Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse is a monthly men's magazine in numerous countries and languages . It was founded in 1965 by the American Bob Guccione in Great Britain , but it soon established itself in the USA as an alternative to Playboy magazine. The photographic representations range between erotic photography and pornography . At its heyday it reached millions in circulation in the United States.
Business model
Compared to Playboy, Penthouse was distinguished from the start by a greater freedom in the photo series. Penthouse took the step to depict initially female and later male primary sexual characteristics and simulated sex scenes some time before its competitor. Since the 1970s, however, the paper has increasingly faced competition from hardcore magazines such as Larry Flynt's Hustler .
history
Probably the most famous edition of the Penthouse was the September 1984 issue, in which the then Miss America Vanessa Williams could be seen playing simulated lesbian love games. The issue also came into the spotlight a few years later when it became known that Traci Lords , who was posing in the centerfold, was only fifteen years old at the time of the recording. Known also the letter -Sektion Penthouse Forum , in which readers describe their (alleged) sexual escapades. The magazine determines a woman monthly and annually as the Penthouse Pet of the month or the year. Well-known Penthouse Pets of the US edition included Zdenka Podkapová , Kyla Cole , Racquel Darrian , Teanna Kai , Dahlia Gray , Silvia Saint , Devinn Lane , Chloe Jones , Dyanna Lauren , Lexus Locklear , Jamie Lynn , Nikki Tyler , Monique Gabrielle , Brigitta Bui , Taylor Wane , Gina LaMarca , Vicca , Heather Vandeven and Briana Banks .
Photographers
Well-known photographers such as Manfred Baumann , Stefan Dokoupil or Martin Wieland have been taking photos for Penthouse magazine over the past 10 years . For the 50th anniversary in 2015, Christian-Arne de Groot became the new penthouse photographer for the DACH region. Among other things, he also photographed the official penthouse anniversary party in Cannes.
Tightening
In 1998, given the easy availability of Internet pornography and the competition from less explicit men's magazines like Maxim , the magazine switched to the hardcore segment and also printed penetrations . In addition, from now on, photo series were in the program that had previously been reserved for fetish- oriented specialty papers.
Economic difficulties
However, even these measures could not stop the decline in circulation. Guccione was accused of falsifying accounts in 2002. The magazine's parent publisher, General Media , amassed around $ 50 million in debt and had to file for bankruptcy protection in August 2003. The Beate-Uhse Group offered around 52 million dollars for the publisher, but could not prevail. The contract was ultimately awarded to real estate magnate Marc Bell, who has been making the content of the paper, which is now published in his Penthouse Media Group , more “tamer” since the beginning of 2005.
License issues
Penthouse is also published in licensed editions in numerous countries and languages. The German-language version, which has appeared since 1980, was discontinued in August 2002. Publitas Verlag in Düsseldorf attempted a relaunch in August 2003 ; in January 2004, however, the magazine was discontinued due to inefficiency. With the January 2006 edition, the Munich publisher BMB Medien GmbH tried again to establish a German edition. In May 2006 this publisher also stopped publication after only five issues. On July 18, 2006, the Munich publisher Lightspeed Media / Mountains Publishing made an attempt. At the end of 2007, Kurt Molzer replaced the previous editor-in-chief Markus Boden. Molzer left the magazine with the May 2009 edition. The next German editor-in-chief was Teddy Hoersch.
In October 2009 the US licensor terminated the contract for Penthouse with the German licensee Mountains Publishing without notice. The German-speaking penthouse was taken over from January 2010 by the Viennese publisher Sinon Media . Markus Boden was again the new editor-in-chief. The company initially had the magazine produced from its Munich location. After renewed problems with the licensee of the German-language edition in June 2010, the issue was published by the Austrian publisher Sinon Media. Borgmeier Media has published it every two months since 2015 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Penthouse editor-in-chief Kurt Molzer stops ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Clapclub.de
- ↑ The US licensor has let Mountains Publishing forbid the publication of "Penthouse" at Kress.de
- ↑ Ordnance Disposal in "Penthouse" in Munich at Wuv.de
- ↑ The German penthouse is being revived again - this time in Delmenhorst at Meedia.de
