[Hugh Hefner]
I am by nature
a perfectionist, anyway.

I think the difference
between good and excellent

is detail,
and I was consumed

with every kind of detail
related to the company.

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Soon, there didn't seem to
be enough hours in the day,

so I relied on a little
orange pill, Dexedrine.

♪♪

[Richard Rosenzweig]
Dexedrine is an upper.

It keeps you awake.

It was originally
formulated as a drug

to help you lose weight,

but it has this other
quality that gives you pep

and keeps you going.

♪♪

♪ One, two, three, four...♪

♪♪

♪ Fortune has me
well in hand♪

[Hugh Hefner]
I never tried hard drugs.

I didn't believe in them.

But Dexedrine
was completely legal

and my doctor kept
prescribing it,

so I told myself it
was a harmless little pill.

♪ And brought you
to my bed♪

[Hugh Hefner]
But pretty soon,
I couldn't live without it.

♪ Everybody loves me baby♪

Page 37,
the robe is not...

The colors here
are confusing.

Page 29...

[Kretchmer]
Dexedrine helped Hefner

write very long,
very dense memos

and engage in
very long meetings.

We used to go to meetings
at 4:00 in the afternoon.

They would last until 6:00
the next morning.

♪ To offend you♪

♪ Now♪

[Hugh Hefner]
I would take them
as I needed them,

but the work could often go
for 24 or 30 or more hours,

so it was possible
in that timeframe

to use 20, 25 pills.

I don't think
I would have created

the Playboyempire
without it.

♪ Because everybody
loves me baby♪

He became very dependent
on Dexedrine.

Scrap it.

[Rosenzweig]
If he was taking the drug,

that let him work for
two days or even more...

♪ Everybody loves me baby♪

[Rosenzweig]
And then, he was so
exhausted that he'd crash.

When he would awaken,
he would be a bit of a grouch.

♪ What did I do
to offend you?♪

Yeah!
[laughing]

[knocking on door]

[Spectorsky]
Hef.

I'll be done
with the new notes

on the mansion piece
in ten minutes.

Then I'm gonna go over
the Zwerin article.

Tell everyone else to go over
what they're working on, too.

I'm seeing
too many errors.

I've already sent them home.

What? You sent them home?

They need to be
with their families.

But they're working, Spec.

It's after midnight.

What, so people
can't work late now?

Three nights in a row?
No, Hef, they can't.

They can't keep
their eyes open.

That's fine.

Just means more work
for you and me.

You cannot keep doing this.

Oh, is it my fault
if the articles are shit?

The articles are fine.
The problem is you.

You've been up
for three days.

You're a wreck.

You are
killing yourself.

I'm fine.

You're not fine.

If you want to leave,
then leave.

Maybe I'm the only one
around here

who still remembers
what it takes

to put out a good magazine,

but I am not going to
be lectured by you.

Do you even hear yourself?

Get out!

[Kretchmer]
When Hef became addicted,

Hefner was accurately
described as self-centered,

demanding, obsessive.

Monstrous, even,
you could say.

Really difficult
to deal with.

[Hugh Hefner]
My staff had reached
a breaking point,

and it was clear that I
needed to make some changes.

[Hugh Hefner]
When I stopped
taking the Dexedrine,

it took
the better part of a year

for my own body to kick in
and give me back

what I'd previously gotten
from the drug.

If you start using an
artificial stimulus for it,

then the body starts
depending on that,

and it needs more of it,
and, you know,

they do all those jokes
about get high on life,

but it's true.

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
While I was
regaining my health,

Playboy was getting
bigger every month

and the effects
of our hard work

could be seen in every
aspect of the company.

♪ Oh my love♪

[Hugh Hefner]
We had 15 clubs operating
within the United States,

including locations
in Los Angeles and Miami,

and international locations

in Montreal,
Manila, and Jamaica.

[Hugh Hefner]
Originally, when we
started off the first one

in Chicago back in '59,

we had no notion
it would be so successful.

♪ So many times♪

♪ You're gonna be lonely♪

♪ So many times
you're gonna be blue ♪

[Hugh Hefner]
By the end of the 1960s,
the magazine was selling

an average of 5.5 million
issues per month

andPlayboy's profits
had climbed

to $80 million a year.

♪♪

I decided the time had come
to make a big statement

and establish ourselves
as an American institution.

♪♪

So I purchased the
37-floor Palmolive Building

on Michigan Ave.
for $2.7 million

and put our name across it
in nine-foot letters.

♪ She asked me maybe♪

♪ If I could
share her sorrow♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Not only was it

one of Chicago's
most iconic buildings,

but as a kid,
I'd looked out my window

and seen the spotlight
on top light up the city.

When Hefner puts Playboy

in big, bright shining letters

on the Palmolive Building
in Chicago,

the Playboybrand becomes
part of the skyline.

The argument is over, right?

The empire is now here,

and there's really nothing
you can do about it.

♪ The promised land♪

♪ Hang on 'til then♪

♪ As best as you can♪

Stand on this one, the mark
here that we've placed.

Yeah, that's the one.
Perfect.

Holding the pipe?

Yes.

