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When photographing Penthouse centerfold models—he insists on finding ones who have never appeared in the nude before—Guccione quietly coaxes them out of their shyness, crooning "Beautiful, beautiful" as the clothes drop and the shutter clicks.
Comic Strip. The two have more in common than they may realize. Both wanted to be cartoonists; Guccione contributes Jules FeifTerish pieces to his magazine, Hefner once maintained a comic strip on the events of his life. Both men are divorced parents, and both have employed their own fathers as corporate treasurers. Glenn Hefner, 75, is a shy, church-going Methodist whose hobby is photographing flowers; white-haired Anthony Guccione, 68, is an accountant whose hip dress style reflects that of his son.
Most important, both Hefner and Guccione are harddriving, ambitious men who have accumulated wealth by anticipating the taste of their times.
Hefner shrewdly assessed a massive change in public attitude about sex a generation ago (Playboy will turn 20 in January); Guccione proved that the enthusiasm for magazines celebrating that change is wider than had been previously believed. But there are signs —early ones, to be sure—that public attitudes may be moving in a different direction. In short, the skin kings seem secure for some time to come, but it just may be that they have reached the limits of the New Frontier of Sex.