American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story (2017) s01e09 Episode Script
Down the Rabbit Hole: The Dorothy Stratten Murder
1 [Hugh Hefner.]
It was 1975.
After ten years, the Vietnam War had finally come to an end.
When I became of age, my mama sat me down [Hugh Hefner.]
But the nation was reeling from revelations of corruption at the highest level of government.
I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I was personally struggling after the suicide of my assistant and longtime friend, Bobbie Arnstein.
Hey, ooh, what'll I do? Looks like it's the end [Hugh Hefner.]
Chicago was full of painful memories, and my girlfriend Barbi Benton had recently found the perfect place for us on the West Coast, so I decided it was time to permanently relocate.
When we party get up We party Get on the groove drop down Come on let's go [Hugh Hefner.]
It wasn't long before my new mansion, tucked away near Beverly Hills, became a destination for Hollywood bigwigs and movie stars.
[James Caan.]
That was pretty much legend, you know, I mean, because he would invite all these beautiful girls and all his friends.
They'd, you know, show first-run movies at the house and have this wonderful banquet.
The food was great and it was like the greatest nightclub in the world.
[Hugh Hefner.]
It's hard for me to think of a celebrity who didn't come to one of my parties back then.
Going through and through and through and through Let's boogie down until the end [Hugh Hefner.]
New Year's Eve Halloween [cheering.]
birthday parties Listen to the music that we're playing [Hugh Hefner.]
Each one was bigger and better than the last.
Some celebrities were known to arrange their shooting schedules around the parties just so they wouldn't miss them.
[Gene Simmons.]
I flew into Los Angeles for something called Midsummer Night's Dream.
You had to dress either in underwear or pajamas tight enough where they can guess your religion.
And when I walked into the Playboy Mansion, it's everything you could imagine.
Gonna party We party hearty Hey let me see you boogie [Hugh Hefner.]
But the best part of life at the new mansion was spending it with Barbi.
Gonna party We party hearty [Hugh Hefner.]
For nearly five years now, we'd been inseparable We boogie woogie [Hugh Hefner.]
and she had become a celebrity in her own right.
Hi, happy Hee Haw haystackers! I'm Barbi Benton, and I'd like you to be in the haystack with me this week on the old Hee Haw.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Barbi started out taking on small acting roles, appearing on notable TV shows like Hee Haw and The Love Boat.
I want to spend my life with a girl like you [Hugh Hefner.]
But what Barbi really wanted was to pursue something she'd always dreamed of, a career in music.
All the things that you want me to [Hugh Hefner.]
I'd recently started my own record label.
We didn't start out with very many recognizable artists, but we did release an early record by a little-known group from Sweden who would later be known to the world as ABBA.
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba [cheers and applause.]
She outgrew brass buckles on her shoes By 12, she was filling out her jeans [Hugh Hefner.]
After hearing her sing, I decided to sign Barbi as one of my first artists.
Do anything She was old enough to try [Barbi Benton.]
Well, I was flattered that he asked me to be on the label.
It was important to me that he asked.
I would have been disappointed if he had just let me go to another record label and not said anything.
She outgrew brass buckles on her shoes [Hugh Hefner.]
In 1975, Barbi's first single, Brass Buckles, broke onto the top ten on the Billboard Country Charts.
[Patty Farmer.]
Barbi Benton's career definitely took off.
She was creating a career in her own right and he wanted her to be successful in her chosen profession and helped her along.
She outgrew [Hugh Hefner.]
Barbi's success was an exciting time for both of us, but I didn't realize that the life we shared was about to change forever.
[woman.]
Every little movement Every little thing you do Is it sleight of hand That commands my heart to love you? Every little movement Every little movement [Hugh Hefner.]
With Barbi's career taking off, she was spending more time away on tour, leaving me alone in the mansion so I filled my nights with people, parties and, soon, women.
There were periods in the very beginning with Barbi, and that's what the relationship was, essentially monogamous, because we were traveling together and spending all of our time together.
But we were separated for a lot of the time.
There was a continuing string of new women in my life.
After all, from the point of view of the editor/publisher of the magazine, one of the wonders of what I invented was, after February there is March.
After March, there is April.
And it supplied more than just a very tempting lifestyle and I succumbed to it without much trouble.
Heaven I'm in heaven Morning, Bob.
Hef.
Dick.
Thank you.
So, uh, we just got the quarterlies in and, uh, it's not good news.
Well, we knew sales couldn't keep climbing forever.
Over 20 years on the rise isn't a bad run.
It's worse than that.
What do you mean? We posted a loss.
How far does that mean magazine sales fell? It's not just the magazine.
It's the company.
The whole company's posted a loss.
We've got problems, Hef.
Major problems.
How did this happen? [Hugh Hefner.]
Playboy had overextended itself.
As our success grew, we'd expanded our brand by taking on new business ventures Action.
[sword clanging.]
Oh, shit, guys.
That's the place we quit.
Every time, something breaks.
[Hugh Hefner.]
including a production company, the music label, a publishing company, a limousine service, and dozens of other ventures, and now they were all losing money.
[Christie Hefner.]
That sense of identification that was so strong between consumers and Playboy was really what gave it permission to go into other businesses.
Having said that, the challenge is, you still have to manage those businesses, and in Playboy's case, the businesses might have logically fit under the brand, but the company didn't have the competitive expertise and depth of management to be successful in so many different businesses.
[Hugh Hefner.]
To make matters worse, our once loyal readers were starting to drift.
Back at it Sally [Hugh Hefner.]
In 1975, there were almost 40 nationally-distributed men's magazines, and they were starting to cut into our market.
The biggest of them all was Penthouse.
For years now, Penthouse had been trying to one-up Playboy by showing more and more explicit photos.
But, by 1975, they had taken it to a new level.
Penthouse was showing pictures of men and women together.
