All language subtitles for American Playboy s01e09 Down The Rabbit Hole.eng

[Hugh Hefner] It was 1975.

After ten years, the Vietnam War

had finally come to an end.

[Hugh Hefner] But the nation was reeling

from revelations of corruption

at the highest level of government.

I shall resign the Presidency

effective at noon tomorrow.

[Hugh Hefner] I was
personally struggling

after the suicide of my assistant

and longtime friend, Bobbie Arnstein.

[Hugh Hefner] Chicago was
full of painful memories,

and my girlfriend Barbi Benton

had recently found the
perfect place for us

on the West Coast, so
I decided it was time

to permanently relocate.

[Hugh Hefner] It wasn't
long before my new mansion,

tucked away near Beverly Hills,

became a destination

for Hollywood bigwigs and movie stars.

[James Caan] That was
pretty much legend, you know,

I mean, because he would invite

all these beautiful
girls and all his friends.

They'd, you know, show first-run movies

at the house and have
this wonderful banquet.

The food was great and it was like

the greatest nightclub in the world.

[Hugh Hefner] It's hard for
me to think of a celebrity

who didn't come to one
of my parties back then.

[Hugh Hefner] New Year's Eve...

Halloween...

[cheering]

birthday parties...

[Hugh Hefner] Each one was
bigger and better than the last.

Some celebrities were known to arrange

their shooting schedules
around the parties

just so they wouldn't miss them.

[Gene Simmons] I flew into Los Angeles

for something called
Midsummer Night's Dream.

You had to dress either
in underwear or pajamas

tight enough where they
can guess your religion.

And when I walked into
the Playboy Mansion,

it's everything you could imagine.

[Hugh Hefner] But the best
part of life at the new mansion

was spending it with Barbi.

[Hugh Hefner] For nearly five
years now, we'd been inseparable...

[Hugh Hefner] ... and she
had become a celebrity

in her own right.

Hi, happy Hee Haw haystackers!

I'm Barbi Benton, and I'd like you to be

in the haystack with me this week

on the old Hee Haw.

[Hugh Hefner] Barbi started out

taking on small acting roles,

appearing on notable
TV shows like Hee Haw

and The Love Boat.

[Hugh Hefner] But what
Barbi really wanted

was to pursue something
she'd always dreamed of,

a career in music.

[Hugh Hefner] I'd recently
started my own record label.

We didn't start out with very
many recognizable artists,

but we did release an early record

by a little-known group from Sweden

who would later be known
to the world as ABBA.

[cheers and applause]

[Hugh Hefner] After hearing her sing,

I decided to sign Barbi

as one of my first artists.

[Barbi Benton] Well, I was flattered

that he asked me to be on the label.

It was important to me that he asked.

I would have been disappointed

if he had just let me go
to another record label

and not said anything.

[Hugh Hefner] In 1975,
Barbi's first single,

Brass Buckles, broke onto the top ten

on the Billboard Country Charts.

[Patty Farmer] Barbi Benton's
career definitely took off.

She was creating a
career in her own right

and he wanted her to be successful

in her chosen profession
and helped her along.

[Hugh Hefner] Barbi's success

was an exciting time for both of us,

but I didn't realize
that the life we shared

was about to change forever.

[woman]
Every little movement

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[Hugh Hefner] With
Barbi's career taking off,

she was spending more time away on tour,

leaving me alone in the mansion...

so I filled my nights with people,

parties and, soon, women.

There were periods in the
very beginning with Barbi,

and that's what the relationship was,

essentially monogamous,

because we were traveling together

and spending all of our time together.

But we were separated
for a lot of the time.

There was a continuing string

of new women in my life.

After all, from the point of view

of the editor/publisher of the magazine,

one of the wonders of
what I invented was,

after February there is March.

After March, there is April.

And it supplied

more than just a very tempting lifestyle

and I succumbed to it
without much trouble.

Morning, Bob.

Hef.

Dick.

Thank you.

So, uh, we just got the quarterlies in

and, uh, it's not good news.

Well, we knew sales couldn't
keep climbing forever.

Over 20 years on the
rise isn't a bad run.

It's worse than that.

What do you mean?

We posted a loss.

How far does that mean
magazine sales fell?

It's not just the magazine.

It's the company.

The whole company's posted a loss.

We've got problems, Hef. Major problems.

How did this happen?

[Hugh Hefner] Playboy
had overextended itself.

As our success grew,
we'd expanded our brand

by taking on new business ventures...

Action.

[sword clanging]

Oh, shit, guys.

That's the place we quit.

Every time, something breaks.

