86-470: Penthouse is a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione and published by Los Angeles –based Penthouse World Media, LLC . It combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictures of women that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore pornographic pictures of women. Although Guccione was American, the magazine was founded in the United Kingdom in 1965, and first published simultaneously in
172-454: A Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children , for Timeless Tales and Music of Our Time . In 2003–04, she made 10 appearances as a panelist on the game show Hollywood Squares . In 2004, she made a guest appearance on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! , an NPR news panel game , and in 2007 she appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly . In January 2009, the 55th anniversary issue of Playboy magazine included Westheimer as #13 in
258-413: A Master of Arts in sociology from The New School in 1959, and earned a doctorate at age 42 from Teachers College, Columbia University , in 1970. Over the next decade, she taught at a number of universities and had a private sex therapy practice. Westheimer's media career began in 1980 with the radio call-in show Sexually Speaking , which continued until 1990. In 1983 it was the top-rated radio show in
344-457: A postdoctoral researcher at New York-Presbyterian Hospital . She continued to work there as an adjunct associate professor for five years. She also taught at Lehman College , Brooklyn College , Hunter College , Adelphi University , Columbia University , Yale University , Princeton University , New York University , New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center / Weill Cornell Medicine , and West Point . She treated sex therapy patients in
430-578: A "world class charmer". One journalist described her voice as "a cross between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse ". She was noted for having "an accent only a psychologist could love", one that was "dripping chicken soup." In 1984 The New York Times noted that on radio the 55-year-old had risen "from obscurity to almost instant stardom." Journalist Jeannette Catsoulis wrote later in The New York Times , "It's hard to explain how revolutionary her humor, candor and sexual explicitness seemed for
516-464: A 1990 commercial for Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo and body wash, a 1991 Pepsi commercial (along with Annette Funicello , Frankie Avalon , Bo Jackson , and Gilbert Gottfried ), and a 1994 Honda Prelude ad. In 2000, she appeared on Grammy Award winner Tom Chapin 's album This Pretty Planet , in the song "Two Kinds of Seagulls", in which she and Chapin sing in a duet of various animals that reproduce sexually. "It takes two to tingle" says
602-776: A 5,000 German marks restitution cheque paid by the German government to children whose education was disrupted by the Holocaust, she immigrated to the United States with her French boyfriend, Dan Bommer, settling in Washington Heights, Manhattan . They married and had a daughter, Miriam, but soon divorced. She worked as a maid, initially for 75 cents an hour and later for one dollar an hour (equal to $ 11.21 today) to put herself through graduate school. Westheimer earned an M.A. degree in sociology from The New School in 1959, with
688-600: A TV commercial for Signal mouthwash . In 1990, Westheimer starred in an ABC sitcom pilot, Dr. Ruth's House , which aired as a one-time special in June of that year. ABC did not move forward in turning the pilot into a series. In 1993, Westheimer and Israeli TV host Arad Nir hosted a talk show in Hebrew titled Min Tochnit , on the newly opened Israeli Channel 2 . The show was similar to her U.S. Sexually Speaking show. The name of
774-443: A bankruptcy auction for US$ 11.2 million; other companies, such as MindGeek , also participated in the auction. Penthouse Global Media, Inc. was later spun off from WGCZ and renamed Penthouse World Media. The magazine's editorial content was praised and recognized by those in the academic field. In 1975, for example, Guccione was honored by Brandeis University for focusing "his editorial attention on such critical issues of our day as
860-555: A bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin. In late 1985 the group began to focus on the printer of Penthouse , Meredith Corporation . They bought shares in the company and attended their annual stockholder's meeting. The women were not allowed to speak, but they removed their coats, revealing images from a Penthouse shoot about Japanese rope bondage —among which two poses were construed by Farley to evoke dead bodies—ironed onto [their] shirts. As of 2015: Men%27s magazine This
946-577: A broad male audience. Some skew toward men's fashion, others to health. Most are marketed to a particular age and income demographic . In the US, some are marketed mainly to a specific ethnic group, such as African Americans or Mexicans. Canada Belgium Others Japan India Others Men's lifestyle magazines ( lad mags in the UK and specifically men's magazines in North America) were popular in
