If you’re 35 or older you’ve probably read or looked at Playboy…
I think most Baby Boomers and Gen X dudes got their first eye-full of nude women in Playboy magazines.
I sure did!
Speaking of which, my father Stan Glazer – the former KC mayoral candidate – was in his late 20’s when Playboy first became a thing in the early 1960’s.
Starting with movie stars like Marilyn Monroe to wannabe stars, they pretty much all had big boobs but we didn’t get to see what was down below in front….
Not yet, anyway.
And you could read what Joe Namath, Paul Newman and Jimmy Carter had to say about sex and the topics of the day in exclusive Playboy interviews.
My dad was a very handsome man who married my mother Rita who was also a looker. Not a ton of local, young Jewish people had those dashing good looks back then.
So with handsome parents my brothers and I inherited those good looks.
Ah, but you learn it takes way more than good looks to make it in America, let alone Kansas City. They help of course.
Anyway, my dad was a fan and follower of the Playboy image. He wanted to be a Hugh Hefner. So Hefner’s passing was sad for my dad and millions of men like him all over the world. Hugh was kind of a real life James Bond minus the guns and badges.
I too followed in those footsteps of the Playboy philosophy. Where men came first and women were mostly arm candy and sex toys.
Stan the Man
Not a good attitude, I’ll admit, but if you had looks and confidence you could get away with it. Money and fame helped as well.
Hey, I saw my dad step out on my mom back when I was a kid. And no, I didn’t think that was okay, but it got a silent pass from those who subscribed to the Playboy image.
Remember those big folders they had where you put your monthly Playboys in to look at later when nobody was around? I did.
They were my father’s Playboys, not mine.
This was during the era from Jonathan Winters and Bob Newhart. Those were the days – when suits, ties, coffee, cigarettes and English Leather cologne ruled.
Like my dad, I became a lady’s man early on in.
In high school I began to hit my stride, date the prettiest girls and be a bad boy. Fell in love a few times and boy, that love was the strongest.
However after being hurt a few times and starting over I learned that long term relationships just don’t work. I saw that settling down was not in my future. No wife or kids would likely ever come about.
I wanted to be like Hef and run up a score.
Remember those early dating days, calling my pals after a hot date and telling all. As we got older we called fewer friends to explain our conquests. By my 30’s I didn’t much call anyone; I just kept count in my head.
However it was an empty game that I couldn’t win. Worse than that, it takes time and effort away from your career or hopes of having one.
Do I regret it?
Well, when I meet young men today and they are getting married at say age 30 or so, they all say the same thing.
“Hey Craig, I’ve run around long enough, had tons of ladies, now it’s time to settle down. This is the one.”
I know they are wrong though.
Because 99% of the time they fail. I tried it once in my late 40’s with a beautiful, nice girl named Connie and we lasted 5 years.
All my fault.
She was very young and I was just too far gone into the Playboy lifestyle.
The problem: even when its time to end that Playboy life, it doesn’t really end. Unless you get old and fat or broke or all three.
My dad is 85 now and married to a woman half his age and I know he’d still like to go out and hit the town just one more time.
But his age has, uh, taken that option away for the most part.
So did Playboy’s Hugh Hefner cause more harm than good?
Nope, he just told the truth about pretty girls, sex and glory being the real deal – right or wrong.
Goodbye, Hugh, you had it all and did it all – now try and get some rest.
If you find a good woman who will put up with your s!ht you should marry her. You’ll still regret it though.
EH I know, I’m kinda sick of the bim’s and the wild 25 year olds. I’m not much into the party life anymore drinking and drugging, I’d rather watch a great old movie with my pets or better yet, THE NFL….I still need the hottie but maybe twice a week at best…too much headache…so yeah a nice say 35-40ish might work, I have one, Shamira, my love of about 20 years ago,Westport days, smokin hot then and now, except she is now a born again Christian and wants a ring and me at church on Sundays before I can bang her again…HUH!!!!! So yeah don’t think it would work…sad, wish it could…
I like the shady women a lot more than “nice” women because the “nice” women are way, way worse than the shady women..at least in this country.
They sure can be E.H.
Friends always try to set me up with someone “nice”, which nowadays really means their heavy.
Now when someone tells me they know a nice girl I reply “that’s the problem, nice girls are boring”. That usually shut’s em’ up.
Hef was a pioneer, a revolutionary even.. in the 1950s and 60s.
Unfortunately, he committed the cardinal sin of hanging around too long where his womanizing was more cringe-inducing than liberating. By the early 90s at the latest his legacy had already become tarnished. He became worse than a has-been; he became a joke.
Oh well, the Byrds were once on ‘Playboy After Dark.’
Well said, RickM…
There’s nothing hip or cool (that I can see anyway) about being a dirty, old man…even if you can get away with it.
