Vintage Penthouse Models
The Magazine
Penthouse Magazine was started in the UK in 1965 by Bob Guccione. The first US Edition was in September 1969. The magazine was started as a direct competitor to Playboy Magazine. Guccione, a painter, photographed most of the women in the beginning himself in an effort to save money. This led to the magazines soft focus look that was often duplicated by other magazines. Penthouse Magazine was more risque then most other magazines at the time. It was constantly pushing the borders of pornography by being the first US Magazine to show pubic hair, full nudity, and later on full on pink bits, sex, and even fetish work. This would start what would come to be known as the Pubic Wars that pushed the boundaries of censorship and legality.
The magazine also had a much more investigative focus in it’s articles. This competed against Playboy’s more upscale lifestyle articles and won Penthouse and Guccione many accolades and recognition for journalism. In addition to it’s journalism, the magazine published work from a lot of artists before they became famous. Anne Rice as A.N. Roquelaure, H.R. Giger, and Stephen King to name a few.
Penthouse Magazine frequently courted controversy too. It was the first to publish Ted Kaczynski’s Unabomber Manifesto, photos of Madonna nude, photos of an underage porn star Traci Lords (not known at the time of publishing,) and “unauthorized” nude photos of Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams who lost her crown over the pictures. They even printed what were purported to be porn photos of Marilyn Monroe.
Rolling Stone – The Twilight of Bob Guccione, a great biography of the man.
Penthouse Pets
UK Penthouse 1965-1969 – *Note, this section is not started yet as it is actually hard to find the models from these magazines!