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#17328444752471032-725: A caregiver and mother-like figure to the younger children. She remained at the orphanage for six years. Girls at the orphanage were not allowed to take classes at the local school. However, a boy at the school secretly loaned her his textbooks at night so she could read them in secret and continue her education. While at the Swiss orphanage, Westheimer corresponded with her mother and grandmother via letters. Their letters ceased in 1941, when her parents and her paternal grandmother were deported to Łódź Ghetto on 20 October 1941. There, her father and his mother died in 1942. Before learning about this later in her life, she had believed that her father
1118-523: A cost of $ 45 million. However, the casino filed for bankruptcy the following year and was closed. In 1978, Penthouse began construction of the Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey . However, Penthouse was unable to raise additional funding and construction stopped in 1980. The project sat idle until Donald Trump acquired the site in 1993. Penthouse sponsors
1204-761: A gun in my hand I am the equal of a soldier who's 6 feet 7 — and perhaps even at a slight advantage, as I make a smaller target. —Ruth Westheimer Westheimer joined the Haganah Jewish Zionist underground paramilitary organization (later, the Israel Defense Forces ) in Jerusalem. Because of her diminutive height of 4 feet 7 inches (140 cm), she was trained as a scout and sniper . Of this experience, she said, "I never killed anybody, but I know how to throw hand grenades and shoot." She became an ace sniper, and learned to assemble
1290-484: A half hour at 10 pm on weeknights. She ended each show by reminding her audience: "Have good sex!" The show was expanded in 1985 to a full hour, and its name was changed to The Dr. Ruth Show . During each of her live shows, 3,000 callers tried to get through, and the show attracted an average of 450,000 viewers a night, double the audience previously watching at that hour, and attracted more viewers than any other show on Lifetime; that number rose to two million homes
1376-414: A lecture to New York broadcasters about the need for sex education programming to help deal with issues of contraception and unwanted pregnancies. Betty Elam, the community affairs manager at WYNY, was impressed with her talk and offered Westheimer $ 25 per week to make Sexually Speaking , which started as a 15-minute show airing every Sunday at midnight, which was historically a dead time. By 1981, as
1462-452: A limited number of mainstream advertisers to the magazine, it did not significantly raise the number of subscribers; total circulation is still below 350,000. Some of Penthouse ' s secondary publications, such as Girls of Penthouse , continue to feature occasional images of explicit sex, either classic sets from the 1990s issues or stills of adult video shoots staged by the company's Digital Media division. In 1974, Guccione invested in
1548-454: A line of four illustrated magazines with the addition of Penthouse Max , Penthouse Men's Adventure Comix and Omni Comix . In 2023 Penthouse revived the comic label as Penthouse Comics. The first issue launched in February 2024 to 30,000 copies sold. Penthouse Variations is a monthly magazine containing ostensibly reader-generated erotic stories (primarily) and some pictures and reviews. It
1634-485: A list of the 55 most important people in sex from the past 55 years. That year, Vanity Fair named her one of "12 women who changed the way we look at sex." She also appeared in the 2009 documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel . In 2011, interior designer Nate Berkus hosted her on The Nate Berkus Show , after redoing the living room and dining room of her Manhattan apartment, in which she had lived for 50 years, to reduce clutter. She appeared as
1720-517: A local radio personality who had been hired as a DJ and jumped into the swimming pool naked. The magazine's pictorials offered more sexually explicit content than what was commonly seen in most openly sold men's magazines of the era. It was the first to show female pubic hair , followed by full-frontal nudity, and eventually, the exposed vulva and anus . Penthouse has also featured a number of authorized and unauthorized photos of celebrities, such as Madonna and Vanessa Williams . In both cases,
1806-473: A press release emanating from then-owner Friend Finder Networks announced that Penthouse would end its print operations and move to all digital. However, managing director Kelly Holland quickly disavowed the decision and pledged to keep the print version of the magazine alive. The magazine's symbol was initially a single skeleton key , and in January 1973 became three keys. It was conceived by Bob Guccione and
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#17328444752471892-549: A private practice, on East 73rd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Make believe it's an ice cream cone. —Westheimer, upon being asked for advice as to how to perform oral sex on a man . Described as "Grandma Freud " and the " Sister Wendy of Sexuality", Westheimer helped revolutionize talk about sex and sexuality on radio and television, advocating for speaking openly about sexual issues. She fielded questions ranging from women who did not have orgasms , to
