Penthouse and Bob Guccione

  

July 23, 1984: Vanessa Williams resigns at the request of Miss America Pageant officials after nude photos of her are published in Penthouse.

Sept. 29, 1971: The late David Shaw writes a nondupe (Column One) on the swift success of Bob Guccione’s Penthouse magazine. Contrasting the long-established Playboy with the rapid growth of Penthouse, Shaw wrote: “Playboy, a pioneer in the sexual revolution, was beginning to lag, and Penthouse was ready to leap into the breach -- much as Playboy had done originally against Esquire. “Thus Penthouse girls conceal nothing -- in fact, seem to parade, to flaunt that which Playboy concealed. Moreover, unlike the virginal Playboy nudes, skin unblemished, always posed like models -- more to be admired than embraced -- the Penthouse girls are shown in highly erotic, sexually provocative poses, occasionally awkward poses, complete with moles, beauty marks and wrinkles.” On the jump, Roderick Mann interviews Malcolm McDowell in 1978 about the Penthouse production of "Caligula," ("It's probably the most expensive amateur film ever made"), a 1982 libel case against Penthouse over a 1975 article linking a San Diego County resort and its owners to organized crime, and a 1986 article on the decline of Playboy, Penthouse and other men's magazines.