[Hugh Hefner]
As for me, after years of
fighting to prove ourselves,

I ended up on the cover

of one of the most
respected publications,

Time magazine.

[Eisenbach]
To make it onto the cover

of Timemagazine
in '67 was huge.

This is the recognition
of the establishment

that you are a player,
right?

Presidents are on the cover,

dictators are on the cover,
right?

That's who makes the cover
of Timemagazine.

He had arrived.

[Hugh Hefner]
Being on the cover ofTime
validated everything

I'd been doing
for the last 15 years.

Here we have panels
along this wall,

similar to what we use
in the clubs.

It should look nice.
This is the bar.

Made it L-shaped
so we can have people

along both sides
and not miss anything.

Glasses here.

Uh, Bobbie,
we're in a meeting.

[Walter Cronkite]
Police have issued
an all-points bulletin

for a well-dressed
young white man

seen running
from the scene.

Dr. King was standing
on the balcony

of his second-floor
hotel room tonight

when, according
to a companion,

a shot was fired
from across the street.

In the friend's words,

the bullet exploded
in his face.

[Hugh Hefner]
April 4th, 1968, was a day
I will never forget.

[Cronkite]
...in the civil rights
movement

were on the scene
almost immediately.

They rushed the 39-year-old
Negro leader to a hospital,

where he died of
a bullet wound in the neck.

♪♪

[Dick Cavett]
The death of
Martin Luther King,

that just seemed
to stop time.

It was horrible,
it was unimaginable,

but you didn't need
to imagine it.

And people
were really saying,

"What kind of world are we in?
What kind of people are we?

Who's gonna
stop this sort of thing?"

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
As riots broke out
across the country,

leaders tried desperately
to calm the nation.

[Robert F. Kennedy]
What we need
in the United States

is not division.

What we need
in the United States

is not hatred.

[Hugh Hefner]
And no speech did more to
bring the country together

than Robert F. Kennedy's...

...but is love and wisdom

and compassion
toward one another.

[Hugh Hefner]
...who'd experienced his
own brother's assassination

just under
five years earlier.

...within our country,
whether they be white

or whether they be black.

[cheers and applause]

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Martin Luther King Jr.

was laid to rest
in Atlanta, Georgia.

Over 100,000 people attended
the funeral procession.

[Cooper Hefner]
The big piece which I think
resonated with my dad

was that Dr. King
had died for something

that was a lot more
than just him,

that he'd given his life
for change...

♪♪

...and that change was the
challenge of finding a way

to live in a world

where people could make
their own choices freely.

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
I knew what a blow

his death was for
the civil rights movement

and the country as a whole,

and I wanted to figure out

the best way
to honor his memory.

"A promised land
of true equality."

[Hugh Hefner]
Weeks before
his assassination,

Playboy received
an essay from Dr. King

calledA Testament of Hope,

a work that would
tragically become

his final written words.

"In his final
published statement,

"the civil rights leader
points the way out

"of America's racial turmoil

into the promised land
of equality."

That's better,
but add "fallen"

before "civil rights leader"

and add "true"
before equality.

[Hugh Hefner]
We knew that publishing
his passionate words

was the best way
we could honor his legacy.

But soon, another tragedy
rocked the nation.

[men shouting]

[Man]
If there's a doctor
in the house,

I want to see him
right here.

Everybody else,
please stay back.

[onlookers talking]

[man]
Oh, no!

[Jackson]
Before we could adjust
in any measure

to Dr. King's assassination,
April 4th, 1968,

Robert Kennedy killed
June the 5th in Los Angeles.

It just left us
pained and hurt,

as if all hope
had been lost.

We were numb.

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Soon, that grief
turned to anger.

[Strawbs]
♪ In the early dawn
the Bishop's men♪

♪ Shivered in the damp♪

♪ Who prayed that
wives and families♪

♪ Might see them
once again♪

♪♪

[Eisenbach]
In the summer of '68,

the fear and anxiety
of the long hot summer,

you had all of the issues
and all of the anger

that had been building up.

It turns
into absolute mayhem.

[Strawbs]
♪ The ground mist hid
the patrol's approach♪

♪ As they drew
close enough to show♪

[Hugh Hefner]
It was a time of revolution
and some of it was violent.

It was a time of questioning
old mores and values.

[Strawbs]
♪ Of pure white sand♪

It was questioning a lot
of the fundamental views

that people saw were hurtful.

[Strawbs]
♪ At evensong
both camps reviewed♪

♪ Their sad depleted ranks♪

[Hugh Hefner]
To make matters worse,
by the summer of 1968,

the Vietnam War was
spiraling out of control.

[Strawbs]
♪ Gave God their
grateful thanks♪

♪♪

[President Johnson]
Even while the search
for peace was going on,

North Vietnam
rushed their preparations

for a savage assault
on the people,

the government,

and the allies
of South Vietnam.

[Hugh Hefner]
The North Vietnamese
launched

their most
brutal campaign yet

against American troops,

a series of
surprise bomb attacks

that would come to be known
as the Tet Offensive.

[male newscaster]
The Viet Cong
simultaneously attacked

just about every major city
and town in South Vietnam,

and it was a new war.

