Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione dies at 79

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione has died in a suburban Dallas hospital at age 79.

A statement issued by the Guccione family says he died Wednesday at Plano Specialty Hospital in Plano after a long battle with cancer.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Guccione introduced Penthouse to the American public in 1969, at the height of the feminist movement and the sexual revolution.

The adult publication billed itself as "the magazine of sex, politics and protest," and quickly challenged Playboy magazine by offering a mix of tabloid journalism and provocative photography."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/20/1883547/penthouse-magazine-founder-bob.html#ixzz12xI3YpBb

[Canuckistanian]

1. That's too bad

I'll remember him more for his magazine Omni, a mix of science fiction and science fact. It was great read back in the 70s and 80s.

RIP, Mr. Guccione.

[Egnever]

2. I loved Omni!

What an awesome mag that was.

[Hannah Bell]

8. ditto. There are few interesting magazines anymore.

[MrScorpio]

5. Omni was one of my favorite magazines

RIP, Bob G.

[WolverineDG]

6. that was an awesome magazine nt

[TexasObserver]

3. I wonder if they'll do a spread on him.

[SidDithers]

4. Badum bum..

:applause:

Sid

[TexasObserver]

16. Thanks. It needed a rim shot.

Ho!

I doubled down!





On edit in case anyone wonders: I never respected the guy and found him the essence of smarmy.

[mitchum]

24. I loved Guccione for his pretensions...

"How about a spread with a coupla chicks going at each other...and we run Some Byron or Rossetti for captions?"

Hefner was just boring adman porn, and Flynt was too crude.

[Darth_Kitten]

9. Is this the right forum for that?

:evilgrin:

[TexasObserver]

17. I'll know it when I see it.

That's what an old man in a robe once said.

[Hannah Bell]

7. "tabloid journalism" is a bit much. I first read the Stephen King story "Children of the Corn"

in Penthouse. I'd never heard of Stephen King, that was 1977 & King had only just recently become well-known due to the movie version of "Carrie," but that story stayed with me a long time.

They published good fiction & provocative non-fiction journalism -- back in the days when little-known writers could still make a few bucks in magazines.

[WCGreen]

10. They had short stories?

LOL

[Hannah Bell]

12. yes, excellent stories. don't see why it's funny.

both hefner & guccione used some of their porn profits to finance some good fiction & journalism, which is more than today's pornsters do.

most of stephen king's early work was published in men's magazines, some more down-scale than penthouse.

these kind of markets for writers were lost when the big boys took over the porn industry.

[WCGreen]

14. Oh come on,

If you don't find humor in that well.

Perhaps you should lightened up just a tad.

It's hard work being serious all the time...

[Hannah Bell]

15. i'm a woman, so maybe i fail to see the humor.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Yeah, you know all those pages BEFORE the centerfold?

I later found out that there was actually some GOOD LITERATURE in those pages.

Who knew?

[WCGreen]

18. Yea, after my hormones subsided...

Two of my favorite books when I was just out of high school were collections of Short Stories published in Penthouse and Playboy...

[TexasObserver]

20. Playboy is where I first read compelling anti Vietnam war material.

I was 20 and in the military.

Of course, I looked at the pictures, but I really did read liberal articles first in Playboy.

[NoodleyAppendage]

11. Playboy girls = pretty, but unobtainable. Penthouse girls = pretty, unobtainable and sad for it.

Thank you, Bob. You introduced me to the female genitalia. Playboy kept the mystery maddeningly shrouded.

J

[GSLevel9]

19. +1... nt

[demosincebirth]

21. Great articles!

[jgraz]

22. Dear Penthouse Letters...

I never thought this would happen to me, but boy was I wrong...

[Historic NY]

23. Damn, I liked his sense of art.

[Kat45]

25. Does he count as number 3?

After Barbara Billingsley and Tom Bosley died, everyone wondered who the third person would be (since these things tend to happen in threes). Does Bob Guccione count as number 3? Or does it have to be an actor, or a beloved TV actor? Or is he just not famous/mainstream enough to be the third?

[w8liftinglady]

26. OK,I'll admit-I used to like to read Penthouse.

The articles were very enlightening,and when I was in my early 20's...yes,the photo spreads made me hot and gave me ideas on things to do with my partners. What can I say...I'm human.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. You've heard of classic rock~ Penthouse was classic smut.

:patriot: