Natalia Sokolova on the front cover of Playboy's Wet Wild: Slippery When Wet
Natalia Sokolova on the front cover of Playboy's Wet Wild: Slippery When Wet
Playboy Videos are a series of videos released by Playboy Enterprises,
Inc., the publishers of Playboy magazine. The output of new Playboy
videos has greatly curtailed since 2002, new releases such as No Boys
Allowed 3 contain recycled footage shot for earlier videos. However,
the production of the video Playmate calendar, the Playmate of the
Year video, and the anniversary video series still continues.
Recently, Playboy has begun to release collections of the video
calendars under the title Playmate DVD Calendar Collection. Currently,
two have been released: The '90s (which also includes the 1987–1989
video calendars as a "bonus", and the 2000–2005 calendar collection.
These collect the video calendars, but do not include the bonus
features found in the later DVD calendars.
Contents
* 1 Video magazine series
* 2 Calendar series
* 3 Playmate of the Year video centerfolds
* 4 Sexy Lingerie series
* 5 Wet Wild series
* 6 Celebrity Centerfolds
* 7 Anniversary Playmates
* 8 Best Of
* 9 Girls/Women of
Video magazine series
The first twelve videos, titled Playboy Video Magazine, were produced
during the years 1982–1987. They borrowed the format of the magazine
itself and included interviews, essays, feature articles, and
pictorials of beautiful women.
Calendar series
In 1987 the magazine format was dropped and replaced by the video
playmate calendar series which focused on the playmates themselves and
did not try to imitate the content of the magazine. Although the
months assigned to the playmates in the videos are not the same as the
months in which they appear in the magazine, all playmates from 1987
have appeared in a playmate video calendar. Playmates of the year have
also appeared in a special video profile dedicated just to themselves.
Each video begins with the voice of Neil Ross, the narrator for most
of Playboy's productions, saying:
"Since 1958 Playboy calendars have been prized collector's items.
Over the years Playmates have appeared in this favorite form of pinup
art. Now for your home viewing pleasure, Playboy continues this
tradition, as the playmates come alive in this edition of the (year)
Playmate video calendar."
With (year) replaced by the year of the calendar.
The video profile of a playmate is shot at the same time that her
magazine centerfold and pictorial are photographed. These usually
consist of three or four vignettes reflecting the personality and
persona of the playmate and an interview is also conducted at the same
time to serve as in introduction to her viewers. Two of the vignettes
are then chosen to be included as part of her video playmate profile.
The very first playmate to appear in a playmate video calendar was
Cherie Witter, Miss January 1987 (having been Miss February 1985 in
the magazine).
In the early video Playmate calendars, a significant amount of time
was given to each Playmate to introduce herself, two or three minutes
were spent on describing her aspirations and goals. This was then
followed by a nude profile.
Playmate of the Year video centerfolds
Every year, a Playmate of the Year (PMOY) is chosen by Playboy
magazine. At the same time as the PMOY photo shoot, a video is filmed
to commemorate the occasion. The scenes in the video are filmed in the
same style as the calendar profiles and include interviews not only
with the Playmate herself but also sometimes her family and the
photographers who shot the pictorials. In Karen McDougal's 1998 PMOY
video centerfold, a segment was presented in the Pop-up Video format
made popular by VH1 at the time.
Sexy Lingerie series
Playboy launched its Sexy Lingerie series in 1988, featuring Playmates
and other models in lingerie. In the earlier titles of the series,
Playmates were shown in static poses which, although artistic, tended
to make them appear distant. Sexy Lingerie II–VI continued where the
first video left off. However, in later titles, the Playmates were
allowed to be more fluid, such as showing them walking a cat walk or
dancing.
A final video called Club Lingerie was produced in 1999 which,
although not matching in title to other videos in the series, had much
of the same content.
Wet Wild series
The Wet and Wild series, launched in 1989, features Playmates in
various liquid environments, such as pools, bathtubs, hot tubs,
saunas, fountains, water beds, milk, champagne, beer, massage oil,
glycerine, chocolate syrup, and ersatz creme de cacao. Playboy
produced a total of ten videos in the Wet Wild series.
Although the majority of sequences in the early videos of the series
maintained a sense of depicting the female figure as a work of art,
some sequences could be described as appealing to aquaphiliacs.
Wet and Wild IV showed an unusual development by Playboy. One scene
depicts Tanya Beyer taking part in a simulated sex scene — a departure
for Playboy at the time. All playboy videos up to this point only
showed activities which were seemingly unrelated to sexual activity.
But even here the scene was relatively tame in comparison to some
scenes in mainstream Hollywood films such as Showgirls or Wild Things.
Volumes VI to IX were based loosely on several different themes
including the women's locker room (Wet and Wild VI), hot holidays (Wet
and Wild VII), women's buttocks (Wet and Wild VIII), and finally the
season of summer (Wet Wild: Slippery When Wet).
The final video in the series, Wet and Wild Live! Backstage Pass, was
released in 2002.
Celebrity Centerfolds
The following women have been featured in their own celebrity centerfold videos:
* Pamela Anderson
* Jenny McCarthy
* Dian Parkinson
* Shannon Tweed
* LaToya Jackson
Anniversary Playmates
The following playmates have appeared in their own anniversary video profiles:
* Fawna MacLaren — 35th Anniversary
* Anna-Marie Goddard- 40th Anniversary
* Jaime Bergman — 45th Anniversary
* Colleen Shannon — 50th Anniversary
Best Of
Pompeo Posar speaking about Jenny McCarthy in an interview on The Best
of Jenny McCarthy
Pompeo Posar speaking about Jenny McCarthy in an interview on The Best
of Jenny McCarthy
Playboy has produced several Best of videos. These have collected
segments either featuring a specific Playmate (e.g., The Best of Jenny
McCarthy), from a Playboy TV show (e.g., The Best of Night Calls), or
from a Playboy video series (e.g., The Best of Wet Wild).
In a rare appearance in front of the camera, Pompeo Posar, who was a
Playboy photographer for more than 36 years and took more than 75
centerfolds for the magazine, appeared in The Best of Jenny McCarthy.
Girls/Women of
A recurring feature in the magazine is "Girls of" (or sometimes "Women
of"), where the women involved are chosen according to a theme (often
all working for a particular organization). Playboy has also produced
several videos following the same idea -- the most recent ones being
done in conjunction with the magazine features.
* The Girls of the Cabaret Royale
* Girls of the Hard Rock Hotel Casino Las Vegas
* The Girls of Hawaiian Tropic: Naked in Paradise
* Girls of Hedonism, Runaway Bay Jamaica
* Girls of Hooters
* Girls of the Internet
* Girls of Mardi Gras
* Girls of McDonald's
* Girls of Radio: Talk, Rock and Shock
* Girls of Reality TV
* The Girls of Scores
* Girls of South Beach
* Girls of Spring Break
* Women of Color
* Women of Enron
* Women of Fear Factor
* Women of Starbucks
* Women of Wal-Mart
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