[Hugh Hefner] ... including
a production company,

the music label, a publishing company,

a limousine service,

and dozens of other ventures,

and now they were all losing money.

[Christie Hefner] That
sense of identification

that was so strong between
consumers and Playboy

was really what gave it permission

to go into other businesses.

Having said that, the challenge is,

you still have to
manage those businesses,

and in Playboy's case,
the businesses might have

logically fit under the brand,

but the company didn't have
the competitive expertise

and depth of management to be successful

in so many different businesses.

[Hugh Hefner] To make matters worse,

our once loyal readers
were starting to drift.

[Hugh Hefner] In 1975,
there were almost 40

nationally-distributed men's magazines,

and they were starting
to cut into our market.

The biggest of them all was Penthouse.

For years now,

Penthouse had been
trying to one-up Playboy

by showing more and
more explicit photos.

But, by 1975, they had
taken it to a new level.

Penthouse was showing pictures

of men and women together.

Threesomes...

Lesbian scenes...

They went so far as to
put nudity on the cover,

even though that meant it couldn't be

fully displayed on newsstands.

[Hugh Hefner] And finally,
they showed full male nudity,

the first mainstream magazine to do so.

[Arthur Kretchmer] I remember
opening the first copy of Penthouse

that I ever saw, and I said aloud,

this guy is photographing sex.

We are photographing pinups.

It was simply more lubricious.

It was a better job of the fantasy

that the person you were looking at

was available to you,

that you might actually have sex.

[sighing]

What do you think?

Well, I know it's gonna make headlines.

Art says it's going too far.

It probably is, for some people.

So you say go for it?

Yeah.

[Hugh Hefner] I had
always remained adamant

that Playboy's photos

would leave something
to the imagination,

but with the magazine's
finances in jeopardy,

I felt I had no choice

but to match the competition.

[Hugh Hefner] In November of 1975,

Playboy published its
most explicit cover ever.

[Kretchmer] Now, the famous
cover, her hand in her panties,

I think he was very
reluctant to print it,

but we got mentioned
in all of the stories,

which was the whole point.

[Hugh Hefner] The controversy
surrounding the cover

did sell magazines, but not everyone

was happy with my strategy.

The advertisers are upset.

About?

Well, it seems every month,

you're showing more and more.

It's getting more and more explicit.

And now this cover...
They are not happy.

[Hugh Hefner] Playboy had spent decades

building up a sophisticated image

that attracted high-end advertisers.

With the Playboy empire

already in financial trouble,

we couldn't afford to
lose our ad revenue too.

I think that the time
that Hefner decided

to publish photos of
a woman masturbating

was probably more commercial than it was

taking a stand about
any particular issue,

and I think that's a
really fine line to take.

I think occasionally magazines

can generate so much controversy

that they create a lot of
noise around themselves,

but often, that can create

much more long-term
harm than anything else.

Thanks.

Tammy...

Linda...

You're back.

Just got in.

How was Nashville?

Fine. Hot.

Barbi...

Look, this doesn't have to be

some big conversation.

It doesn't have to be
a conversation at all.

Yes, it does.

You know I love you.

I know.

You know I don't ever want to hurt you.

I know.

It's just...

Hef, this place is a dream,

but it's your dream.

[Benton] I think it was very hard on Hef

when I became a
performer and went on tour

because I was gone a
lot, and he was lonesome,

so even though I was
expected to be honorable,

he kind of had that double standard

and I wouldn't put up with it.

Eventually, that was our demise.

[Teri Thomerson] When
he was with Barbi Benton,

I know that he's often said

that was the most
romantic time of his life.

It's no secret that one of the things

that split Barbi and Hef up

was the fact that he had a hard time,

at that time in his
life, being monogamous.

But they have stayed very
close friends over the years,

and I know they still
love each other very much.

[Hugh Hefner] Barbi was gone

and I felt more alone than ever

at the head of a magazine
that was falling apart.

I suddenly felt like I
stood to lose everything...

so I did something I had
resisted for a long time.

I brought in an outsider
to serve as president

and chief operating
officer of the business

named Derick Daniels.

Hefner had felt we needed
a serious and qualified

president of the company.

We hired Derick Daniels.

He ran the Miami Herald
and TheDetroit Free Press

and was considered well
qualified for the job

and well known.

[Hugh Hefner] Daniels'
first order of business

was trimming the fat.

He got Playboy out
of the movie business,

closed eight clubs,
and cut payroll by 10%.

With Daniels on top of the finances,

I was freed up to take
stock of the magazine.

