Cooter
Funny how different folks have different takes.
a. Branding of Playboy, circa 60s to mid-70s wasn't quite girl-next-door, thought they did chat about the mythical creature; what it was about was the Playboy Philosophy which was 'If you don't swing, don't ring' also writ large above the Chicago Mansion in Latin, something like: Si non oscillas nolli tintinare, which is my version of the code and far from any version the Romans would have dug, but then, even Italian would have thrown them.
b. Penthouse was, to me, the dirty side of the raincoat, best avoided at all costs. Why Playboy felt compelled, eventually, to seek out rainwear too defeats me. Should have stuck to its guns and original, solid, fan base. I'd probably still be buying. You could actually spend happy hours reading the thing and learning. A dictionary was always a useful aid to that end. Maybe they now use bubbles.
c. Oui was wonderful, the European touch of sophistication mixed with a discrete decadence that many couldn't quite understand, or if they did, not in numbers sufficient to float a battleship. I mean, Francis Giacobetti who did so much to put Pirelli on the world map was one of their own... From its cast of founding fathers came French Photo folllowed by the American Photo version which also seems to have found insufficient support Stateside to survive in its original form or identity. Sad world. I blame Guccione and the highly glossed lowest common denominator.
Note: this is all only personal opinion based on nothing more nor less.
;-)
Rob C