Since 1953, when the first Playboy issue with Marilyn Monroe in the centerfold hit newsstands, Hugh Hefner has come to embody an entire lifestyle. His magazine is what William Buckley once described as being "widely known for its total exposure of the human female," when he famously hosted Him on his talk show in 1966 to grill him on morality and all that. But even more controversial than the magazine's "human females" were its articles. In 1955, Hugh published Charles Beaumont's "The Crooked Man," a short story about a straight man being persecuted in a world where homosexuality was the norm. That's right. Long before the days of Girls Next Door, Playboy was known for journalism that ruffled feathers, to say the least. But that's not to say that he never found himself in scalding hot water. Hef was arrested for selling obscene literature in the early 60s--but the jury famously never reached a verdict. Happy birthday, Hef  (tomorrow)! Check out our gifts and these amazing oldies of him that we've dug up, below!


FILED UNDER: birthday , hugh hefner , hickey freeman & opening ceremony , agnès b. pour Opening Ceremony , band of outsiders