Even though our risqu?
cover had given us a boost,

by the end of the year,
our overall readership

was down 2 million from its peak

and ad revenues were down nearly 8%.

I realized the only way

we were going to beat Penthouse

was to concentrate on what we did best.

We focused on sophisticated content,

running the work of great
writers like Norman Mailer

and Kurt Vonnegut...

... continuing our tradition
of uncensored interviews

with celebrities like David Bowie

and Elton John...

[Hugh Hefner] And reflecting
what America was talking about.

[Hugh Hefner] 1976 was an election year.

After losing faith in Richard Nixon

and the Republican establishment

two years earlier,

many Americans were
looking for a candidate

who could bring about
change in Washington.

One of the surprise frontrunners

was a peanut farmer from Georgia

who was pretty much unknown

before the Democratic primary.

His name was Jimmy Carter.

1976, Jimmy Carter, going
into the general election

against the sitting
President Gerald Ford.

But Carter was an Evangelical Baptist

who would occasionally
say that he was born again.

There was a great fear

that he's going to take
his religious values

and now impose them
on the American public.

To counteract that, Carter's
advisors convinced him

to do this interview for Playboy.

[Kretchmer] Jimmy
Carter interview, 1976.

The reason it was such a big deal

is that a presidential candidate

openly discussed lust
in Playboy magazine.

The media made it the deal that it was.

We didn't know how that line,

"adultery in my heart," was gonna play,

but that issue sold
98% at the newsstand.

[Kretchmer] No magazine had ever
sold 98% at the newsstand before.

[Hugh Hefner] While
everyone was talking about

what was inside the magazine,

we also redoubled our
efforts to make Playboy

a force for social good in the world.

Good evening. In Saigon,
tearful farewells,

but the promise of a better life

as hundreds of Vietnamese orphans

today began their journey

toward new homes in the United States.

[Hugh Hefner] The Vietnam war
officially ended in April of 1975,

but it left a humanitarian
crisis in its wake

and I wanted Playboy to
do what it could to help.

I deployed The Big Bunny
and dozens of jet bunnies

to fly Vietnamese orphans
to their new foster homes.

In San Francisco, we met
the children with our plane

and they were flown to
various cities in this country.

It was a Playboy baby lift.

-
It's everywhere I go

to my new adopted home of Los Angeles

and the movie industry

that had inspired me
since I was a kid...

... so I threw a
fundraiser at the mansion

to preserve a Hollywood landmark.

The Hollywood sign was
in decay in the '70s,

and he had a fundraiser here.

Lucille Ball, Alice
Cooper both donated money

to have it rebuilt.

To him, the Hollywood sign
is our Statue of Liberty

or our Eiffel Tower and
what that represents.

[Hugh Hefner] I felt like
Playboy was getting back on track.

But while our other
ventures may have wavered,

one part of the company
was still thriving.

[Hugh Hefner] Victor
Lownes' casino in London.

[Hugh Hefner] Thanks to a weak pound

and steady stream of oil money

from Middle Eastern
sheiks and businessmen...

[Hugh Hefner] ... the casino was
bringing in $26 million annually.

[Victor Lownes] The money
that we made here in London

was supporting the
entire Playboy operation.

Playboy editorial could
get better contributors

as a result, just with the extra money

that we were plowing
into the main office.

[Hugh Hefner] With the
success of the London casino,

Victor began to believe
the rest of Playboy

could recover financially

if we could duplicate the formula

that worked in London here in the U.S.

And he knew just the place to do it.

Atlantic City.

[Hugh Hefner] Gambling
had only been legalized

in Atlantic City since 1974,

and developers were
already buying up land

and starting to build a casino and
resort strip to rival Las Vegas.

[James Karmel] I think it was
almost a natural that Hugh Hefner

would look at Atlantic
City as a great opportunity

to help revive the Playboy
Enterprises company.

The idea was, we can bring in

a high clientele of gamblers,

just the way they had in England,

by offering up this kind
of Playboy experience

and, you know, bringing
it to the Jersey shore.

[Lownes] It's just that I think
we have a real opportunity here.

We have the chance
to establish ourselves

as the premiere casino
in all of the East Coast.

And you don't anticipate any issues

managing Atlantic City and
London at the same time?

Not at all.

But we do run the risk

of you being stretched thin,

and from my experience,

that can lead to oversights.

Look, Daniels,

I've been doing this for a while now,

and you're the new guy, okay?

So, why don't you just focus

on getting everything
on your end taken care of

and I'll take care of mine.

How about that?

Victor hasn't let us down yet.

And I don't intend to.

