CHAPTER SEVENTEEN -- SPRINGTIME FOR RUTLEDGE

(Did You Sleep With the Models?)

My goal from the day I became editor-in-chief was to produce magazines that transcended their genre. To some extent, I believe I succeeded. In Mandate. One could argue that in well-crafted magazines, as in well-scripted films, words and images carry roughly equal weight. In Honcho and Playguy, however, I struggled to find burly stories and suitable nonfiction for the former and twinky turn-ons for the latter. The success of these two depended chiefly on pictures.