Bob Guccione

By: Kiara Bell

The 1960’s were some very sexually awakening and groundbreaking years. Being able to love whomever one pleases without the penalties or judgments was a time people will never forget. Throughout this time, Hugh Hefner and his Playboy magazine and bunnies had become a popular topic throughout America. Hefner made an enormous difference in the way society viewed sexuality. That is, until Bob Guccione came along and added some competition.

          Bob Guccione was a New Jersey native who spent the sixties working as a photographer in London.[1] Guccione was raised in a Catholic Italian-American family and he had studied most of his life for priesthood. So as you can see, it probably sent a wave of shock through his family when he published Penthouse magazine after all of his religious studies. Going back to his early life, Bob was always involved in religious activities with his family until one day he dropped it all to become an artist. [2] He traveled throughout the countries of Europe and Africa but things did not turn out in his favor. During this time, Bob often borrowed money from his parents and worked odd jobs.

          Luckily, thanks to an accident and a loan of $1,170, Penthouse became the revolutionary sex magazine of the time and for many years later. Guccione found the Penthouse magazine, one that showed explicit nude photos of women, in 1969 and built a pornographic empire.[3] In 1979, the magazine reached its peak selling more than 4.7 million copies. It became so popular that Bob Guccione rose to become one of America’s richest men in the eighties. In 1973, he also created a magazine called Viva, which contained images of nude males in order to satisfy women. However, that magazine wasn’t as successful and crumbled after a few years.

          Bob Guccione was married four times. The end of the third marriage was the one that hit him the hardest. He was married to a woman named Kathy Keeton and she lost her battle to breast cancer in 1997. Keeton worked with him for many years and helped found the Penthouse magazine. They worked on many different projects together that were unrelated to pornography. The duo created a magazine called Omni which was a magazine that covered science and science fiction. Both Guccione and Keeton had an interest in personal appearance so they created another magazine called Longevity which was devoted to staying young.[4] After the death of his beloved wife, things went downhill from there. Guccione began losing profit because there was a decrease in the number of viewers of his magazine and his company, General Media Inc., later filed for bankruptcy. Bob was evicted from his home for failing to pay $24 million in debt. Not only did his business fail, but he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and passed away in 2010 because of lung cancer at the age of 79. Although his life ended in tragedy, Bob Guccione made a huge impact in America.

 

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[1] Sex in '69: Sexual Revolution in America. Film. : A&E Networks, 2009.

[2]A&E Networks Television. "Bob Guccione Biography." Bio.com. http://www.biography.com/people/bob-guccione-273678#!&awesm=~oCSZMpMHq1j67Y (accessed April 29, 2014).

[3] McFadden, Robert. "Bob Guccione, 79, Dies; Founded Penthouse." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/business/media/21guccione.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed April 29, 2014).

 

[4] A&E Networks Television. "Bob Guccione Biography." Bio.com. http://www.biography.com/people/bob-guccione-273678#!&awesm=~oCSZMpMHq1j67Y (accessed April 29, 2014).