Fine. I'll get the ball rolling.

Thanks.

[Hugh Hefner] While Victor
and Daniels got started

on our biggest casino yet,

I turned my attention
to an upcoming milestone

for the magazine...

... our 25th anniversary.

Our January 1979 issue

reflected how far we'd come

both as a magazine and as a culture,

from our 1953 cover with Marilyn Monroe,

when no one was even talking about sex,

to our fight in court
for freedom of speech

over Jayne Mansfield's photos,

and our coverage of
civil rights in Vietnam.

The 25th anniversary issue

featured articles by famous writers

like Shel Silverstein and Gore Vidal

and an in-depth interview
with Marlon Brando,

but the real centerpiece

of our 25th anniversary celebration

was The Great Playmate Hunt.

[Hugh Hefner] Over the
course of six months,

we sent out photographers
to 28 American cities

in search of the most beautiful women

across the country.

[Hugh Hefner] The result was a pictorial

featuring our 16 gorgeous finalists.

[Hugh Hefner] And the
winner of our $25,000 prize

was a 23-year-old
Oklahoma college student

named Candy Stanton.

We threw a giant party to celebrate...

... inviting movie stars,

along with much of
Playboy's original staff...

... like my old friends Eldon
Sellers and Vince Tajiri.

Even former Playmate
Janet Pilgrim was on hand.

But the girl that
caught my eye that night

wasn't the winner of the hunt...

Hi.

[Hugh Hefner] ... but the runner-up.

Hi.

[Hugh Hefner] A 19-year-old
named Dorothy Stratten.

Pictures didn't do you justice.

Looking at you now,

I don't see how you didn't win.

Oh. It was just an honor

to make it as far as I did.

All of this, it's incredible

and a little overwhelming, to be honest.

Well, you'll have plenty of time

to get used to it. I have a feeling

you're gonna be here a lot.

[Kretchmer] Dorothy
Stratten was a beautiful,

phenomenal blonde who
came into Playboy's life.

She was striking in the most
old-fashioned movie star.

You couldn't believe

that someone was put together like this.

[Hugh Hefner] As a young
girl, Dorothy was raised

in a broken home in Vancouver, Canada.

[Stephen Martinez] Dorothy
Stratten grew up in a family

with a single mom raising three kids.

She worked behind the
counter at the Dairy Queen.

[Hugh Hefner] It hadn't
been Dorothy's idea

to enter The Playmate Hunt.

It was her boyfriend,
a man named Paul Snider,

nine years older than her,

who had sent us her pictures.

[Martinez] Paul Snider
would recruit women

to model in car shows.

He was just trying to
hustle any way he could

to get beautiful women,

so he walked into the Dairy Queen,

saw Dorothy, you know,

this beautiful woman behind the counter,

and thought, you know,

this girl is the girl next door.

[Hugh Hefner] Dorothy married Paul

and brought him with her to L.A.

In August of 1979,

we made Dorothy Playmate of the Month.

Her pictorial became a
favorite with readers.

We began featuring her

in Playboy television specials.

Hey, Dorothy's coming.

I'll bet you $100 she'll
pretend not to see me.

[Caan] She was the most
beautiful girl I'd ever seen.

I was convinced that in Vancouver,

you know, there's some mad scientist

working on some kind of beauty pill.

It was just mindboggling.

[Hugh Hefner] Her
charisma was undeniable...

... and Dorothy soon used
her Playboy celebrity

to start an acting career.

Over the next few months,
Dorothy was cast in roles

on the hit TV show Buck Rogers,

Fantasy Island,

and in the sci-fi movie Galaxina.

But her big break came

when Oscar-winning
director Peter Bogdanovich

cast her in his new
movie, They All Laughed,

alongside John Ritter, Ben Gazzara,

and Audrey Hepburn.

And now, it gives me a
great deal of pleasure

to welcome all of you
here for the presentation

of our 1980 Playmate of the Year,

and she is something rather special,

Canadian-born Dorothy Stratten.

Dorothy, you want to come up here?

[cheers and applause]

I'm sure that this has
been many a girl's dream

and certainly many of
the Playmates' dream,

and it's been mine.

[cheers and applause]

[Hugh Hefner] Dorothy's
star was on the rise...

... but no one suspected

that her personal life
would begin to haunt her.

What is it?

Uh, it's Paul. He's at the front
gate, demanding to be let in.

Oh, my gosh. I told him this was just...

Is he causing a scene or... ?

No, they would have called the police.

He's just refusing to leave.

Dorothy, if you need
me to do anything...

No, no. It's fine.