Threesomes Lesbian scenes They went so far as to put nudity on the cover, even though that meant it couldn't be fully displayed on newsstands.
Ooh baby I'm calling your bluff [Hugh Hefner.]
And finally, they showed full male nudity, the first mainstream magazine to do so.
Yes I do [Arthur Kretchmer.]
I remember opening the first copy of Penthouse that I ever saw, and I said aloud, this guy is photographing sex.
We are photographing pinups.
It was simply more lubricious.
It was a better job of the fantasy that the person you were looking at was available to you, that you might actually have sex.
Well whoo [sighing.]
What do you think? Well, I know it's gonna make headlines.
Art says it's going too far.
It probably is, for some people.
So you say go for it? Yeah.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I had always remained adamant that Playboy's photos would leave something to the imagination, but with the magazine's finances in jeopardy, I felt I had no choice but to match the competition.
My heart is aching, yeah I feel so sad now I'm in a world of [Hugh Hefner.]
In November of 1975, Playboy published its most explicit cover ever.
This is the way, yeah This is the way [Kretchmer.]
Now, the famous cover, her hand in her panties, I think he was very reluctant to print it, but we got mentioned in all of the stories, which was the whole point.
[Hugh Hefner.]
The controversy surrounding the cover did sell magazines, but not everyone was happy with my strategy.
The advertisers are upset.
About? Well, it seems every month, you're showing more and more.
It's getting more and more explicit.
And now this cover They are not happy.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Playboy had spent decades building up a sophisticated image that attracted high-end advertisers.
With the Playboy empire already in financial trouble, we couldn't afford to lose our ad revenue too.
I think that the time that Hefner decided to publish photos of a woman masturbating was probably more commercial than it was taking a stand about any particular issue, and I think that's a really fine line to take.
I think occasionally magazines can generate so much controversy that they create a lot of noise around themselves, but often, that can create much more long-term harm than anything else.
Thanks.
Tammy Linda You're back.
Just got in.
How was Nashville? Fine.
Hot.
Barbi Look, this doesn't have to be some big conversation.
It doesn't have to be a conversation at all.
Yes, it does.
You know I love you.
I know.
You know I don't ever want to hurt you.
I know.
It's just Hef, this place is a dream, but it's your dream.
Daddy Won't you buy That pretty dolly for me? [Benton.]
I think it was very hard on Hef when I became a performer and went on tour because I was gone a lot, and he was lonesome, so even though I was expected to be honorable, he kind of had that double standard and I wouldn't put up with it.
Eventually, that was our demise.
That sad old man [Teri Thomerson.]
When he was with Barbi Benton, I know that he's often said that was the most romantic time of his life.
It's no secret that one of the things that split Barbi and Hef up was the fact that he had a hard time, at that time in his life, being monogamous.
But they have stayed very close friends over the years, and I know they still love each other very much.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Barbi was gone and I felt more alone than ever at the head of a magazine that was falling apart.
I suddenly felt like I stood to lose everything so I did something I had resisted for a long time.
I brought in an outsider to serve as president and chief operating officer of the business named Derick Daniels.
Hefner had felt we needed a serious and qualified president of the company.
We hired Derick Daniels.
He ran the Miami Herald and TheDetroit Free Press and was considered well qualified for the job and well known.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Daniels' first order of business was trimming the fat.
He got Playboy out of the movie business, closed eight clubs, and cut payroll by 10%.
With Daniels on top of the finances, I was freed up to take stock of the magazine.
Even though our risqué cover had given us a boost, by the end of the year, our overall readership was down 2 million from its peak and ad revenues were down nearly 8%.
I realized the only way we were going to beat Penthouse was to concentrate on what we did best.
We focused on sophisticated content, running the work of great writers like Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut continuing our tradition of uncensored interviews with celebrities like David Bowie and Elton John The way the world is, get just what you can [Hugh Hefner.]
And reflecting what America was talking about.
Tomorrow, riddled as a man yeah yeah yeah [Hugh Hefner.]
1976 was an election year.
After losing faith in Richard Nixon and the Republican establishment two years earlier, many Americans were looking for a candidate who could bring about change in Washington.
One of the surprise frontrunners was a peanut farmer from Georgia who was pretty much unknown before the Democratic primary.
His name was Jimmy Carter.
1976, Jimmy Carter, going into the general election against the sitting President Gerald Ford.
But Carter was an Evangelical Baptist who would occasionally say that he was born again.
There was a great fear that he's going to take his religious values and now impose them on the American public.
To counteract that, Carter's advisors convinced him to do this interview for Playboy.
Everybody knows everybody goes Make a buck today [Kretchmer.]
Jimmy Carter interview, 1976.
The reason it was such a big deal is that a presidential candidate openly discussed lust in Playboy magazine.
The media made it the deal that it was.
We didn't know how that line, "adultery in my heart," was gonna play, but that issue sold 98% at the newsstand.
Get just what you can Wake up again tomorrow [Kretchmer.]
No magazine had ever sold 98% at the newsstand before.
[Hugh Hefner.]
While everyone was talking about what was inside the magazine, we also redoubled our efforts to make Playboy a force for social good in the world.
Good evening.
In Saigon, tearful farewells, but the promise of a better life as hundreds of Vietnamese orphans today began their journey toward new homes in the United States.
Love is all around me and so the feeling grows [Hugh Hefner.]
The Vietnam war officially ended in April of 1975, but it left a humanitarian crisis in its wake and I wanted Playboy to do what it could to help.
I deployed The Big Bunny and dozens of jet bunnies to fly Vietnamese orphans to their new foster homes.
My mind is made up by the way that I feel In San Francisco, we met the children with our plane and they were flown to various cities in this country.
It was a Playboy baby lift.
It's written on the wind - It's everywhere I go - [Hugh Hefner.]
