Bob Guccione
Penthouse Adult Magazines was founded by Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione. Robert (better known as Bob Guccione) was an American photographer and publisher. He founded Penthouse in 1965 in the UK. The first magazine edition was sold in September 1969 in the US and UK. In the early days Robert personally photographed the models. Inexperienced at this time in photography, Robert would sometimes take several days to complete a photoshoot. His approach to photography and the soft focus look became his trademark.
The Magazine Content
The magazine was categorised as Men’s Lifestyle and in the 1970’s was hugely popular. What separated this magazine brand from the likes of playboy was the content of the magazine. The articles were researched in greater detail and reported a more detailed account of the topic at hand. Let’s be honest this was not going to break any market in the Men’s Lifestyle category so lets take a better look at what really made this a sellable product. Robert took a more sensational approach to the content. This was one of the first magazines to show full female pubic hair. Once the waters were tested with these publications Robert then pushed the boundaries with full-frontal nudity and then the exposed vulva and anus. This made the magazine the new mainstream pornographic magazine of the time.
Financial Difficulty and Change Of Hands
The introduction of the internet has made pornography more accessible. The evolving world of technology has also seen a dynamic change, from full nudity photographs to videos with very graphical exposure of the female body, fetishes and much more. Where does this leave the magazine? Penthouse magazine is still in production today and has changed with the times. Today the magazine is more inline with the likes of Men’s Health magazine and is still of interest. However the company ran into difficulty during the times of change. In 1982 Forbes magazine ranked Robert as one of 400 wealthiest people with 400 million US dollars net worth. However in August 2003 at the time the industry was changing, General Media who were the parent company of the Penthouse magazine filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. This was not the end of the Penthouse though, in June 2018 all assets of Penthouse were bought out by WGCZ Ltd., operators of Xvideos.
Where to purchase vintage Penthouse Magazines
Here at Wildcard Curiosities we have various volumes and numbers from the 1970’s available to buy online. If you are interested please take a look for availability and prices. We do offer overseas shipping, unfortunately at present we can only offer this service through eBay’s global shipping program. Click on the link below and search for Penthouse.