NEW YORK — What is Playboy icon Hugh Hefner’s favorite party? Not surprisingly, the annual “Midsummer’s Night Dream”-inspired lingerie soiree at the Playboy Mansion.
“It’s lingerie, pajamas — and less,” Hefner said in a phone interview following the exclusive bash last Saturday, where the 80-year-old founder of Playboy Enterprises donned the signature silk pajamas he likes to wear while lounging, dining or working on magazine, TV and branding concepts as he listens to jazz by Louis Armstrong.
“I wear pajamas just about all of the time. On this occasion, my friends get to dress like myself in pajamas, which are very comfortable. I’m wearing my favorite black silk pajamas as we speak,” said Hefner, who quickly noted that while the party invitation read “Sleepwear Required,” female guests were encouraged to wear “romantic, sexy lingerie.”
The idea of throwing a lingerie party — and building his $998 million multimedia, apparel and accessories empire — is the product of Puritan repression, quipped Hefner, repeating an observation he’s made often in the past.
“I think, quite frankly, the notion of the party has always been my response to growing up in a Lutheran home in Middle America. It was a home where there wasn’t a lot of loving and kissing,” he said. “I’m an 11th-generation descendent of William Bradford who came over on the Mayflower. The Puritans came here to escape religious persecution in England, and promptly began persecuting others through Puritanical repression.”
As for the lingerie party, it’s been held in Beverly Hills since 1976, in a sprawling backyard and swimming pool area discreetly tented for privacy. Hefner switched coasts to “Hollywood party central” from the Playboy Gold Coast Mansion in Chicago in 1971. Since then, the Tinseltown guest list has doubled to 1,000; regulars include George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Justin Timberlake, Warren Beatty and ex-Playboy cover girl and centerfold Pamela Anderson.
“We get a fascinating cross-section of pop culture figures, whether its James Caan and Bill Cosby, or John Dean and Patty Hearst. Patty used to come here very often,” said Hefner.
This year’s partygoers included Matthew Perry, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Bill Maher, Jenna Jameson, Michael Andretti, Jon Lovitz and David Hasselhoff. Entertainment was provided by hip-hop artist Bow Wow. “Music runs the gamut at my parties, a little punk, rock and disco,” said Hefner. “Three 6 Mafia performed for my birthday in April, and that was great. They said they did it because they always wanted to get into the Playboy Mansion.”
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Hefner described the lingerie party ambience as “truly romantic, with lots of greenery and lots of Roman and Greek statues. There are painted ladies serving Jell-O shooters, girls who are wearing body paint that look like they are dressed but are actually naked. Playboy [magazine] first came up with the concept in the Sixties, and other magazines like Sports Illustrated did it many years later.”
Asked how he’s kept the image of a Playboy swinger viable since he founded Playboy magazine in 1953, Hefner replied, “My life and the Playboy Mansion and brand have become hot again in the past 10 years. There was a time when I was married, off the scene for eight and a half years, and I was faithful. But I got off it beaten and bruised. Beginning in 1998, the parties started again, and I realized young people were waiting for me to come out and play.”
He claims a “fascination with retro” has lent success to the release of a new DVD entitled “Playboy After Dark,” a replay of a show Hefner did in the Sixties. Another new DVD is a recap of the first season of “The Girls Next Door,” a reality show on the E network that dwells on Hefner’s hedonistic lifestyle at the Playboy Mansion with his three live-in girlfriends — Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson.
But despite the consumer interest in kitschy memorabilia, the parent reported a net loss of $3.3 million in the second quarter ended June 30. Income for the Entertainment Group declined to $4.9 million in 2006 from $9.8 million last year, while the Publishing Group posted a 7 percent decline in revenues to $23.8 million. The $600 million Licensing Group appears to be the current star, with a 4 percent increase to $4.1 million compared with the 2005 quarter. Higher international and domestic revenues were responsible for the licensing division’s 8 percent increase in revenues to $9.2 million.
The company is planning an aggressive domestic and international launch of lingerie bearing the Playboy Intimates white-label for spring 2007. The retro theme is in step with Hefner’s vision, featuring vintage-inspired odes to the magazine’s blatantly sexy cover girls and centerfolds of the late Sixties and Seventies, including a group called Luscious Babes.
Looking back to the creation of Playboy, Hefner said the image of Playboy’s first cover girl, Marilyn Monroe, was featured “by accident.”
“Tom Kelly had photographed her for a nude calender in 1949, and everybody was talking about her and how popular she was becoming. But hardly anybody had seen the calender because the U.S. Post Office had taken the position that no nudity could be sent through the mail.
“So I contacted the Baumgardth Calender Co. in Chicago, used one photo on the cover and the rest is history. After that, I acquired the rights to all of the Marilyn Monroe [calender] photos.”