Hugh Hefner, Playboy, and being a man during the Cold War

As news broke today that Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy, had died aged 91, many were quick to point to the complicated legacy of both the magazine and the man behind it. Now popularly associated with his bevy of young lovers and infamous parties at the Playboy mansion, it would be easy to dismiss Hefner as merely an enduring barrier to the fight for gender equality. Yet to do so would to overlook the significant cultural impact of both Hefner and Playboy, particularly during the 1950s under the shroud of Cold War anxieties.

Born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, Hefner’s entry into the world of journalism came as a teenager writing for a military magazine during World War II. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he began working as a copy-editor for men’s magazine Esquire, before a pay dispute motivated him to leave the magazine in 1952.

He took out a mortgage and borrowed money from his mother to launch Playboy in 1953. The first issue, which famously featured Marilyn Monroe in the centrefold, indicated the magazine’s explicit engagement with matters of sex, fun, and consumerism. In doing so, it challenged the idea of masculinity that had evolved around the nuclear family, and that held particular purchase in the early years of Cold War America.
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Broadway composer-lyricist Michael Friedman, 41, dies of AIDS

Michael Friedman, the celebrated composer and lyricist of theatrical works, including "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson", has died. He was 41.

Friedman passed away following the complications related to HIV/AIDS, reported Variety.

The Public Theatre, where Friedman was an artist in residence and director of the Public Forum, announced the news. The Public Theatre is also where "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" made its New York premiere in 2009, before hitting Broadway the next year.

"Michael Friedman was one of the most brilliant, multi- talented theatre artists of our time. He was also a miracle of a human being: loving, kind, generous, hilarious, thrilling. His loss leaves a hole in the theatre world that cannot be filled, and a hole in the hearts of those who loved him that will last forever," Public Theatre artistic director Oskar Eustis said in a statement.

"Michael brought so much joy and beauty and humour to our lives. To lose him so soon is devastating. We are so grateful to the people who loved him, made art with him, and were so supportive of his work, and made it possible for Michael's extraordinary gifts to reach so many people," added his sister Marion Friedman Young.

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