MONDAY October 2, 2017
THE DAILY ILLINI
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The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 147 Issue 11
1926–2017
Remembering Hugh Hefner The life of a rebellious, controversial visionary
BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY AND JOSEPH LONGO NEWS EDITOR AND MANAGING EDITOR FOR REPORTING
For four months in the spring semester of 2000, Josh Schollmeyer devoted his life to understanding Hugh Hefner. He wasn’t interested in the then 74-year-old’s lifestyle of exuberance. Rather, he wanted to know how Hefner, an army veteran who lost his virginity at 22 in a Danville hotel, went from University undergrad to America’s playboy. Schollmeyer, a University alumnus, came up with the idea in February and spent the next several months researching Hefner’s time on campus for buzz Magazine’s end-of-the-year issue. At the University Archives, he pulled up the “Hef File.” For every photo Hefner was documented in, Schollmeyer wrote down all accompany-
“He became this icon, but he was just a really nice guy with a dream and had a great personality with a fantastic sense of humor” KAREN SHIVELY FORMER PLAYBOY EMPLOYEE
ing names. The list totaled roughly 200 people. Every night, he cold-called four or five names. Schollmeyer started to reconnect Hefner’s campus years and his inner circle of friends. Hefner wrote a comic strip called “School Daze” throughout high school and college. (He renamed it “G.I. Daze” during his two years in the Army.) Hefner’s friends relayed these stories to Schollmeyer. At the time of Hefner’s death, Schollmeyer estimated 6,000 or 8,000 volumes of his cartoons are housed in the Playboy archive. By that point, he managed to piece together Hefner’s college years but was missing an essential piece: Hefner himself. Schollmeyer contacted the Playboy Mansion. He quickly heard back and was invited to spend a week at the mansion for the Playmate of the Year party. He recalls being the youngest male in attendance by at least two decades. During the party, he remained silent, in awe and in over his head of the celebrities, the Mansion and Hefner. “I don’t think in my wildest imaginations I thought I would be getting invited to the Playmate of the Year party,” Schollmeyer said. The day after the party, Schollmeyer was crouched over his computer at the Days Inn in Inglewood, California, about 11 miles away from the mansion. He had five days to turn a semester’s worth of research into
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a single profile of a dynamic, polarizing man. The article ran, received positive reviews from Playboy, and Schollmeyer was offered a job to assist famed writer Bill Zehme for Hefner’s autobiography, “Hef’s Little Black Book.” Within 18 months, Schollmeyer went from an eager postgrad in Champaign to a writer living in the Playmate House, just down the street from the mansion. “That time with Hef changed my whole life,” he said. Schollmeyer moved up the Playboy ladder, initially hired as a senior editor in 2009 before ultimately becoming a vice president. He left the company in 2014 to start his own men’s lifestyle publication, MEL Magazine — a self-described 21st-century response to publications like Playboy. “I live not too far from the Days Inn that I held up in to write that article,” Schollmeyer said. Schollmeyer had a “frontrow seat” to the legacy that Hefner created. He credits Hefner with changing the narrative of what it meant to be a single man. “You were the odd uncle if you didn’t get married right out of college,” Schollmeyer recalled Hef telling him during the 2000 trip. While at the University, Hefner completed his degree — a major in Psychology and a double minor in creative writing and art — in two-and-a-half years. He wanted to catch up to Mil-
lie Williams, his then-girlfriend and first wife. Hefner worked as a cartoonist for The Daily Illini and briefly managed Shaft magazine, a precursor to Playboy. It was during this time that he first broke cultural norms — taking nude photos of Williams despite criticism from his friends. Hefner graduated from the University in 1949, accepting a job at Esquire magazine a few months later. By December 1953, Marilyn Monroe was gracing the cover of the first issue of Playboy, and the controversial magazine was flourishing. “He became this icon, but he was just a really nice guy with a dream and had a great personality with a fantastic sense of humor,” said Karen Shively, a former Playboy employee. Shively, a former University student, worked as a switchboard operator during Playboy’s first year in Chicago. After her summer with the company, she went back to Champaign for the fall semester. A year later, Hefner moved the company to its Ohio Street location, and she once again applied for a job. Shively was hired as the assistant to Hefner’s private secretary, Pat Pappas. Hefner and Shively began dating during her time at Playboy. She even posed once as a Playmate during their six-month relationship. However, Hefner was SEE HEFNER | 3A
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April 9, 1926
Hefner is born in Chicago, Illinois.
1944
Hefner begins his two year service in the U.S. Army as a noncombatant.
1947
Hefner enrolls in the University and began drawing cartoons for The Daily Illini. He worked at Shaft Magazine, an independent humor magazine that ran until 1955.
1949
Hefner graduates from the University with a degree in psychology
1950
Hefner accepts a copywriting job at Chicago’s Esquire magazine
1952
Hefner leaves Esquire after being denied a $5 raise
1953
Hefner launches Playboy magazine on $8,000, raised from 45 investors and a bank loan of $600. The first issue of Playboy was published featuring a colored nude photo of Marilyn Monroe and sold more than 50,000 copies.
1958
Playboy surpasses Esquire’s circulation with sales going over 1 million copies a month.
1960s
Hefner embraces the ‘sexual revolution’ and expands Playboy to include clubs and bars that were racially inclusive. This is also where the iconic Playboy bunny costume began.
1964
Hefner founds the Playboy Foundation, devoted to fighting censorship and researching human sexuality.
1988
Hefner’s daughter, Christie, takes over Playboy operations as CEO. Hefner remains the Editor-in-Chief.
Sept. 27, 2017
Hefner dies in his home at the Playboy Mansion at 91 years old. gdunlop2@dailyillini.com
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