I also wanted to give back to my new adopted home of Los Angeles and the movie industry that had inspired me since I was a kid so I threw a fundraiser at the mansion to preserve a Hollywood landmark.
Love sweet love won't you be good to me? The Hollywood sign was in decay in the '70s, and he had a fundraiser here.
Lucille Ball, Alice Cooper both donated money to have it rebuilt.
Anybody down to party down tonight? To him, the Hollywood sign is our Statue of Liberty or our Eiffel Tower and what that represents.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I felt like Playboy was getting back on track.
But while our other ventures may have wavered, one part of the company was still thriving.
Get on down [Hugh Hefner.]
Victor Lownes' casino in London.
Get up [Hugh Hefner.]
Thanks to a weak pound and steady stream of oil money from Middle Eastern sheiks and businessmen Gotta get up [Hugh Hefner.]
the casino was bringing in $26 million annually.
Get on down Gotta get up, gotta get up, gotta get up [Victor Lownes.]
The money that we made here in London was supporting the entire Playboy operation.
Sit on down Playboy editorial could get better contributors as a result, just with the extra money that we were plowing into the main office.
[Hugh Hefner.]
With the success of the London casino, Victor began to believe the rest of Playboy could recover financially if we could duplicate the formula that worked in London here in the U.
S.
And he knew just the place to do it.
Atlantic City.
Deep in the jungle where the coconuts grow [Hugh Hefner.]
Gambling had only been legalized in Atlantic City since 1974, and developers were already buying up land and starting to build a casino and resort strip to rival Las Vegas.
A monkey over here monkey over there [James Karmel.]
I think it was almost a natural that Hugh Hefner would look at Atlantic City as a great opportunity to help revive the Playboy Enterprises company.
The idea was, we can bring in a high clientele of gamblers, just the way they had in England, by offering up this kind of Playboy experience and, you know, bringing it to the Jersey shore.
[Lownes.]
It's just that I think we have a real opportunity here.
We have the chance to establish ourselves as the premiere casino in all of the East Coast.
And you don't anticipate any issues managing Atlantic City and London at the same time? Not at all.
But we do run the risk of you being stretched thin, and from my experience, that can lead to oversights.
Look, Daniels, I've been doing this for a while now, and you're the new guy, okay? So, why don't you just focus on getting everything on your end taken care of and I'll take care of mine.
How about that? Victor hasn't let us down yet.
And I don't intend to.
Fine.
I'll get the ball rolling.
Thanks.
[Hugh Hefner.]
While Victor and Daniels got started on our biggest casino yet, I turned my attention to an upcoming milestone for the magazine our 25th anniversary.
Our January 1979 issue reflected how far we'd come both as a magazine and as a culture, from our 1953 cover with Marilyn Monroe, when no one was even talking about sex, to our fight in court for freedom of speech over Jayne Mansfield's photos, and our coverage of civil rights in Vietnam.
The 25th anniversary issue featured articles by famous writers like Shel Silverstein and Gore Vidal and an in-depth interview with Marlon Brando, but the real centerpiece of our 25th anniversary celebration was The Great Playmate Hunt.
Never had the pleasure Of loving you [Hugh Hefner.]
Over the course of six months, we sent out photographers to 28 American cities in search of the most beautiful women across the country.
You're everything that I desire [Hugh Hefner.]
The result was a pictorial featuring our 16 gorgeous finalists.
All because you're so unique baby I can't help but love you girl None can compete girl with you You Oh oh Ah [Hugh Hefner.]
And the winner of our $25,000 prize was a 23-year-old Oklahoma college student named Candy Stanton.
We threw a giant party to celebrate inviting movie stars, along with much of Playboy's original staff like my old friends Eldon Sellers and Vince Tajiri.
Even former Playmate Janet Pilgrim was on hand.
But the girl that caught my eye that night wasn't the winner of the hunt Hi.
[Hugh Hefner.]
but the runner-up.
Hi.
[Hugh Hefner.]
A 19-year-old named Dorothy Stratten.
Pictures didn't do you justice.
Looking at you now, I don't see how you didn't win.
Oh.
It was just an honor to make it as far as I did.
All of this, it's incredible and a little overwhelming, to be honest.
Well, you'll have plenty of time to get used to it.
I have a feeling you're gonna be here a lot.
You're up on your feet now baby [Kretchmer.]
Dorothy Stratten was a beautiful, phenomenal blonde who came into Playboy's life.
I know She was striking in the most old-fashioned movie star.
You couldn't believe that someone was put together like this.
Since the day I met you [Hugh Hefner.]
As a young girl, Dorothy was raised in a broken home in Vancouver, Canada.
[Stephen Martinez.]
Dorothy Stratten grew up in a family with a single mom raising three kids.
She worked behind the counter at the Dairy Queen.
[Hugh Hefner.]
It hadn't been Dorothy's idea to enter The Playmate Hunt.
It was her boyfriend, a man named Paul Snider, nine years older than her, who had sent us her pictures.
[Martinez.]
Paul Snider would recruit women to model in car shows.
He was just trying to hustle any way he could to get beautiful women, so he walked into the Dairy Queen, saw Dorothy, you know, this beautiful woman behind the counter, and thought, you know, this girl is the girl next door.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Dorothy married Paul and brought him with her to L.
A.
In August of 1979, we made Dorothy Playmate of the Month.
Her pictorial became a favorite with readers.
We began featuring her in Playboy television specials.
Hey, Dorothy's coming.
I'll bet you $100 she'll pretend not to see me.
[Caan.]
She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.
I was convinced that in Vancouver, you know, there's some mad scientist working on some kind of beauty pill.
It was just mindboggling.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Her charisma was undeniable and Dorothy soon used her Playboy celebrity to start an acting career.
Over the next few months, Dorothy was cast in roles on the hit TV show Buck Rogers, Fantasy Island, and in the sci-fi movie Galaxina.
