American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story

The surprising story of how Marilyn Monroe became Playboy's first pin-up.

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♪ That commands my heart to love you ♪

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This morning a man is on trial in Chicago,

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is taking things that previously were taboo

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Just take your time.

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and my younger brother, Keith.

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and by cartooning his life...

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was Betty Conklin.

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So I turned to my favorite magazine for help... Esquire.

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The cartoons, the fiction, the fashion,

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Her name was Millie Williams.

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at the University of Illinois...

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everything changed...

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and I was inspired to start voicing my own opinion.

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They hurt people. They're hypocritical.

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and her statistics

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And um, we found we had a lot of the same attitudes.

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♪ Here in tears ♪

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[Hugh Hefner] This was, after all, the 1950s.

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but I'd be working for my favorite magazine...

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[Hugh Hefner] They'd moved away from all the things

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[Hugh Hefner] And while I loved being a father...

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[time clock clicks]

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[patrons chattering]

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♪ How good it feels ♪

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I'd always been happiest being creative,

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he actually created the magazine for himself.

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In the same way that Kinsey blew the cover

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but I wanted to do more

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[Hugh Hefner] I knew that there would be nothing that was

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[both chuckling]

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Time magazine was started with an initial investment

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♪ My man called me this morning... ♪

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I was going to make this happen.

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like Herman Miller and Eames.

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It's a lifestyle magazine with a full-color

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[Stephen Martinez] Art Paul was ahead of his time.

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a corporate magazine.

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We just needed to find the perfect girl.

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[Hugh Hefner] I'd spent weeks looking for a cover girl...

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[Hugh Hefner] She was the very pinnacle of sexuality.

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because she was the absolute perfect choice.

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This is Marilyn Monroe we're talking about.

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