Editing Playboy (section)

===1950s===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Pb1253.jpg|thumb|The [[Cover art|front cover]] of the first issue of ''Playboy'', featuring [[Marilyn Monroe]], December 1953]] -->
By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 [[University of Illinois]] psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and ''Children's Activities'' magazine as circulation promotions manager<ref name=sumner134 />—had planned out the elements of his magazine, that he would call ''Stag Party''.<ref name=watts62>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m5b_eM3twmEC&q=stag+magazine&pg=PA62 |title=Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream |author=Steven Watts |page=24 |date=March 23, 2009 |publisher=Wiley |access-date=February 14, 2016|isbn=9780470501375 }}</ref> He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors.<ref name=watts62 /> Hefner eventually raised just over $8,000, including from his brother and mother.<ref name=watts63>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m5b_eM3twmEC&q=stag+magazine&pg=PA63 |title=Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream |author=Steven Watts |page=24 |date=March 23, 2009 |publisher=Wiley |access-date=February 14, 2016|isbn=9780470501375 }}</ref> However, the publisher of an unrelated [[men's adventure]] magazine, ''[[Stag (magazine)|Stag]]'', contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name.<ref name=sumner134>{{cite book|title=The Magazine Century: American Magazines Since 1900|first=David E. |last=Sumner|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|year= 2010|isbn=978-1-4331-0493-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7g9PgL_No0C&q=stag+magazine&pg=PA134|page=134|access-date=February 14, 2016}}</ref><ref name=watts64>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m5b_eM3twmEC&q=stag+magazine&pg=PA64 |title=Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream |author=Steven Watts |page=64 |date=March 23, 2009 |publisher=Wiley |access-date=February 14, 2016|isbn=9780470501375 }}</ref> Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan", and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy".<ref name=watts64 /><ref>Golden Dreams The Birth of Playboy by Hugh M. Hefner, page 265, ''Playboy'', January 1994</ref>

Published in December 1953, the first issue was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his [[Hyde Park, Chicago|Hyde Park]] kitchen. The first centerfold was [[Marilyn Monroe]], although the picture used initially was taken for a calendar rather than for ''Playboy''.<ref>Summers, p. 59.</ref> Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused [[nude study]] of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open.<ref>{{cite book |last=Harding |first=Les |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvwH7euUccIC&q=playboy&pg=PA75 |page=75 |title=They Knew Marilyn Monroe: Famous Persons in the Life of the Hollywood Icon |isbn=9780786490141 |date=August 23, 2012 |publisher=McFarland}}</ref> The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new ''Playboy'' magazine a success.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gunelius |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xL0cGu1ISVEC&q=marilyn+playboy&pg=PA16 |page=16 |title=Building Brand Value the Playboy Way |isbn=9780230239586 |date=September 16, 2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}{{dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Jensen |first=Gordon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SUqJZXVWLsC&q=marilyn+playboy&pg=PA157 |page=157 |title=Marilyn: A Great Woman's Struggles: Who Killed Her and Why |isbn=9781477141502 |date=July 2012 |publisher=Xlibris Corporation}}</ref>
The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991.<ref>''Playboy Collector's Association Playboy Magazine Price Guide''</ref> The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|date=2018-11-05|title=Hugh Hefner's Personal Copy of Playboy #1 Can Be Yours|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/562804/hugh-hefner-personal-playboy-marilyn-monroe-hits-auction-block|access-date=2021-04-25|website=www.mentalfloss.com}}</ref>

The novel ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'', by [[Ray Bradbury]], was published in 1953 and [[Serial (literature)|serialized]] in the March, April and May 1954 issues of ''Playboy''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/10/13/yes-people-did-buy-playboy-articles/73890020/|title=Yes, people DID buy 'Playboy' for the articles|work=USA TODAY|access-date=September 12, 2017}}</ref>

An [[urban legend]] started about Hefner and the [[Playboy Playmate|Playmate of the Month]] because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in ''Playboy'' had stars printed in or around the letter. [[Urban legend]] stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing.<ref name=snopes>{{cite web |title=Stars Upon Thars |url=http://www.snopes.com/risque/celebrities/hefner.asp |website=Snopes.com |date=June 22, 2006 |access-date=May 20, 2009}}</ref>