But her big break came when Oscar-winning director Peter Bogdanovich cast her in his new movie, They All Laughed, alongside John Ritter, Ben Gazzara, and Audrey Hepburn.
And now, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to welcome all of you here for the presentation of our 1980 Playmate of the Year, and she is something rather special, Canadian-born Dorothy Stratten.
Dorothy, you want to come up here? [cheers and applause.]
I'm sure that this has been many a girl's dream and certainly many of the Playmates' dream, and it's been mine.
[cheers and applause.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
Dorothy's star was on the rise but no one suspected that her personal life would begin to haunt her.
What is it? Uh, it's Paul.
He's at the front gate, demanding to be let in.
Oh, my gosh.
I told him this was just Is he causing a scene or ? No, they would have called the police.
He's just refusing to leave.
Dorothy, if you need me to do anything No, no.
It's fine.
Here is this guy that discovered her, and all of a sudden, now she's in movies.
She's Playmate of the Year.
Her career is blossoming.
I think he started really losing it and getting paranoid like he's losing her.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I was proud of Dorothy and glad she was leaving for New York to shoot Bogdanovich's film without Paul.
[emcee.]
Let's hear it for Hef! Hey! [cheering.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
Around the same time, one of my own dreams was coming true.
[emcee.]
We have a ceremony today for the 1,716th star to be placed in the Walk of Fame.
[cheering.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
Those of you who know me best know what a very, very special day today is.
I have chosen to make Southern California my home.
This town, the dreams that are created, the films that are created, undoubtedly have more influence on me than any other single factor in my life, and I just want you to know that it means more to me than a Pulitzer Prize.
Thank you very much.
I mean it.
[cheers and applause.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
I was honored to be a real part of Hollywood history, something I'd dreamt about since I was a kid growing up in Chicago.
But while I was receiving accolades, I had no idea the trouble in Dorothy Stratten's personal life was building because while she was working in New York, her husband Paul was unraveling in L.
A.
Today I'm just a lonely man But tomorrow I'll be okay [Martinez.]
While the film was filming in New York, Peter Bogdanovich started having an affair with Dorothy on the set.
The whole wide world will watch me As I walk up to my throne Knights in shining armor And that just kind of drove Paul Snider a little mental.
Why Why Have I lost you? Have I lost you? Why? Why? Tell me why Miss Stratten, you have a phone call.
Thanks.
Hello? Hello? Don't Don't hang up.
How did you get this number? Why are you doing this to me? You think I don't know what unavailable means? Unavailable means "fuck you, Paul.
" I know you're fucking him.
Paul, stop.
Please stop.
All I did was love you from the moment I met you, but you don't love me anymore.
You don't love me anymore, huh? I just want to be happy.
[sniffles.]
Just let me be happy.
[exhaling.]
Baby, see me one more time? Please? Just once.
Okay, well, I've got to go now.
I love you.
You're gonna make me cry You're gonna make [Hugh Hefner.]
When the film wrapped, Dorothy returned to L.
A.
, ready to tell Paul that she wanted a divorce.
Oh baby Don't make me cry [knocking.]
[music playing softly on stereo.]
Didn't have to knock, baby.
This is your house.
It's over.
My lawyer will contact yours.
You'll be looked after.
I promise.
Endings are never easy.
[volume increasing.]
Want to hold her tight Lord make her be all right I'm afraid for the scrubby pine All the sweet honeysuckle vine I'm afraid for my home For the fields that I roamed Kick along down a homeward road And your heart's gotta take the load I'm afraid to go home I'm afraid to go home [gunshot.]
Read it and weep, Hef.
Oh, really? Yeah.
[laughing.]
What's the matter? The police are on the phone.
The police? It's Dorothy.
Hugh Hefner.
Mr.
Hefner, this is Detective Simmons with the LAPD Homicide Division.
We are currently conducting an investigation at 10881 Clarkson Road in Rancho Park and have identified the victim's body as a Miss Dorothy Stratten.
I'm very sorry to have to call you with this news, but it's my understanding that you can assist us in notifying next of kin.
Did Snider do this? I'd very much like to leave my number with you so that, should I need any more information Paul Snider, her husband.
Her ex-husband.
They're separated.
Mr.
Hefner You have to find him.
He might try and leave the country.
Mr.
Hefner, Mr.
Snider's body is also at the scene.
We're treating this as a murder/suicide.
[Hugh Hefner.]
On August 14th, 1980 Paul Snider shot and killed Dorothy Stratten and then turned the gun on himself.
She was only 20 years old.
The Dorothy Stratten situation was was awful.
She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and sweet and I don't know, macho me, I'd try to protect her.
I didn't even know she was married to that creep.
[Hugh Hefner.]
As details of the horrific crime were made public, my shock turned to horror.
I wondered if there was something I could have done to save her.
Hef was deeply affected by Dorothy's death.
He felt very protective of her and believed that she was with a bad guy and hoped very much that she could and would leave him.
[Johnny Carson.]
Yeah.
You You're from Vancouver.
[Dorothy Stratten.]
Uh-huh.
[Carson.]
Now, what did you do in Vancouver? Were you a professional model at all before ? [Stratten.]
No, I had just graduated from high school when I was approached by Playboy and I was working in a telephone company.
I was a clerk typist.
You're putting me on.
No.
I worked there just six weeks before they carried me away.
That was a good move.
[laughter.]
The only good thing that ever came out of the telephone company.
[Hugh Hefner.]
In the span of five years, I lost both Bobbie now Dorothy.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Death It's the one injustice that is universal.
It's the great injustice that you have to deal with.
But Dorothy It was so unjust.
[woman.]
Every little movement Every motion of your hips I feel the compulsion To pull you to my sweet lips Is it a black magic spell You put me under? This miracle moment Never let it end Every little movement Is beyond improvement You are the magician I've been wishing for forever Every little movement Every little movement
It was 1975.