1978-447: A rifle in the dark. When she was 90 years old, she demonstrated that she was still able to put together a Sten gun with her eyes closed. In 1948, on her 20th birthday, Westheimer was seriously wounded in action by an exploding shell during a mortar fire attack on Jerusalem during the 1947–1949 Palestine war ; the explosion killed two girls who were right next to her. Temporarily paralyzed and with two injured feet (one missing
2064-551: A series of Playboy instructional videos entitled "Making Love". She also wrote a column distributed both nationally and internationally by the King Features Syndicate . In 1996, she co-authored Heavenly Sex , on Judaism and sex, in which she wrote: "The great rabbi Simeon ben-Halafta called the penis the great peacemaker of the home." She referred to the Book of Ruth as encouraging single women to initiate sex (providing
2150-475: A shoot. As the magazine grew more successful, Guccione openly embraced a life of luxury; his former mansion is said to be the largest private residence in Manhattan at 22,000 square feet (2,000 m). However, in contrast to Hugh Hefner , who threw wild parties at his Playboy Mansions , life at Guccione's mansion was remarkably sedate, even during the hedonistic 1970s. He reportedly once had his bodyguards eject
2236-403: A significant increase in sales. PH.UK closed in late 1998. Starting with the January 2005 issue, the new owners significantly softened the content of the magazine. Penthouse no longer showed male genitalia, real or simulated male-female sex, nor any form of explicit hardcore content (it does still feature female-female simulated sex on occasions). While this change was followed by the return of
2322-505: A subsidiary of FriendFinder Networks Inc. In February 2016, Penthouse Global Media – a new company headed by Penthouse Entertainment managing director Kelly Holland – acquired the Penthouse brand from FriendFinder Networks. Penthouse Global Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 11, 2018, to address debt-related issues. Penthouse Global Media, Inc. were acquired by WGCZ Ltd., operators of XVideos , on June 4, 2018, after winning
2408-530: A top portion), she spent months in a recuperative ward before walking again. In 2018 she said that she still visited Israel every year, and felt that it was her real home, and the following year said that she was and is a Zionist. In 1950, at the age of 22, Westheimer married and moved to France with her first husband, David Bar-Haim, an Israeli soldier who had been accepted to medical school in Paris. There, she studied psychology under psychologist Jean Piaget at
2494-597: A week. In April 1985 she appeared on the cover of People . That year she also appeared as an actress in the French romantic comedy film Une Femme ou Deux ( One Woman or Two ), starring Gérard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver , playing the part of a wealthy philanthropist. Dr. Ruth's Game of Good Sex was released in 1985. A Baltimore distributor said: "I'm going to have to compare this to Trivial Pursuit . The orders overshadow anything we've had in our company's 100-year history." Dr. Ruth's Computer Game of Good Sex
2580-561: Is a list of men's magazines from around the world. These are magazines (periodical print publications) that have been published primarily for a readership of men . The list has been split into subcategories according to the target audience of the magazines. This list includes adult magazines . Not included here are magazines which may happen to have, or may be assumed to have, a predominantly male audience - such as magazines focusing on cars, trains, modelbuilding and gadgets. The list excludes online publications. These publications appeal to
2666-402: Is a spin-off magazine from Penthouse Letters . It was initially published in 1978. Variations focuses on "kinkier" topics of sexuality , such as bondage , fetish clothing , exhibitionism , voyeurism , foot fetishism , water sports , female dominance , bisexual exploration , transsexualism and sadomasochism , among others. In 1983, Penthouse teamed up with Vestron Video to launch
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2752-839: Is about Westheimer's life, as is the 2019 documentary, Ask Dr. Ruth , directed by Ryan White . She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame , and awarded the Magnus Hirschfeld Medal , the Ellis Island Medal of Honor , the Leo Baeck Medal , the Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger Award , and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . I come from Nazi Germany. And the one thing I've learned
