‘Penthouse,' ‘Playboy’ both claim victory

Press, 12 July 1985, Page 6

‘Penthouse,' ‘Playboy’ both claim victory

NZPA-Reuter New York “Penthouse” and “Playooy” have claimed victory in their noisy feud to be the first to publish photo spreads of the rock star, Madonna, in the nude. Millions of copies of the highly competitive men’s magazines started hitting the news-stands yesterday about the same time with page upon page of nude photographs of the former model and now full-time rock star.

“We’ve won,” declared “Penthouse’s” publisher, Mr Bob Guccione, insisting that his magazine’s 17 pages of nude Madonna were more erotic and more explicit than “Playboy’s” 14 pages. All the photos were taken six years ago when Madonna was a model.

“We’ve won,” said “Playboy’s” chief spokesman, Paul Engleman, asserting that “Penthouse” had had to spend a fortune to remake its September issue to match “Playboy’s” photo spread. Mr Guccione denied that and said that “Playboy’s” photos were ones that “Penthouse” had rejected as not being sexy enough. Madonna is non-plussed by the fuss.

“I am not ashamed of anything,” she said as she made plans to get married next month to an actor, Sean Penn, who recently punched a photographer who tried to take Madonna’s picture while she was fully clothed. But the nude feud has cost the rock star the keys to Bay City, Michigan, her home town. The Mayor said that a day in her honour was being cancelled because of the publicity.

The real winner in the nude feud may be the “New York Post,” which on Wednesday beat “Playboy” and “Penthouse” by publishing a bare-breasted photo of the star, giving its readers an advance peek of “Madonna in the buff.”

The loser may be a Texas photographer, Herman Kulkens, who took “Penthouse” to court to get his photos of Madonna back after “Playboy” had told him they were worth “six figures” and Mr Guccione had sent him a cheque for only JU525.000 ($52,750). Mr Kulkens says that he never made a deal with “Penthouse” and sent the cheque back. In the end neither magazine published Mr Kulkens’ work — they used photos taken by other photographers when Madonna was an artist’s model in New York in 1979. Mr Guccione said that he might not want Mr Kulkens’ pictures since there were an awful lot of nude Madonnas around these days. But “Playboy” said that it still might consider buying them. “This is the biggest thing we’ve done since we published nude photos of Vanessa Williams,” Mr Guccione said, referring to last year’s “Penthouse” spread featuring the first black “Miss America.” Miss Williams lost her title and is suing the magazine.

Asked why nude photos of Madonna were causing such interest, Mr Guccione said, “I think she has got a very good body. She was a dancer and it shows. She is well-proportioned. She has a strong, muscular, sensuous body with a good face. “She is also the hottest name in show business.”