After ten years, the Vietnam War had finally come to an end.
When I became of age, my mama sat me down [Hugh Hefner.]
But the nation was reeling from revelations of corruption at the highest level of government.
I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I was personally struggling after the suicide of my assistant and longtime friend, Bobbie Arnstein.
Hey, ooh, what'll I do? Looks like it's the end [Hugh Hefner.]
Chicago was full of painful memories, and my girlfriend Barbi Benton had recently found the perfect place for us on the West Coast, so I decided it was time to permanently relocate.
When we party get up We party Get on the groove drop down Come on let's go [Hugh Hefner.]
It wasn't long before my new mansion, tucked away near Beverly Hills, became a destination for Hollywood bigwigs and movie stars.
[James Caan.]
That was pretty much legend, you know, I mean, because he would invite all these beautiful girls and all his friends.
They'd, you know, show first-run movies at the house and have this wonderful banquet.
The food was great and it was like the greatest nightclub in the world.
[Hugh Hefner.]
It's hard for me to think of a celebrity who didn't come to one of my parties back then.
Going through and through and through and through Let's boogie down until the end [Hugh Hefner.]
New Year's Eve Halloween [cheering.]
birthday parties Listen to the music that we're playing [Hugh Hefner.]
Each one was bigger and better than the last.
Some celebrities were known to arrange their shooting schedules around the parties just so they wouldn't miss them.
[Gene Simmons.]
I flew into Los Angeles for something called Midsummer Night's Dream.
You had to dress either in underwear or pajamas tight enough where they can guess your religion.
And when I walked into the Playboy Mansion, it's everything you could imagine.
Gonna party We party hearty Hey let me see you boogie [Hugh Hefner.]
But the best part of life at the new mansion was spending it with Barbi.
Gonna party We party hearty [Hugh Hefner.]
For nearly five years now, we'd been inseparable We boogie woogie [Hugh Hefner.]
and she had become a celebrity in her own right.
Hi, happy Hee Haw haystackers! I'm Barbi Benton, and I'd like you to be in the haystack with me this week on the old Hee Haw.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Barbi started out taking on small acting roles, appearing on notable TV shows like Hee Haw and The Love Boat.
I want to spend my life with a girl like you [Hugh Hefner.]
But what Barbi really wanted was to pursue something she'd always dreamed of, a career in music.
All the things that you want me to [Hugh Hefner.]
I'd recently started my own record label.
We didn't start out with very many recognizable artists, but we did release an early record by a little-known group from Sweden who would later be known to the world as ABBA.
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba [cheers and applause.]
She outgrew brass buckles on her shoes By 12, she was filling out her jeans [Hugh Hefner.]
After hearing her sing, I decided to sign Barbi as one of my first artists.
Do anything She was old enough to try [Barbi Benton.]
Well, I was flattered that he asked me to be on the label.
It was important to me that he asked.
I would have been disappointed if he had just let me go to another record label and not said anything.
She outgrew brass buckles on her shoes [Hugh Hefner.]
In 1975, Barbi's first single, Brass Buckles, broke onto the top ten on the Billboard Country Charts.
[Patty Farmer.]
Barbi Benton's career definitely took off.
She was creating a career in her own right and he wanted her to be successful in her chosen profession and helped her along.
She outgrew [Hugh Hefner.]
Barbi's success was an exciting time for both of us, but I didn't realize that the life we shared was about to change forever.
[woman.]
Every little movement Every little thing you do Is it sleight of hand That commands my heart to love you? Every little movement Every little movement [Hugh Hefner.]
With Barbi's career taking off, she was spending more time away on tour, leaving me alone in the mansion so I filled my nights with people, parties and, soon, women.
There were periods in the very beginning with Barbi, and that's what the relationship was, essentially monogamous, because we were traveling together and spending all of our time together.
But we were separated for a lot of the time.
There was a continuing string of new women in my life.
After all, from the point of view of the editor/publisher of the magazine, one of the wonders of what I invented was, after February there is March.
After March, there is April.
And it supplied more than just a very tempting lifestyle and I succumbed to it without much trouble.
Heaven I'm in heaven Morning, Bob.
Hef.
Dick.
Thank you.
So, uh, we just got the quarterlies in and, uh, it's not good news.
Well, we knew sales couldn't keep climbing forever.
Over 20 years on the rise isn't a bad run.
It's worse than that.
What do you mean? We posted a loss.
How far does that mean magazine sales fell? It's not just the magazine.
It's the company.
The whole company's posted a loss.
We've got problems, Hef.
Major problems.
How did this happen? [Hugh Hefner.]
Playboy had overextended itself.
As our success grew, we'd expanded our brand by taking on new business ventures Action.
[sword clanging.]
Oh, shit, guys.
That's the place we quit.
Every time, something breaks.
[Hugh Hefner.]
including a production company, the music label, a publishing company, a limousine service, and dozens of other ventures, and now they were all losing money.
[Christie Hefner.]
That sense of identification that was so strong between consumers and Playboy was really what gave it permission to go into other businesses.
Having said that, the challenge is, you still have to manage those businesses, and in Playboy's case, the businesses might have logically fit under the brand, but the company didn't have the competitive expertise and depth of management to be successful in so many different businesses.
[Hugh Hefner.]
To make matters worse, our once loyal readers were starting to drift.
Back at it Sally [Hugh Hefner.]
In 1975, there were almost 40 nationally-distributed men's magazines, and they were starting to cut into our market.
The biggest of them all was Penthouse.
For years now, Penthouse had been trying to one-up Playboy by showing more and more explicit photos.
But, by 1975, they had taken it to a new level.
Penthouse was showing pictures of men and women together.
Threesomes Lesbian scenes They went so far as to put nudity on the cover, even though that meant it couldn't be fully displayed on newsstands.