2838-788: Is all right with me". Asked a question as to having sex with an animal, she responded: "I'm not a veterinarian." She spoke out against engaging in any sexual activity under pressure, and against pedophilia . She educated her listeners about sexually transmitted diseases , and spoke out strongly in favor of having sex, in favor of contraception being used, in favor of the availability of abortion as an aid for contraception failures, in favor of sex within relationships rather than one-night stands , in favor of funding for Planned Parenthood, and in favor of research on AIDS . She became known for giving serious advice while being candid and funny, but warm, cheerful, and respectful; and for her tag phrase: "Get some." Journalist Joyce Wadler described her as
2924-561: Is that you must stand up for what you believe. Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel, in the small village of Wiesenfeld (now part of Karlstadt am Main ), in Germany . She was the only child of Orthodox Jews , Irma (née Hanauer), a housekeeper, and Julius Siegel, a notions wholesaler and son of the family for whom Irma worked. From the age of one, she lived in an apartment in Frankfurt with her parents and her paternal grandmother, Selma, who
3010-470: The Stolen Honeymoon sex tape featuring Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee . It also began to regularly feature pictorials of female models urinating , which, until then, had been considered a defining limit of illegal obscenity as distinguished from legal pornography. A different approach to restoring sales was attempted by the UK version of the magazine in 1997. Under the editorship of Tom Hilditch ,
3096-526: The BBC radio show Desert Island Discs in 1990 ; on The Arsenio Hall Show once in 1990, once in 1991, once in 1993, and once in 1994; on The Howard Stern Show once in 1991; on Late Night with Conan O'Brien once in 1994 , twice in 1995 , three times in 1996, and once in 1997 ; on The Daily Show once in 1998 ; and was featured in a Celebrity Deathmatch episode in 1999 . Westheimer also appeared in several commercial advertisements, including
3182-555: The German Citizenship Project that enabled descendants of Germans deprived of their citizenship during Nazi rule to reclaim their citizenship without losing the citizenship of their home country. After receiving her doctorate, Westheimer briefly worked for Planned Parenthood in Harlem training women to teach sex education , and this experience encouraged her to continue studying human sexuality . She went on to work as
3268-540: The Haganah , and was trained as a sniper . On her 20th birthday, she was wounded in action by an exploding shell during mortar fire on Jerusalem during the 1947–1949 Israeli War of Independence , and almost lost both feet. Two years later, Westheimer moved to Paris, France, where she studied psychology at the Sorbonne . Immigrating to the United States in 1956, she worked as a maid to put herself through graduate school, earned
3354-536: The Lifetime Channel and other cable television networks from 1984 to 1993. She became a household name and major cultural figure, appeared on several network TV shows, co-starred in a movie with Gérard Depardieu , appeared on the cover of People , sang on a Tom Chapin album, appeared in several commercials, and hosted Playboy videos. She was the author of 45 books on sex and sexuality. The one-woman 2013 play Becoming Dr. Ruth , written by Mark St. Germain ,
3440-578: The University of Paris (the Sorbonne), and earned an undergraduate degree despite not having had a high school education and supported herself by teaching kindergarten . She then taught psychology at the Sorbonne. Her first marriage ended as Bar-Heim eventually gave up his studies and decided to return to Israel while Westheimer remained in Paris to continue her studies. They divorced in 1955. In 1956, using
3526-598: The "1X" car of driver Randy Hannagan in the World of Outlaws sprint car series. The magazine previously sponsored cars in the Formula One circuit from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Teams included Hesketh Racing and RAM Racing . January 2011, Penthouse announced the first 3D HD porn channel, to be available from the second quarter of 2011. Shot using dual lenses, it would consist of available Penthouse HD Channel lineup covering over 30 platforms in more than 15 countries. It
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3612-441: The "Mysterious Stranger." During the 1980s, "Dr. Ruth" became a household name and a major cultural figure; during the 1980s and 1990s, she made frequent guest appearances on several network television shows, including Late Night with David Letterman , and appeared on talk shows on German television. She was portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Mary Gross in " Saturday Night News " four times in 1983, and twice in 1984 ;
3698-426: The 1990 and 2000s, focusing on a mix of "sex, sport, gadgets and grooming tips". From the early 2000s, sales of these magazines declined very substantially as the internet provided the same content (and particularly more graphic pornography) for free. Colombia Others UK Scandinavia Ruth Westheimer Karola Ruth Westheimer (née Siegel ; June 4, 1928 – July 12, 2024), better known as Dr. Ruth ,
