The FBI against Hugh Hefner

El FBI había investigado a Hugh Hefner y la policía de Chicago lo arrestó por obscenidad cuando publicó las fotos de la actriz Jayne Mansfield en su revista Playboy. Mansfield posó para la revista en febrero de 1955. Las copias de esa edición se vendieron a 10 dólares.

Hefner at the time told the FBI that his magazine was like Esquire…

Playboy knew what it was getting in choosing actress Jayne Mansfield for Playmate of the Month in February 1955…

The trial resulted in a hung jury that voted 7 to 5 for acquittal…

Hefner claimed that the Director was wrong in his statements about pornography being a multimillion dollar business…

En vocabulario: hung jury

The FBI has released its file on Hugh Hefner, who died in 2017, one of many celebrities the agency has investigated over the years.

The file revealed that the FBI interviewed Hefner on a few occasions in the late 1950s and early 1960s over what the FBI called "obscene material."

In a memo to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the agent in charge of Hefner's file suggested that the FBI surveil Hefner to see if he was violating laws.

The specific issue was whether Hefner and his photographer, identified by the FBI as Edward Oppman, wanted to transport "pornographic images" across state lines.

However, the FBI found they did not violate any statues.

"Persons interviewed advised that Hefner too clever to violate Federal or local laws," a summary of the bureau's investigation reads.

Hefner at the time told the FBI that his magazine was like Esquire.

He was eventually arrested by local authorities in Chicago for publishing photos of actress Jayne Mansfield that the city deemed "obscene and suggestive," and Hefner beat the charges at a jury trial.

Mansfield with Hargitay in Los Angeles, 1956

“Playboy knew what it was getting in choosing actress Jayne Mansfield for Playmate of the Month in February 1955: an iconic sex symbol who would take the 1950s and ‘60s by storm…”

...It is noted that beginning in December, 1962, Hefner began a series of editorials in his magazine which set forth the guiding principles and editorial credo of this magazine. In the February issue, Hefner claimed that the Director was wrong in his statements about pornography being a multimillion dollar business and of its supposed effect upon the Nation´s youth. Hefner claimed that Mr. Hoover had made these comments to take attention away from the embarrassment of the Nation´s crime syndicate which the FBI was unable to do “anything effective about...”

Investigation at Chicago reflects Hugh Hefner and Edward Zukor Oppman,are producing nude photographs made of young models who posed thinking their photographs are to appear in “Playboy” Magazine or used for modeling purposes. Hefner is editor and publisher of “Playboy” Magazine and Oppman is a professional photographer...  

... The March, 1963, issue of this magazine has been reviewed and is attached. Hefner´s editorial comments begin on page 55 and, in general, deal with the “puritanism attitude” which, he claims, exists in America today...

Para saber

Mansfield posed nude for the February 1955 issue of Playboy, which helped launch her career and increased the magazine's circulation.

In 1963, Hugh Hefner unexpectedly noticed photographs that Bill Kobrin had taken of Jayne Mansfield and asked him to shoot her centerfold for Playboy. In June of that year, photos in which she appeared naked on the set of the film Promises! Promises! were used in a series of photographs that were published in a Playboy pictorial (titled The Nudest Jayne Mansfield). The pictorial was printed with a description that went, "enjoying the luxuries of a bubble bath and a double bed". It included pictures that show Mansfield staring at her breast, as does T.C. Jones (Babbette, a female impersonator hair stylist), then grasping it in her hand and lifting it high. That issue of the magazine was banned, and publisher Hugh Hefner was arrested by the Chicago police in June 1963; it was the only time in his life that Hefner was ever arrested. The trial resulted in a hung jury that voted 7 to 5 for acquittal. Copies of the issue reportedly sold for as much as $10 each. Since that Jayne Mansfield fiasco, Playboy was scrutinized by the Customs Department issue-by-issue until 1967, and they found 51 issues out of 51 objectionable.

Mansfield with Hargitay and children, London, 1959

Vocabulario

A hung jury or deadlocked jury is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority.

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