[Hugh Hefner]
After over a decade of war,

nearly 20,000 American
soldiers had been killed

and it seemed there
was no end in sight.

♪♪

Just hoping to stay alive
from day to day.

Everybody just wants to go
back home and go to school.

That's about it.

[reporter]
Have you lost any friends?

Quite a few.
We lost one the other day.

This whole thing stinks,
really.

[gunfire]

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
But as strongly as
Playboy opposed the war

in the pages
of the magazine,

we knew many of our readers
were stationed overseas,

and we wanted to do
what we could to help.

[The Grass Roots]
♪ One, two, three, four
sha la la la la la ♪

[Hugh Hefner]
We teamed up with the USO,

sending our 1965 Playmate
of the Year, Jo Collins,

to visit the soldiers.

[Merv Griffin]
Miss Jo Collins,
ladies and gentlemen.

[cheers and applause]

So, Lieutenant Jack Price
of the 173rd Airborne Brigade

in Vietnam sent a letter
to Hugh Hefner,

saying that
him and his company

wanted to chip in $150 to
have the Playmate of the Year

deliver a lifetime
subscription,

so we flew over to Saigon
and delivered it.

Isn't that a sweet story?

[applause]

[The Grass Roots]
♪ Two, three, four♪

♪ Sha la la la la la
live for today♪

[Hugh Hefner]
It was a uniquelyPlayboy
way to build morale,

and while it wasn't
going to bring them home,

I hoped it could at least
brighten the mood

of the men fighting for our
country, even momentarily.

[The Grass Roots]
♪ Sha la la la la la
live for today♪

♪ Live for today♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Also, we thought
it would be fun

to have two floors and see
how that opens up the space.

[Hugh Hefner]
1968 had been
a year of chaos.

It was clear that Americans
had grown disheartened

by what they were
seeing on TV,

so I came up with an idea

that could help
lift the mood a little...

♪♪

bringingPlayboy
back to television.

My last TV show,
Playboy's Penthouse,

had lasted two seasons
and brought together

some of the best names
in jazz and culture,

butPlayboy had changed
throughout the past decade

and I wanted a new
generation to experience

the lifestyle
for themselves.

On this new show,
I would invite guests

from all walks of life

that could appeal to
our younger audience.

But I knew if I wanted
to get the biggest names,

I couldn't stay in Chicago,

so I set my sights
on Los Angeles.

♪ What can you see
with your ear on ground♪

♪ Try to lift up
your feet, girl♪

♪ And take a look around
oh let me see you... ♪

[Hugh Hefner]
For years, Hollywood
had been synonymous

with the film industry,

but the city
was also becoming

a major culture center
for art,

music, and now television.

♪ Yeah, your mind is...♪

[Hugh Hefner]
Shows likeLaugh-In,

The Smothers Brothers,

andThe Carol Burnett Show

represented
a changing culture,

and I knew Playboy
would fit right in.

♪ Hey♪

♪♪

[Hugh Hefner]
In 1969, we signed a deal

to film 26 episodes
of a new show

at CBS Television City.

We'd call it
Playboy After Dark.

[director]
All right, stand by.
Quiet. Shh!

Playboy After Dark.

Airdate TBA.
Take one.

Hi, I'm Hugh Hefner,

your host
on a weekly series

of swinging parties
calledPlayboy After Dark.

The great names of
show business will perform,

and I hope you'll be
able to be part of the scene.

[Hugh Hefner]
As soon as I arrived
in Los Angeles,

we immediately
started shooting.

[announcer]
It's nighttime
fun and games

onPlayboy After Dark,
and the action is wild.

♪♪

[Brett Ratner]
Hef always believed in

and always knew the power
of the television.

♪♪

He had a real understanding

of youth culture
and pop culture.

[laughter]

[Hugh Hefner]
It seemed like
the pent-up energy

everyone had shared
over the last few years

was ready to explode

into something new
and different.

♪♪

[laughter]

Who gets the espresso?

[squeals and laughter]

[both screaming]

He had people from all walks
of life on the show,

whether they were
entertainers or thinkers.

He mixed all kinds of people

and it was just
an interesting show.

[Rex Reed]
First, I want to say

that I'm gonna come
back on this show often,

because it's the first show
I've ever been on in my life

where I can plug a book
and get zonked

all at the same time.

[laughter]

[Hugh Hefner]
This generation
was tuning in.

We even paid tribute

to the psychedelic
drug culture,

inviting bands
like The Grateful Dead

to appear show.

♪ Boogie down
until the end♪

[Jason Buhrmester]
The magazine had
a core DNA to it

that could adapt to culture,
could adapt to, you know,

an America that had
changed rapidly for years

and still be relevant and
find new ways to be relevant.

And I think that's what helped
Playboyendure for so long.

[Hugh Hefner]
Playboy After Dark
became an instant success

and gave our readers
a weekly opportunity

to forget
about the problems

of their daily life,

but I had no idea

what the show
was about to give me.

Because on that very set,

among the dozens
of beautiful women

and celebrity guests,

I was about to meet
the love of my life.

♪♪

[woman]
♪ 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♪♪