3784-616: The 30-year life of the company. Penthouse magazine began publication in the UK in March 1965. In September 1969, in an attempt to compete with Hugh Hefner 's Playboy , the first American edition was published. Guccione offered editorial content that was more sensational than that of Playboy , and the magazine's writing was far more investigative than Hefner's upscale emphasis, with stories about government cover-ups and scandals. Writers such as Seymour Hersh , James Dale Davidson , and Ernest Volkman exposed numerous scandals and corruption at
3870-679: The Australian winery Tomich Wines. In March 1975, Penthouse published an article headlined "La Costa: The Hundred-Million-Dollar Resort with Criminal Clientele", written by Jeff Gerth and Lowell Bergman . The article indicated that the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California , was developed by Mervyn Adelson and Irwin Molasky using loans from the Teamsters Pension Fund and that
3956-697: The Penthouse Video label. In 1991, Penthouse Video signed a deal with A*Vision Entertainment to release videos designed for an adult audience. In 1970, the Penthouse Club in London, England operated a casino. However, the next year the casino license was revoked by the gaming authorities. In 1972, Penthouse opened the Penthouse Adriatic Club casino on the island of Krk in Yugoslavia (now Croatia ) at
4042-442: The UK and the US in March 1965. From September 1969, an "American Edition" was made available in the US. Since 2016, Penthouse has been under the ownership of Penthouse World Media (formerly known as Penthouse Global Media Inc.), which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Its assets were subsequently acquired in June of that same year by WGCZ Ltd., the owners of XVideos , when it won a bankruptcy auction bid. Later on, Penthouse Global Media
4128-503: The beginning of her career as an adult film star. It was later revealed that Lords was underage throughout most of her career in pornography and was only 16 when she posed for Penthouse . The same issue also caused controversy with nude pictures of Vanessa Williams that caused her to be stripped of her Miss America crown. In 1998, Penthouse changed its format and began featuring sexually explicit pictures (i.e., actual oral, vaginal, and anal penetration ), beginning with photos from
4214-475: The best time of day to have sex (the morning), to men with premature ejaculations , to foreplay , to oral sex , to sexual fantasies ("embrace them"; "If you want to believe that a whole football team is in bed with you, that's fine"), to masturbation , to erections , to sexual positions , to the G-spot . She stressed that: "anything that two consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedroom or kitchen floor
4300-504: The character is a thief. She appeared on a TV Guide cover in 1988 . Dr. Ruth returned to the Lifetime network in 1988 with The All New Dr. Ruth Show . That was followed in 1989 by two teen advice shows called What's Up, Dr. Ruth? , and a call-in show, You're on the Air with Dr. Ruth in 1990. That year she also appeared in an episode of the television series Tall Tales & Legends as
4386-423: The country's largest radio market. She then launched a television show, The Dr. Ruth Show , which by 1985 attracted two million viewers a week. She became known for giving serious advice while being candid, but also warm, cheerful, funny, and respectful, and for her tag phrase: "Get some". In 1984 The New York Times noted that she had risen "from obscurity to almost instant stardom." She hosted several series on
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#17328444752474472-407: The film Chinatown and the end credits read A Paramount - Penthouse Presentation . In 1976, Guccione used about US $ 17.5 million of his personal fortune to finance the controversial historical epic pornographic film Caligula , with Malcolm McDowell in the title role and a supporting cast including Helen Mirren , John Gielgud , Teresa Ann Savoy , and Peter O'Toole . The film, which
4558-513: The guilt had been replaced by an admiration for her parents' sacrifice in sending her to safety, saying: "I would not have the courage to send my own children away like that." After World War II ended, Westheimer decided to immigrate to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine at 16 years of age. After she immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in September 1945, at the age of 17, she joined Kibbutz Ramat David and worked in agriculture. Told her name
4644-544: The help of a scholarship, studying under Shirley Zussman . She then trained as a sex therapist at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center / Cornell Medical School , working for seven years under sex therapist Helen Singer Kaplan , two years training under her and five years training others. In 1965, Westheimer became a naturalized U.S. citizen . In 1961, she married for the third time She regained her German citizenship in 2007 through
