Ten Years that Shook the (Men's Magazine) World
By Dian Hanson
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They called him Santa Claus for his habit of leaving beautifully wrapped free samples with prospective customers; in the late 60s and 70s he would build a pornographic empire under the name Lasse Braun. For all their pioneering spirit it would be neither Uhse or Ferro who ended European censorship, however. That honor fell to Berth Milton, a flamboyant sexual freedom fighter who in 1965 fashioned a magazine called Private as his stick to beat Sweden's obscenity laws. In 1965 he was still two years away from his hardcore goal, but events were unfolding in his favor as the baby-boomers entered college.
America began bombing Vietnam in 1965, leading college students to burn their draft cards in protest. In New York City black radical Malcolm X was murdered, increasing national racial unrest. England, spurred by the Beatles' success, had improbably become the center of international youth culture, but as tamer teens donned miniskirts and danced "The Freddy", others plotted social and political revolution. Across Germany there was growing dissatisfaction with the stuffy hierarchy in the state-run universities. In America's conservative heartland the radical SDS (Students For A Democratic Society) organized, while out in San Francisco the word "hippie" first appeared in a report on the activities of The Sexual Freedom League. Hippies would be closely connected to sex from the beginning. When the first hippie tabloids surfaced in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, they blended sexual imagery with their anti-war, pro-drug rhetoric. While Berth went public with Private in Sweden, American sex publishers mined the gold of the new youth movement. Especially the California slicks.
In 1958, riding America's first wave of pop culture, a new breed of men's magazine appeared. Within five years the new magazines were serious competitors for the more sedate newsstand titles, even though men had to hunt them down in liquor stores and burlesque theaters. Veterans of the New York men's magazine industry migrated west, settling in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, to found most of the companies making these titles. Out in the desert they built printing plants and vast distribution warehouses that allowed them to control all facets of magazine production.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
They called him Santa Claus for his habit of leaving beautifully wrapped free samples with prospective customers; in the late 60s and 70s he would build a pornographic empire under the name Lasse Braun. For all their pioneering spirit it would be neither Uhse or Ferro who ended European censorship, however. That honor fell to Berth Milton, a flamboyant sexual freedom fighter who in 1965 fashioned a magazine called Private as his stick to beat Sweden's obscenity laws. In 1965 he was still two years away from his hardcore goal, but events were unfolding in his favor as the baby-boomers entered college.
America began bombing Vietnam in 1965, leading college students to burn their draft cards in protest. In New York City black radical Malcolm X was murdered, increasing national racial unrest. England, spurred by the Beatles' success, had improbably become the center of international youth culture, but as tamer teens donned miniskirts and danced "The Freddy", others plotted social and political revolution. Across Germany there was growing dissatisfaction with the stuffy hierarchy in the state-run universities. In America's conservative heartland the radical SDS (Students For A Democratic Society) organized, while out in San Francisco the word "hippie" first appeared in a report on the activities of The Sexual Freedom League. Hippies would be closely connected to sex from the beginning. When the first hippie tabloids surfaced in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, they blended sexual imagery with their anti-war, pro-drug rhetoric. While Berth went public with Private in Sweden, American sex publishers mined the gold of the new youth movement. Especially the California slicks.
In 1958, riding America's first wave of pop culture, a new breed of men's magazine appeared. Within five years the new magazines were serious competitors for the more sedate newsstand titles, even though men had to hunt them down in liquor stores and burlesque theaters. Veterans of the New York men's magazine industry migrated west, settling in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, to found most of the companies making these titles. Out in the desert they built printing plants and vast distribution warehouses that allowed them to control all facets of magazine production.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
History of Men's Magazines Vol. 3
Hardcover, 21.3 x 27.7 cm (8.4 x 10.9 in.), 460 pages
Special Price: $ 29.99
Save $ 30.00!
Special Price: $ 29.99
Save $ 30.00!
Swinging Sixties at the newsstand
Spick & Span, England, 1968