Here is this guy that discovered her,

and all of a sudden,
now she's in movies.

She's Playmate of the Year.
Her career is blossoming.

I think he started really losing it

and getting paranoid
like he's losing her.

[Hugh Hefner] I was proud of Dorothy

and glad she was leaving for New York

to shoot Bogdanovich's
film without Paul.

[emcee] Let's hear it for Hef! Hey!

[cheering]

[Hugh Hefner] Around the same time,

one of my own dreams was coming true.

[emcee] We have a ceremony today

for the 1,716th star

to be placed in the Walk of Fame.

[cheering]

[Hugh Hefner] Those
of you who know me best

know what a very, very
special day today is.

I have chosen to make
Southern California my home.

This town, the dreams that are created,

the films that are created,

undoubtedly have more influence on me

than any other single factor in my life,

and I just want you to know
that it means more to me

than a Pulitzer Prize.

Thank you very much. I mean it.

[cheers and applause]

[Hugh Hefner] I was honored to be
a real part of Hollywood history,

something I'd dreamt about

since I was a kid growing up in Chicago.

But while I was receiving
accolades, I had no idea

the trouble in Dorothy
Stratten's personal life

was building...

... because while she
was working in New York,

her husband Paul was unraveling in L.A.

[Martinez] While the film
was filming in New York,

Peter Bogdanovich
started having an affair

with Dorothy on the set.

And that just kind of drove
Paul Snider a little mental.

Miss Stratten, you have a phone call.

Thanks.

Hello? Hello?

Don't... Don't hang up.

How did you get this number?

Why are you doing this to me?

You think I don't know
what unavailable means?

Unavailable means "fuck you, Paul."

I know you're fucking him.

Paul, stop. Please stop.

All I did was love you

from the moment I met you,

but you don't love me anymore.

You don't love me anymore, huh?

I just want to be happy. [sniffles]

Just let me be happy.

[exhaling]

Baby, see me one more time?

Please? Just once.

Okay, well, I've got to go now.

I love you.

[Hugh Hefner] When the film wrapped,

Dorothy returned to L.A.,

ready to tell Paul that
she wanted a divorce.

[knocking]

[music playing softly on stereo]

Didn't have to knock,
baby. This is your house.

It's over.

My lawyer will contact yours.

You'll be looked after.

I promise.

Endings are never easy.

[volume increasing]

[gunshot]

Read it and weep, Hef.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

[laughing]

What's the matter?

The police are on the phone.

The police?

It's Dorothy.

Hugh Hefner.

Mr. Hefner, this is Detective Simmons

with the LAPD Homicide Division.

We are currently
conducting an investigation

at 10881 Clarkson Road in Rancho Park

and have identified the victim's body

as a Miss Dorothy Stratten.

I'm very sorry to have to
call you with this news,

but it's my understanding
that you can assist us

in notifying next of kin.

Did Snider do this?

I'd very much like to
leave my number with you

so that, should I need
any more information...

Paul Snider, her husband.

Her ex-husband. They're separated.

Mr. Hefner...

You have to find him.

He might try and leave the country.

Mr. Hefner, Mr. Snider's
body is also at the scene.

We're treating this as a murder/suicide.

[Hugh Hefner] On August 14th, 1980...

Paul Snider shot and
killed Dorothy Stratten...

and then turned the gun on himself.

She was only 20 years old.

The Dorothy Stratten
situation was... was awful.

She was the most beautiful
girl I've ever seen

and sweet and... I don't know, macho me,

I'd try to protect her.

I didn't even know she
was married to that creep.

[Hugh Hefner] As details of the
horrific crime were made public,

my shock turned to horror.

I wondered if there was something

I could have done to save her.

Hef was deeply affected
by Dorothy's death.

He felt very protective of her

and believed that she was with a bad guy

and hoped very much that she
could and would leave him.

[Johnny Carson] Yeah.
You... You're from Vancouver.

[Dorothy Stratten] Uh-huh.

[Carson] Now, what did
you do in Vancouver?

Were you a professional
model at all before... ?

[Stratten] No, I had just
graduated from high school

when I was approached by Playboy

and I was working in
a telephone company.

I was a clerk typist.

You're putting me on.

No. I worked there just six weeks

before they carried me away.

That was a good move.

[laughter]

The only good thing that ever came

out of the telephone company.

[Hugh Hefner] In the span of five years,

I lost both Bobbie... now Dorothy.

[Hugh Hefner] Death...
It's the one injustice

that is universal.

It's the great injustice
that you have to deal with.

But Dorothy... It was so unjust.

[woman]
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