4730-519: The help of a scholarship. She was a single mother, and an organization named Jewish Family Service paid for her then-three-year-old daughter to stay with a foster family during the day and go to a German Jewish Orthodox nursery school while Westheimer worked and went to classes at The New School. In 1970, at 42 years old, she received a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Family-Life Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University with
4816-844: The highest levels of the United States Government. Contributors to the magazine included Isaac Asimov , James Baldwin , Howard Blum , Victor Bockris , T. C. Boyle , Alexander Cockburn , Harry Crews , Cameron Crowe , Don DeLillo , Alan Dershowitz , Edward Jay Epstein , Chet Flippo , Albert Goldman , Anthony Haden-Guest , John Hawkes , Nat Hentoff , Warren Hinckle , Abbie Hoffman , Nicholas von Hoffman , Michael Korda , Paul Krassner , Michael Ledeen , Anthony Lewis , Joyce Carol Oates , James Purdy , Philip Roth , Harrison E. Salisbury , Gail Sheehy , Robert Sherrill , Mickey Spillane , Ben Stein , Harry Stein , Tad Szulc , Studs Terkel , Nick Tosches , Gore Vidal , Irving Wallace , and Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth). The magazine
4902-409: The magazine was rebranded as PH.UK and relaunched as middle-shelf "adult magazine for grown-ups". Fashion photographers (such as Corinne Day of The Face magazine) were hired to produce images that merged sex and fashion. The magazine's editorial content included celebrity interviews and tackled issues of sexual politics. The experiment attracted a great deal of press interest, but failed to generate
4988-426: The parent company of the magazine, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Immediately upon filing, Cerberus Capital Management entered into a $ 5 million debtor-in-possession credit line with General Media to provide working capital. In October 2003, Penthouse magazine was put up for sale as part of a deal with its creditors. On November 13, 2004, Guccione resigned as chairman and CEO of Penthouse International,
5074-453: The parent of General Media. Penthouse filed for bankruptcy protection on September 17, 2013. The magazine's then-current owner FriendFinder 's current common stock was wiped out and was no longer traded on the open market. In August 2013, FriendFinder's stock was delisted from Nasdaq because it consistently failed to trade for more than $ 1. As of 2015, General Media Communications, Inc. publishes entertainment magazines and operates as
5160-440: The people named in the case included Marc Bell, Jason Galanis, Fernando Molina, Charles Samel, and Daniel C. Stanton. In December 1984, a group of radical feminists began a civil disobedience campaign against Penthouse which they called a National Rampage. Led by Melissa Farley and Nikki Craft , they went into stores selling copies of the magazine and ripped them up, and they also burned an effigy of Bob Guccione in front of
5246-520: The photos were taken earlier in their careers and sold to Penthouse only after Madonna and Williams became famous. However, in the late 1990s, poor business decisions were made by Guccione, from not incorporating digital marketing in the technology age to changing the content of the magazine and publishing control gradually slipped away from him. In a desperate attempt to boost sales, the magazine began to showcase more "fetish" content, including subjects such as urination, bondage, and " facials ." When this
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#17328444752475332-448: The relationship leads to marriage), cited a Talmudic mandate that an unemployed man must make love to his wife every day, and mentioned the writings of a 12th-century rabbi who suggested that couples use different positions while having sex. In 1992, she was a guest star on the television soap opera One Life to Live . She appeared as herself in " Dr. Ruth ", a 1993 episode of the sci-fi drama series Quantum Leap . She appeared on
5418-452: The resort was a playground for organized crime figures. The owners, along with two officials of the resort, Morris B. Moe Dalitz and Allard Roen, filed a libel lawsuit for $ 522 million against the magazine and the writers. In 1982, a jury absolved the magazine of any liability against the lawsuit from the owners. The plaintiffs appealed, but in December 1985, before a new trial could begin,
5504-427: The show attracted 250,000 listeners every week despite the network not doing any promotion for it—growing simply by word of mouth—it was extended to be one hour long on Sunday nights, starting at 10 pm. It was soon picked up by 90 stations across the United States, and it ran for a decade. The show broke taboos of the time against speaking publicly and explicitly about sex. The New York Times described it as one of
5590-452: The show, Min Tochnit , is a play on words: literally "Kind of a program", but "Min" (מין) in Hebrew also means "sex" and "gender". 1993 and 1994 saw the publication of "Dr. Ruth's Good Sex Night-to-Night Calendar." In 1994, she appeared in a computer game, an interactive CD-ROM adaptation of Dr. Ruth's Encyclopedia of Sex released for Windows and a Philips CD-i . In 1995, she hosted
