HUGH HEFNER'S LEGACY:  HE HELPED TO MAKE US                                          MORE LIKE.........

"There is no pornography in Germany.....there is art.......every last hair, every last detail...."

                             Journalist Howard K. Smith-"Last Train From Berlin"

Hugh Hefner started "Playboy" at a time when there were strict "obscenity laws" in the United States.

Total nudity was banned in movies, magazines and other media of the time etc. etc.  Violations of the law could lead to fines and or jail time.

His nude photos of Marilyn Monroe in the first issue were rather tame shots that focused on the side of her body.

It would take more than a decade for laws to change with Hefner himself in court once and the jury unable to reach a verdict.

But eventually legal arguments that included the notion that total nudity was "art" and not something "dirty" would prevail.

There was "freedom" to look at naked people in general and to gaze on the most intimate parts of women's bodies fully displayed in Playboy centerfolds and eventually in all kinds of media with nothing left to imagination.

Americans would enjoy the "freedom" that Germany enjoyed during the 1930's when nude art was officially sanctioned.    Once in Munich naked women were paraded on floats during an art festival in the city.

Howard K. Smith. who observed Germany as a student and reporter wrote in his book "Last Train From Berlin" published in 1942 that this art was designed to promote sex so more Germans would be produced from it.

German children were told in sex education classes that sex was OK inside marriage or outside.

If an unmarried girl got pregnant and gave birth, the state would help take care of the child (sound familiar).

I remember as a child seeing a large photo in "Life" magazine showing "Der Fuhrer" himself in an "art museum" of Nazi Germany gazing upon a graphic painting of a man and woman with all details fully illustrated.

Often people accuse other people of "being like Nazis" or "being like Hitler" because of their politics or religion but in my humble opinion "being like Nazis" or "being like Hitler" is something one is like when they stare at detailed images of naked people.

Hefner helped "lead the way" to enable millions around the world to have Hitlerian experiences over and over again and again.