Playboy Videos are videos released by Playboy Enterprises, Inc., the publishers of
Playboy magazine. The first videos were titled “Playboy Video Magazine” and 12 volumes were produced during the years 1982–1987. They borrowed the format of the magazine itself and included interviews, essays, journalism, and pictorials of beautiful women.
CalendarsIn 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 since 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 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 Playmate video 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.
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 common to all the playmate profiles was the sense of optimism.
Playmate Of The Year Video CenterfoldsEvery year, a Playmate of the Year (or PMOY) is chosen by Playboy magazine. At the same time that the chosen PMOY has her centerfold taken, 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 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
Jenny McCarthy's PMOY video centerfold
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. McDougal is the only Playmate to have a video segment presented in such format to date (2006).
Sexy Lingerie SeriesIn
Playboy's 1988 Sexy Lingerie, the narrator introduces the premise behind the video which was to be explored in 5 further titles in the series:
“…
Lingerie comes in a
rainbow of colors, materials, and designs, each with a mood of its own. What is it about these wisps of fabric that can make them even more arousing than total nudity? Perhaps the secret lies in what lingerie conceals as well as reveals, exciting the imagination and appealing to the greatest
erogenous zone of all—the
mind…”
The first video in the series could be seen as a sketchy history of lingerie. From a brief dictionary definition of lingerie given in the introduction it proceeds to examine what makes lingerie so alluring to both men and women.
Sexy Lingerie II–VI continued where the first video left off. In the earlier titles of the series playmates were shown in static poses which, although artistic, tended to make them appear distant. 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 SeriesThe series Wet and Wild, which devoted much of its time to showing the playmates in various liquid environments, was released in 1989. Playboy produced a further 9 videos which formed 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 works of
art, some sequences could be described as being risqué.
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 as in all videos up to this point playmates had only been involved in 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.