Ooh baby I'm calling your bluff [Hugh Hefner.]
And finally, they showed full male nudity, the first mainstream magazine to do so.
Yes I do [Arthur Kretchmer.]
I remember opening the first copy of Penthouse that I ever saw, and I said aloud, this guy is photographing sex.
We are photographing pinups.
It was simply more lubricious.
It was a better job of the fantasy that the person you were looking at was available to you, that you might actually have sex.
Well whoo [sighing.]
What do you think? Well, I know it's gonna make headlines.
Art says it's going too far.
It probably is, for some people.
So you say go for it? Yeah.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I had always remained adamant that Playboy's photos would leave something to the imagination, but with the magazine's finances in jeopardy, I felt I had no choice but to match the competition.
My heart is aching, yeah I feel so sad now I'm in a world of [Hugh Hefner.]
In November of 1975, Playboy published its most explicit cover ever.
This is the way, yeah This is the way [Kretchmer.]
Now, the famous cover, her hand in her panties, I think he was very reluctant to print it, but we got mentioned in all of the stories, which was the whole point.
[Hugh Hefner.]
The controversy surrounding the cover did sell magazines, but not everyone was happy with my strategy.
The advertisers are upset.
About? Well, it seems every month, you're showing more and more.
It's getting more and more explicit.
And now this cover They are not happy.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Playboy had spent decades building up a sophisticated image that attracted high-end advertisers.
With the Playboy empire already in financial trouble, we couldn't afford to lose our ad revenue too.
I think that the time that Hefner decided to publish photos of a woman masturbating was probably more commercial than it was taking a stand about any particular issue, and I think that's a really fine line to take.
I think occasionally magazines can generate so much controversy that they create a lot of noise around themselves, but often, that can create much more long-term harm than anything else.
Thanks.
Tammy Linda You're back.
Just got in.
How was Nashville? Fine.
Hot.
Barbi Look, this doesn't have to be some big conversation.
It doesn't have to be a conversation at all.
Yes, it does.
You know I love you.
I know.
You know I don't ever want to hurt you.
I know.
It's just Hef, this place is a dream, but it's your dream.
Daddy Won't you buy That pretty dolly for me? [Benton.]
I think it was very hard on Hef when I became a performer and went on tour because I was gone a lot, and he was lonesome, so even though I was expected to be honorable, he kind of had that double standard and I wouldn't put up with it.
Eventually, that was our demise.
That sad old man [Teri Thomerson.]
When he was with Barbi Benton, I know that he's often said that was the most romantic time of his life.
It's no secret that one of the things that split Barbi and Hef up was the fact that he had a hard time, at that time in his life, being monogamous.
But they have stayed very close friends over the years, and I know they still love each other very much.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Barbi was gone and I felt more alone than ever at the head of a magazine that was falling apart.
I suddenly felt like I stood to lose everything so I did something I had resisted for a long time.
I brought in an outsider to serve as president and chief operating officer of the business named Derick Daniels.
Hefner had felt we needed a serious and qualified president of the company.
We hired Derick Daniels.
He ran the Miami Herald and TheDetroit Free Press and was considered well qualified for the job and well known.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Daniels' first order of business was trimming the fat.
He got Playboy out of the movie business, closed eight clubs, and cut payroll by 10%.
With Daniels on top of the finances, I was freed up to take stock of the magazine.
Even though our risqué cover had given us a boost, by the end of the year, our overall readership was down 2 million from its peak and ad revenues were down nearly 8%.
I realized the only way we were going to beat Penthouse was to concentrate on what we did best.
We focused on sophisticated content, running the work of great writers like Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut continuing our tradition of uncensored interviews with celebrities like David Bowie and Elton John The way the world is, get just what you can [Hugh Hefner.]
And reflecting what America was talking about.
Tomorrow, riddled as a man yeah yeah yeah [Hugh Hefner.]
1976 was an election year.
After losing faith in Richard Nixon and the Republican establishment two years earlier, many Americans were looking for a candidate who could bring about change in Washington.
One of the surprise frontrunners was a peanut farmer from Georgia who was pretty much unknown before the Democratic primary.
His name was Jimmy Carter.
1976, Jimmy Carter, going into the general election against the sitting President Gerald Ford.
But Carter was an Evangelical Baptist who would occasionally say that he was born again.
There was a great fear that he's going to take his religious values and now impose them on the American public.
To counteract that, Carter's advisors convinced him to do this interview for Playboy.
Everybody knows everybody goes Make a buck today [Kretchmer.]
Jimmy Carter interview, 1976.
The reason it was such a big deal is that a presidential candidate openly discussed lust in Playboy magazine.
The media made it the deal that it was.
We didn't know how that line, "adultery in my heart," was gonna play, but that issue sold 98% at the newsstand.
Get just what you can Wake up again tomorrow [Kretchmer.]
No magazine had ever sold 98% at the newsstand before.
[Hugh Hefner.]
While everyone was talking about what was inside the magazine, we also redoubled our efforts to make Playboy a force for social good in the world.
Good evening.
In Saigon, tearful farewells, but the promise of a better life as hundreds of Vietnamese orphans today began their journey toward new homes in the United States.
Love is all around me and so the feeling grows [Hugh Hefner.]
The Vietnam war officially ended in April of 1975, but it left a humanitarian crisis in its wake and I wanted Playboy to do what it could to help.
I deployed The Big Bunny and dozens of jet bunnies to fly Vietnamese orphans to their new foster homes.
My mind is made up by the way that I feel In San Francisco, we met the children with our plane and they were flown to various cities in this country.
It was a Playboy baby lift.
It's written on the wind - It's everywhere I go - [Hugh Hefner.]
I also wanted to give back to my new adopted home of Los Angeles and the movie industry that had inspired me since I was a kid so I threw a fundraiser at the mansion to preserve a Hollywood landmark.