5676-495: The song. That year, she also made a TV commercial for Entenmann's Raspberry Danish Twist. Between 2001 and 2007, Westheimer made regular appearances on the PBS children's television series Between the Lions as "Dr. Ruth Wordheimer" in a spoof of her therapist role, in which she helps anxious readers and spellers overcome their fear of long words . In 2002, she received a nomination for
5762-469: The station's "oddest shows", and among its biggest draws. A New York University professor of human sexuality made listening to her show a class assignment. When the station offered a "Dr. Ruth T-shirt" ("Sex on Sunday? You Bet!"), it received 3,500 orders. By 1982, her show was WYNY's top-rated phone-in talk show. Singer Pattie Brooks recorded a song as an ode to her, "Dr. Ruth," with a trendy, dance-rock tinged, high pressure beat. By 1983 her show
5848-472: The time." When it comes to sex, the most important six inches are the ones between the ears. —Ruth Westheimer Westheimer's media career began in 1980 when she was 52 years old, and her radio show, Sexually Speaking , debuted on WYNY-FM in New York City. In it, she answered questions called in by listeners, and the show became nationally syndicated. She was offered the opportunity after she gave
5934-479: The two sides settled. Penthouse issued a statement that they did not mean to imply that Adelson and Molaskey are or were members of organized crime. In turn the plaintiffs issued a statement lauding Penthouse publisher Guccione and his magazine for their "personal and professional awards". Total litigation costs were estimated to exceed $ 20 million. In 2006, Guccione sued Penthouse Media Group for fraud, breach of contract, and conspiracy, among other charges. Some of
6020-603: The welfare of the Vietnam veteran and problems of criminality in modern society". In 2013, director Barry Avrich made a film about Guccione's life entitled Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story . It was produced by Jeremy Frommer and Rick Schwartz , who have since created a premier website inspired by Bob Guccione as an extension of the film called Filthy Gorgeous Media. The September 1984 issue of Penthouse magazine would eventually become controversial because of its centerfold, Traci Lords . Lords posed nude for this issue at
6106-637: Was a German and American sex therapist and talk show host. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish family. As the Nazis came to power, her parents sent the 10-year-old girl to a school in Switzerland for safety while they remained behind because of her elderly grandmother. Both were killed in concentration camps . After World War II, she emigrated to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine . At 4 feet 7 inches (140 cm) tall and 17 years of age, she joined
6192-528: Was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson twice in 1982 , once in 1983 , three times in 1984 , twice in 1985 – in addition to being impersonated in a "Mighty Carson Art Players" sketch , and once in 1986 ; on Joan Rivers: Can We Talk? twice in 1986; seven times as a panelist on the game show The New Hollywood Squares in 1986–87; on The Arsenio Hall Show once in 1989; on The Joan Rivers Show once in 1989; and on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee in both 1989 and 1990. In 1987, she made
6278-514: Was a hit, released in 1986 for the Commodore 64 , MS-DOS , and Apple II . In 1987, she began a separate half-hour syndicated series on many broadcast stations called Ask Dr. Ruth , which was co-hosted by Larry Angelo. Westheimer's friend Eleanor Bergstein , the writer of the 1987 romantic drama dance film Dirty Dancing , attempted to cast her to play Mrs. Schumacher in the film (with Joel Grey as her husband). She backed out when she learned
6364-682: Was a widow. She was given an early grounding in Judaism by her father, who took her regularly to the synagogue in the Nordend district of Frankfurt, where they lived. Her father, 38 years old at the time, was taken away by the Nazis , who sent him to the Dachau concentration camp a week after Kristallnacht , the "Night of Broken Glass", when Nazis burned down 10,000 Jewish stores as well as Jewish homes and synagogues, in November 1938. She cried while her father
6450-706: Was eventually released in late 1979, was produced in Italy (made at the Dear Studios in Rome) and was directed by Tinto Brass . In 2001, Penthouse Presents began running on Hot Choice . Guccione also created the magazines Omni , Viva , and Longevity . Later Guccione started Penthouse Forum , which predominantly featured erotic writing and stories. In 1993, Penthouse published an adult comic book spin-off entitled Penthouse Comix , featuring sexually explicit stories. After an initial success, Penthouse Comix expanded into
6536-444: Was featured, companies no longer wanted their products associated with or featured in Penthouse and quickly had their advertising removed. For the magazine, once respected and successful (and would outsell Playboy beginning in the late 1970s and continuing for several years there after), it was inevitably the beginning of its decline. Observers have commented that Guccione created an empire and also destroyed it. On January 15, 2016,
