Posted on 01/19/2016 8:11:20 AM PST by Drew68
The glory days of gentlemen's magazines are fading fast.
Penthouse Magazine, the long-running and raunchier rival of Playboy, said Friday that it is ending its print edition after 50 years on the newsstand and will now only be offered in digital format.
"Reimagined for the preferred consumption of content today by consumers, the digital version of Penthouse Magazine will combine and convert everything readers know and love about the print magazine experience to the power of a digital experience," publisher FriendFinder Network said in a statement.
The move comes just months after Playboy announced that it would no longer publish nude photographs as part of a broad redesign that will be unveiled in March.
Adult magazines have long struggled with adapting to the digital era. They were among the first media outlets to see their audiences slip away as wide varieties of adult content became available online.
Penthouse, which once sold over 5 million copies, has endured a rocky path over the past decade since founder Bob Guccione filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and lost control of the company. In 2013, FriendFinder Networks, which also operates a variety of adult social-networking sites, filed for bankruptcy and ceased being publicly traded.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Anyhow, end of an era.
Porn has fallen on hard times due to the glut of free porn on the Internet.
Why pay for porn when you watch it for free?
Another phony skin mag that aspired to greatness instead of just admitting it was a teen-age boy’s “secret.”
This is the saddest moment of my adult life.
Wow. The printed edition started about 50 years ago — I was just entering my teens and roaming the woods with my friends looking for old Playboys and Penthouses that boobie fans had discarded there for, ahem, some reason...
Hey, at least I was out in the woods, getting fresh air...
In the old days, we teen kids furtively glanced through skin magazines to um - check out the hottest centerfolds.
Today, that thrill is gone forever.
What about “Players”.
Back when he was still funny, Chris Rock did a funny bit.
You know if you’ve noticed, there’s no good black dirty magazines. You know, white guys have all the good dirty magazines: Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler...You know, all black guys have is Players magazine, the worst porno mag ever. First of all the pictures aren’t even in focus, okay, this a bunch of pictures of black girls sittin’ on the toilet, you know. You know Playboy, you know, the girls are all air brushed. You don’t see any marks whatsoever.
You get Players, you know the girls you got stretch marks from the ten kids she had, you see a big bullet wound in her ass.
Many a Boy Scout paper drive was derailed by the sudden discovery of Gentlemen’s Publications that some donors attempted to disguise in bundles of newspapers, Time/Life mags, etc.
Its true - nobody ever read them for the articles.
Looking at beautiful women was always a male pastime.
Now that is history.
When I was in grade school, there was a kid on the block whose liberal parents gave him a subscription to Playboy and Penthouse.
He was the most popular kid in school no matter how weird he was.
“Gentlemen’s” magazines?
“Arrested Development” would be more like it.
Never seen so many Scouts willing to help.
Pinup girls have always been an American cultural staple.
Somehow, viewing them in privacy on a computer monitor isn’t the same.
Life goes on.
Penthouse Forum stuff.
Did he turn out blind?
TTITWP
Dear Penthouse Letters,
I never thought this would happen to me, but the other day I was by the apartment complex pool when these two women ...
Uh huh... American sex seems innocent and wholesome.
When I went to Europe, I was shocked at bare-chested women hawking TV commercials.
Its true, Americans tend to like their TV discreet.
A friend of mine was managing a convenience store 25 yrs. ago. He used to rail about one particular regular customer who would always come in to buy a quart of milk and the latest Hustler.
He used a food stamp to pay for the milk. He pulled out a fresh $20 for his Hustler.
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