Love sweet love won't you be good to me? The Hollywood sign was in decay in the '70s, and he had a fundraiser here.
Lucille Ball, Alice Cooper both donated money to have it rebuilt.
Anybody down to party down tonight? To him, the Hollywood sign is our Statue of Liberty or our Eiffel Tower and what that represents.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I felt like Playboy was getting back on track.
But while our other ventures may have wavered, one part of the company was still thriving.
Get on down [Hugh Hefner.]
Victor Lownes' casino in London.
Get up [Hugh Hefner.]
Thanks to a weak pound and steady stream of oil money from Middle Eastern sheiks and businessmen Gotta get up [Hugh Hefner.]
the casino was bringing in $26 million annually.
Get on down Gotta get up, gotta get up, gotta get up [Victor Lownes.]
The money that we made here in London was supporting the entire Playboy operation.
Sit on down Playboy editorial could get better contributors as a result, just with the extra money that we were plowing into the main office.
[Hugh Hefner.]
With the success of the London casino, Victor began to believe the rest of Playboy could recover financially if we could duplicate the formula that worked in London here in the U.
S.
And he knew just the place to do it.
Atlantic City.
Deep in the jungle where the coconuts grow [Hugh Hefner.]
Gambling had only been legalized in Atlantic City since 1974, and developers were already buying up land and starting to build a casino and resort strip to rival Las Vegas.
A monkey over here monkey over there [James Karmel.]
I think it was almost a natural that Hugh Hefner would look at Atlantic City as a great opportunity to help revive the Playboy Enterprises company.
The idea was, we can bring in a high clientele of gamblers, just the way they had in England, by offering up this kind of Playboy experience and, you know, bringing it to the Jersey shore.
[Lownes.]
It's just that I think we have a real opportunity here.
We have the chance to establish ourselves as the premiere casino in all of the East Coast.
And you don't anticipate any issues managing Atlantic City and London at the same time? Not at all.
But we do run the risk of you being stretched thin, and from my experience, that can lead to oversights.
Look, Daniels, I've been doing this for a while now, and you're the new guy, okay? So, why don't you just focus on getting everything on your end taken care of and I'll take care of mine.
How about that? Victor hasn't let us down yet.
And I don't intend to.
Fine.
I'll get the ball rolling.
Thanks.
[Hugh Hefner.]
While Victor and Daniels got started on our biggest casino yet, I turned my attention to an upcoming milestone for the magazine our 25th anniversary.
Our January 1979 issue reflected how far we'd come both as a magazine and as a culture, from our 1953 cover with Marilyn Monroe, when no one was even talking about sex, to our fight in court for freedom of speech over Jayne Mansfield's photos, and our coverage of civil rights in Vietnam.
The 25th anniversary issue featured articles by famous writers like Shel Silverstein and Gore Vidal and an in-depth interview with Marlon Brando, but the real centerpiece of our 25th anniversary celebration was The Great Playmate Hunt.
Never had the pleasure Of loving you [Hugh Hefner.]
Over the course of six months, we sent out photographers to 28 American cities in search of the most beautiful women across the country.
You're everything that I desire [Hugh Hefner.]
The result was a pictorial featuring our 16 gorgeous finalists.
All because you're so unique baby I can't help but love you girl None can compete girl with you You Oh oh Ah [Hugh Hefner.]
And the winner of our $25,000 prize was a 23-year-old Oklahoma college student named Candy Stanton.
We threw a giant party to celebrate inviting movie stars, along with much of Playboy's original staff like my old friends Eldon Sellers and Vince Tajiri.
Even former Playmate Janet Pilgrim was on hand.
But the girl that caught my eye that night wasn't the winner of the hunt Hi.
[Hugh Hefner.]
but the runner-up.
Hi.
[Hugh Hefner.]
A 19-year-old named Dorothy Stratten.
Pictures didn't do you justice.
Looking at you now, I don't see how you didn't win.
Oh.
It was just an honor to make it as far as I did.
All of this, it's incredible and a little overwhelming, to be honest.
Well, you'll have plenty of time to get used to it.
I have a feeling you're gonna be here a lot.
You're up on your feet now baby [Kretchmer.]
Dorothy Stratten was a beautiful, phenomenal blonde who came into Playboy's life.
I know She was striking in the most old-fashioned movie star.
You couldn't believe that someone was put together like this.
Since the day I met you [Hugh Hefner.]
As a young girl, Dorothy was raised in a broken home in Vancouver, Canada.
[Stephen Martinez.]
Dorothy Stratten grew up in a family with a single mom raising three kids.
She worked behind the counter at the Dairy Queen.
[Hugh Hefner.]
It hadn't been Dorothy's idea to enter The Playmate Hunt.
It was her boyfriend, a man named Paul Snider, nine years older than her, who had sent us her pictures.
[Martinez.]
Paul Snider would recruit women to model in car shows.
He was just trying to hustle any way he could to get beautiful women, so he walked into the Dairy Queen, saw Dorothy, you know, this beautiful woman behind the counter, and thought, you know, this girl is the girl next door.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Dorothy married Paul and brought him with her to L.
A.
In August of 1979, we made Dorothy Playmate of the Month.
Her pictorial became a favorite with readers.
We began featuring her in Playboy television specials.
Hey, Dorothy's coming.
I'll bet you $100 she'll pretend not to see me.
[Caan.]
She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.
I was convinced that in Vancouver, you know, there's some mad scientist working on some kind of beauty pill.
It was just mindboggling.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Her charisma was undeniable and Dorothy soon used her Playboy celebrity to start an acting career.
Over the next few months, Dorothy was cast in roles on the hit TV show Buck Rogers, Fantasy Island, and in the sci-fi movie Galaxina.
But her big break came when Oscar-winning director Peter Bogdanovich cast her in his new movie, They All Laughed, alongside John Ritter, Ben Gazzara, and Audrey Hepburn.
