Original subtitles

[Hugh Hefner] It was 1975.

After ten years, the Vietnam War

had finally come to an end.

When I became of age, my mama sat me down

[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.

Hey, ooh, what'll I do?

Looks like it's the end

[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.

When we party get up

We party

Get on the groove drop down

Come on let's go

[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.

Going through and through and through and through

Let's boogie down until the end

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

Halloween...

[cheering]

birthday parties...

Listen to the music that we're playing

[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.

Gonna party

We party hearty

Hey let me see you boogie

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

was spending it with Barbi.

Gonna party

We party hearty

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

We boogie woogie

[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.

I want to spend my life with a girl like you

[Hugh Hefner] But what Barbi really wanted

was to pursue something she'd always dreamed of,

a career in music.

All the things that you want me to

[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.

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba

[cheers and applause]

She outgrew brass buckles on her shoes

By 12, she was filling out her jeans

[Hugh Hefner] After hearing her sing,

I decided to sign Barbi

as one of my first artists.

Do anything

She was old enough to try

[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.

She outgrew brass buckles on her shoes

[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.

She outgrew...

[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

Every little thing you do

Is it sleight of hand

That commands my heart to love you?

Every little movement

Every little movement

- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -

[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.

Heaven

I'm in heaven

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.

Back at it Sally

[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.

Ooh baby I'm calling your bluff

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

the first mainstream magazine to do so.

Yes I do

[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.

Well whoo

[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.

My heart is aching, yeah

I feel so sad now

I'm in a world of...

[Hugh Hefner] In November of 1975,

Playboy published its most explicit cover ever.

This is the way, yeah

This is the way

[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.

Daddy

Won't you buy

That pretty dolly for me?

[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.

That sad old man

[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...

The way the world is, get just what you can

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

Tomorrow, riddled as a man yeah yeah yeah

[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.

Everybody knows everybody goes

Make a buck today

[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.

Get just what you can

Wake up again tomorrow

[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.

Love is all around me and so the feeling grows

[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.

My mind is made up by the way that I feel

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 written on the wind

- It's everywhere I go

- [Hugh Hefner] I also wanted to give back

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.

Love sweet love won't you be good to me?

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.

Anybody down to party down tonight?

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.

Get on down

[Hugh Hefner] Victor Lownes' casino in London.

Get up

[Hugh Hefner] Thanks to a weak pound

and steady stream of oil money

from Middle Eastern sheiks and businessmen...

Gotta get up

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

Get on down

Gotta get up, gotta get up, gotta get up

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

was supporting the entire Playboy operation.

Sit on down

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.

Deep in the jungle where the coconuts grow

[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.

A monkey over here monkey over there

[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.

Never had the pleasure

Of loving you

[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.

You're everything that I desire

[Hugh Hefner] The result was a pictorial

featuring our 16 gorgeous finalists.

All because you're so unique baby

I can't help but love you girl

None can compete girl with you

You

Oh oh

Ah

[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.

You're up on your feet now baby

[Kretchmer] Dorothy Stratten was a beautiful,

phenomenal blonde who came into Playboy's life.

I know

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

You couldn't believe

that someone was put together like this.

Since the day I met you

[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.

Today I'm just a lonely man

But tomorrow I'll be okay

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

Peter Bogdanovich started having an affair

with Dorothy on the set.

The whole wide world will watch me

As I walk up to my throne

Knights in shining armor...

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

Why

Why

Have I lost you?

Have I lost you?

Why?

Why?

Tell me why...

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.

You're gonna make me cry

You're gonna make...

[Hugh Hefner] When the film wrapped,

Dorothy returned to L.A.,

ready to tell Paul that she wanted a divorce.

Oh baby

Don't make me cry

[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]

Want to hold her tight

Lord make her be all right

I'm afraid for the scrubby pine

All the sweet honeysuckle vine

I'm afraid for my home

For the fields that I roamed

Kick along down a homeward road

And your heart's gotta take the load

I'm afraid to go home

I'm afraid to go home

[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] 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

- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -

Repair and Synchronization by Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0