6622-415: Was founded on humble beginnings. Due to Guccione's lack of resources, he personally photographed most of the models for the magazine's early issues. Without professional training, Guccione applied his knowledge of painting to his photography , establishing the diffused, soft focus look that would become one of the trademarks of the magazine's pictorials. Guccione would sometimes take several days to complete
6708-847: Was in the table of contents of every issue from number 1 onward. According to the magazine in January 1973: In 1982, Guccione was listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people, with a reported $ 400 million net worth. An April 2002 New York Times article quoted Guccione as saying that Penthouse grossed $ 3.5 billion to $ 4 billion over the 30-year life of the company, with a net income of almost $ 500 million. In 1999, hoping to raise cash and reduce debt, Penthouse sold several automotive magazine titles from its large portfolio Peterson Automotive, raising $ 33 million in cash. However, two of their retained publications, science and health magazines Omni and Longevity lost almost $ 100 million, contributing to financial problems. On August 12, 2003, General Media,
6794-497: Was launched on 1 March 2011. In January 2015, Penthouse announced its entry into the wine and spirits industry . The line of products were to debut at the 2015 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. Called Libido Libations , the spirits line is distributed by Prestige Imports LLC and produced by The Melchers Group BV . The wine offerings are the result of a partnership with California vintner John Crossland and Randal Tomich of
6880-741: Was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. There is no information about the specific circumstances of her mother's death. In the database at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Westheimer's mother is categorized as verschollen , or "disappeared/murdered". In addition to Westheimer's parents, all of her other relatives lost their lives during the Holocaust . For many years, she lived with an "irrational guilt"; she thought that if she had stayed in Germany, she could have saved her parents. Later, she said
6966-496: Was never hugged again as a child. She arrived at an orphanage of a Jewish charity in Heiden, Switzerland , as one of 300 Jewish children, some as young as six years of age. By the end of World War II, nearly all of them were orphans, as their parents never made it out of Germany and were murdered by the Nazis. In the orphanage she was given cleaning responsibilities and took on the role of
7052-659: Was on the cover of the first US edition in September 1969. The first Pet of the Year in the US was Stephanie McLean , pictured on the cover of the September 1971 issue. In 2024, Penthouse started releasing physical copies of comic magazines. At the height of its success, Guccione, who died in 2010, was considered one of the richest men in the United States. In 1982 he was listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people. An April 2002 New York Times article reported Guccione as saying that Penthouse grossed $ 3.5 billion to $ 4 billion over
7138-510: Was spun off from WGCZ and rebranded as Penthouse World Media. The magazine's centerfold models are known as Penthouse "Pets", and customarily wear a distinctive necklace in the form of a stylized key which incorporates both the Mars and Venus symbols in its design. The first "Pet of the Month" was Denise Johns, who was also pictured on the cover. The first US Pet of the Month was Evelyn Treacher, who
7224-545: Was taken away by Gestapo men who loaded him on a truck, while her grandmother handed the Nazis money, pleading, "Take good care of my son." Westheimer's mother and grandmother decided that Nazi Germany was too dangerous for her, due to the growing Nazi violence. Therefore, a few weeks later, in January 1939, they sent her on the Kindertransport , an organized Jewish children's rescue train to Switzerland, though she desperately did not want to leave. Ruth, then aged 10,
7310-461: Was the top-rated radio show in the country's largest radio market. In 1984 NBC Radio began syndicating the radio program nationwide—it was now heard in 93 markets. She went on to produce her radio show until 1990. In 1984, Westheimer began hosting several television programs on the Lifetime TV network , and one in syndication. Her first show was Good Sex! With Dr. Ruth Westheimer , airing for
7396-633: Was too German, she changed her name from Karola to her middle name, Ruth and went by Ruth K. Siegel, retaining Karola as her middle initial in case her parents came looking for her. She "first had sexual intercourse on a starry night, in a haystack, without contraception." She later told The New York Times that "I am not happy about that, but I know much better now and so does everyone who listens to my radio program." Next, she lived on Moshav Nahalal , and then, she lived on Kibbutz Yagur . She then moved to Jerusalem in 1948 to study early childhood education. Though I am only 4 feet 7 inches tall, with
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