And now, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to welcome all of you here for the presentation of our 1980 Playmate of the Year, and she is something rather special, Canadian-born Dorothy Stratten.
Dorothy, you want to come up here? [cheers and applause.]
I'm sure that this has been many a girl's dream and certainly many of the Playmates' dream, and it's been mine.
[cheers and applause.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
Dorothy's star was on the rise but no one suspected that her personal life would begin to haunt her.
What is it? Uh, it's Paul.
He's at the front gate, demanding to be let in.
Oh, my gosh.
I told him this was just Is he causing a scene or ? No, they would have called the police.
He's just refusing to leave.
Dorothy, if you need me to do anything No, no.
It's fine.
Here is this guy that discovered her, and all of a sudden, now she's in movies.
She's Playmate of the Year.
Her career is blossoming.
I think he started really losing it and getting paranoid like he's losing her.
[Hugh Hefner.]
I was proud of Dorothy and glad she was leaving for New York to shoot Bogdanovich's film without Paul.
[emcee.]
Let's hear it for Hef! Hey! [cheering.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
Around the same time, one of my own dreams was coming true.
[emcee.]
We have a ceremony today for the 1,716th star to be placed in the Walk of Fame.
[cheering.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
Those of you who know me best know what a very, very special day today is.
I have chosen to make Southern California my home.
This town, the dreams that are created, the films that are created, undoubtedly have more influence on me than any other single factor in my life, and I just want you to know that it means more to me than a Pulitzer Prize.
Thank you very much.
I mean it.
[cheers and applause.]
[Hugh Hefner.]
I was honored to be a real part of Hollywood history, something I'd dreamt about since I was a kid growing up in Chicago.
But while I was receiving accolades, I had no idea the trouble in Dorothy Stratten's personal life was building because while she was working in New York, her husband Paul was unraveling in L.
A.
Today I'm just a lonely man But tomorrow I'll be okay [Martinez.]
While the film was filming in New York, Peter Bogdanovich started having an affair with Dorothy on the set.
The whole wide world will watch me As I walk up to my throne Knights in shining armor And that just kind of drove Paul Snider a little mental.
Why Why Have I lost you? Have I lost you? Why? Why? Tell me why Miss Stratten, you have a phone call.
Thanks.
Hello? Hello? Don't Don't hang up.
How did you get this number? Why are you doing this to me? You think I don't know what unavailable means? Unavailable means "fuck you, Paul.
" I know you're fucking him.
Paul, stop.
Please stop.
All I did was love you from the moment I met you, but you don't love me anymore.
You don't love me anymore, huh? I just want to be happy.
[sniffles.]
Just let me be happy.
[exhaling.]
Baby, see me one more time? Please? Just once.
Okay, well, I've got to go now.
I love you.
You're gonna make me cry You're gonna make [Hugh Hefner.]
When the film wrapped, Dorothy returned to L.
A.
, ready to tell Paul that she wanted a divorce.
Oh baby Don't make me cry [knocking.]
[music playing softly on stereo.]
Didn't have to knock, baby.
This is your house.
It's over.
My lawyer will contact yours.
You'll be looked after.
I promise.
Endings are never easy.
[volume increasing.]
Want to hold her tight Lord make her be all right I'm afraid for the scrubby pine All the sweet honeysuckle vine I'm afraid for my home For the fields that I roamed Kick along down a homeward road And your heart's gotta take the load I'm afraid to go home I'm afraid to go home [gunshot.]
Read it and weep, Hef.
Oh, really? Yeah.
[laughing.]
What's the matter? The police are on the phone.
The police? It's Dorothy.
Hugh Hefner.
Mr.
Hefner, this is Detective Simmons with the LAPD Homicide Division.
We are currently conducting an investigation at 10881 Clarkson Road in Rancho Park and have identified the victim's body as a Miss Dorothy Stratten.
I'm very sorry to have to call you with this news, but it's my understanding that you can assist us in notifying next of kin.
Did Snider do this? I'd very much like to leave my number with you so that, should I need any more information Paul Snider, her husband.
Her ex-husband.
They're separated.
Mr.
Hefner You have to find him.
He might try and leave the country.
Mr.
Hefner, Mr.
Snider's body is also at the scene.
We're treating this as a murder/suicide.
[Hugh Hefner.]
On August 14th, 1980 Paul Snider shot and killed Dorothy Stratten and then turned the gun on himself.
She was only 20 years old.
The Dorothy Stratten situation was was awful.
She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and sweet and I don't know, macho me, I'd try to protect her.
I didn't even know she was married to that creep.
[Hugh Hefner.]
As details of the horrific crime were made public, my shock turned to horror.
I wondered if there was something I could have done to save her.
Hef was deeply affected by Dorothy's death.
He felt very protective of her and believed that she was with a bad guy and hoped very much that she could and would leave him.
[Johnny Carson.]
Yeah.
You You're from Vancouver.
[Dorothy Stratten.]
Uh-huh.
[Carson.]
Now, what did you do in Vancouver? Were you a professional model at all before ? [Stratten.]
No, I had just graduated from high school when I was approached by Playboy and I was working in a telephone company.
I was a clerk typist.
You're putting me on.
No.
I worked there just six weeks before they carried me away.
That was a good move.
[laughter.]
The only good thing that ever came out of the telephone company.
[Hugh Hefner.]
In the span of five years, I lost both Bobbie now Dorothy.
[Hugh Hefner.]
Death It's the one injustice that is universal.
It's the great injustice that you have to deal with.
But Dorothy It was so unjust.
[woman.]
Every little movement Every motion of your hips I feel the compulsion To pull you to my sweet lips Is it a black magic spell You put me under? This miracle moment Never let it end Every little movement Is beyond improvement You are the magician I've been wishing for forever Every little movement Every little movement