Unfortunately, the cringe factor kinda undos a lot of what passed for positive in his earlier years.
Too bad he didn’t settle down with one of those underage wives 10 or 20 years earlier.
I wonder what he actually thought of himself going through all of this. Betcha Craig thinks he knows.
Cathartic stuff, CG. The way you look back what you describe how Kerouac looks back same at his first time, first love, age 11: not PB, girls nor even man’s ‘other’ best friend, dog… rather, Chiefs; I got over them a long time ago too.
“If you’re 35 or older you’ve probably read or looked at Playboy…”
– prohibition on folk under 35? Was much younger the first time I read – check that – ‘saw’ my first pair of… Bunny ears and tail.
Hindsight – bad choice of word – ‘reflection’, PB probably helped to facilitate Kerouac’s change of voice grade school, which happened earlier than any of the others boys (and most of the girls too, that matter 🙂
“I think most Baby Boomers and Gen X dudes got their first eye-full of nude women in Playboy magazines. I sure did!”
– young master Kerouac’s came walking home school second grade, unable ‘process’ a girly mag tossed side of road. Aft bringing it home ‘hey look what I found!’ excitement (moreso ‘what’ is it I found?), mom and dad liberated me from both, forthwith.
“with handsome parents my brothers and I inherited those good looks.”
– you too, huh?
“Ah, but you learn it takes way more than good looks to make it in America, let alone Kansas City. They help of course.”
– other accoutrements; reminds of a line the movie ‘Pretty Woman’: “You’re not only handsome, but a powerful man. I could see the second you walked in here you were someone to reckon with”- Larry Miller’s character to Richard Gere’s, clothiers shop.
“Hey, I saw my dad step out on my mom back when I was a kid. And no, I didn’t think that was okay”
– now some moralizing, seriously, what Kerouac believes: most men (little boys, in terms maturity) don’t consider the ramifications looking at a PB or like magazines, especially when married. Having spoken to more than one woman since advent PB 1953, sentiment theirs – ‘why would a man bring those into the home look at, when has me?’ Call it old fashioned, what it causes in terms insecurity via a ‘comparison’ – ‘am I not pretty/good enough for him?’, hurtful.
Upshot – no saints the equation: for better and for worse boys will be boys and women will be women, but, just this – ‘don’t get hitched if you refuse/are unable straighten up and fly right.’ It’s really not that hard at all… anything less is but rationalization.
Did glaze say there were no good looking jewish men when his dad was in his 20’s.
First off you were only about 3 or 4 years old when your dad was in his 20’s.
Second I could name of some family friends of my grandfather who had more money/
looks/charisma/than your dad.
But I’ll pass on that argument because it’s really a pissing contest.
We’ve seen the pics you decided on your own to post on kcc and to be honest they
couldn’t come close to any girl who appeared in the magazine.
Now you’re a lonely guy sitting on the couch watching football
I told you years ago….that life gets you nowhere. Except loneliness/mental problems/and the fact that you missed out on some incredible times.
Glaze…go down to palm beach. It’s 10-1 female. Rich females. Jewish females
with class and style. They’re your age. You can tell them all your stories and they’ll
love you. And you won’t have to work again!
I’m looking out for you dude. Why waste time here. KC has nothing for you.
The nitelife here is just too blah for a guy like you. You were made for that life.
And god bless my second home…vegas. Too many gone too soon. Watched
as my town turned into a massacre. Many friends lost people close to them. Live life now…we don’t know when the clock runs out. RIP to all. Vegas strong.
What a vapid tool!
Harley/Boom Boom thanks for looking out for me….it ends for everyone, it did for Hef…no Hef was not as handsome as me or my dad when he was younger or as he aged…he was cool though…and wealthier, as well as very famous, helps….as for Palm Beach, who knows….I’m doing fine here, but yeah KC is a tough ticket for night life and babes that matter, we do have some though…as for my group…I don’t pick the pix here, Hearne does but many he picked with me and a babe were good one…I’ll leave it at that and yes you are right I don’t see my equal with the ladies here in KC especially over the last few decades, hey I’m getting older so hard to compete with the 25-35 year olds I’ll admit…way it is…
Q: When does a 30+ paragraph article “..on the Passing of ‘Playboy’ Icon Hugh Hefner” only mention Hugh Hefner in 5 sentences?
A: When it’s written by Craig Glazer.
Whats your point Lance? Oh that I made it about me hun…well Hearne wanted me to compare Hugh to my dad and me thus the story…thanks for caring…hey why don’t you write an article here on ‘something’ how about your close ties to some name celebrity or something you accomplished we can all be amazed with Lance, like…..? How bout a photo of you, Boom Boom and say heter Frank, that would be cool. Oh add some hot babes you guys date in the photo…well that’s an unlikely idea huh…how bout something big you have done in life, that would be entertaining.