Lou Zivkovich - PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2 - 1975

 PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2

1975

Contents / Models

The Rogers Brothers [Gregg Rogers, Don Rogers], Dr. Paul Keith, Jim Brown, Christopher George, Phil Avalon,Woodroe Parker [Woody Parker], After Love Afterthoughts. 

Playgirl Discoveries

Gene Burton, Jerry Lane, Angie Reno, Terry House, Leonard La Lumiere, Mike Purpus, Ron Henriquez, John Coletti [John Traynor]

Bob Prince-Man for January

John Corvello-Mr. California. Backstage Las Vegas. Al Cavuoto, John Gibson, Biff Manard, Lou Zivkovich Jumbo Poster. 

Fiction

Florence King, Million Dollar Baby-Seventh Heaven Preview Hal Bennett PLUS!

 Lou Zivkovich was a defensive end for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League. He is widely known for appearing as the July 1974 centerfold in Playgirl magazine, at the age of 33.

 

 Zivkovic is the son of Canadian immigrants. He attended the University of Miami where he received a degree in Physical Education and English.

 Playgirl Pictorial

In this photo spread, (taken during an expense paid trip to Hawaii), the muscular and hirsute Zivkovich displayed his 6'4" 216 lb. physique—46" chest and 35" waist—in a series of shots which consistently featured full-frontal nudity. There were no erections and no rear-view shots.

 Copies of the magazine quickly became something of a collector's item and even sparked brief talk of an acting career for Zivkovich. (He played a supporting role in a McMillan and Wife episode which aired on October 26, 1975.)

 However, there were unfortunate ramifications. The high school in Apple Valley, California, where Zivkovich worked as a phys-ed teacher fired him, charging that his appearance in a nude centerfold showed he was not a proper role model for students. Many of these students as well as fellow teachers then came to the defense of Zivkovich who stated: "I don't see anything wrong with a nude body that is a work of art." The case went to a state appeals panel which admonished Zivkovich for a "mistake in judgment" but ruled in March 1975 that he could not be fired.

 One year later, in March 1976, Zivkovich—along with a bevy of musclemen—appeared with Mae West in a CBS TV special titled "Dick Cavett's Backlot USA." Mae West's biographer, Simon Louvish, describes Zivkovich at this point as being Mae West's "frequent escort."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#COCKINASOCK

Hockey player Lane Edel 

Biff Manard - PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2 - 1975

 PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2

1975

Contents / Models

The Rogers Brothers [Gregg Rogers, Don Rogers], Dr. Paul Keith, Jim Brown, Christopher George, Phil Avalon,Woodroe Parker [Woody Parker], After Love Afterthoughts. 

Playgirl Discoveries

Gene Burton, Jerry Lane, Angie Reno, Terry House, Leonard La Lumiere, Mike Purpus, Ron Henriquez, John Coletti [John Traynor]

Bob Prince-Man for January

John Corvello-Mr. California. Backstage Las Vegas. Al Cavuoto, John Gibson, Biff Manard, Lou Zivkovich Jumbo Poster. 

Fiction

Florence King, Million Dollar Baby-Seventh Heaven Preview Hal Bennett PLUS!

 Biff Manard (born 1939) is the actor who played the holographic ruffian in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode "Elementary, Dear Data". He may best be known for his role as Officer Murphy on The Flash, the series based on the DC Comics superhero which aired in the early 1990s. Manard also played Hap Ashby in Trancers (1985, with Richard Herd and Michael McGrady) and its 1991 sequel, Trancers II (co-starring Jeffrey Combs).

 One of Manard's earliest television appearances was a guest spot in a 1970 episode Mission: Impossible, during which time Leonard Nimoy was a regular player on that series. (Manard's episode, "The Amateur", also featured Peter Brocco and Anthony Zerbe.) Twenty five years later Manard's episode, Manard would appear in the 1995 Bonanza TV special, Under Attack, also featuring Nimoy. Manard was seen in at least four episodes of Bonanza between 1971 and 1972, including one with Don Keefer and another with Noble Willingham. He also appeared in a short film called Cowboysan with Ted Cassidy and directed by Susan Oliver.

 

 In 1981, Manard appeared on CHiPs while Michael Dorn was a regular on the show. His other TV credits include appearances on Knots Landing (with Allan Miller and Bert Remsen), Night Court (starring John Larroquette, with Paddi Edwards), and Hunter (with Jeremy Roberts). Besides Trancers, his feature film credits include 1980's Pray TV (with Charlie Brill), 1981's Underground Aces (with Frank Gorshin and Sid Haig), St. Helens (with Nehemiah Persoff), and Buddy Buddy (with Michael Ensign and Ed Begley, Jr.), 1983's Off the Wall (starring Paul Sorvino and Monte Markham), 1988's The Wrong Guys (with Jonathan Schmock), 1992's Desert Kickboxer (with Robert O'Reilly), 1994's Art Deco Detective (co-starring Stephen McHattie) and Blankman (with Jason Alexander), 1996's Stitch (with Mariette Hartley), and 1997's Eight Days a Week (with Darleen Carr, Van Epperson, Catherine Hicks, and Mark L. Taylor).

 After an eight year absence from film and television, Manard recently appeared in an episode of the short-lived CBS series Smith, starring Virginia Madsen. The episode in which he appeared also featured William Lucking, Billy Mayo, and Barbara Tarbuck.

Stripes & Plaid vs. Naked

John Gibson - PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2 - 1975

 PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2

1975

Contents / Models

The Rogers Brothers [Gregg Rogers, Don Rogers], Dr. Paul Keith, Jim Brown, Christopher George, Phil Avalon,Woodroe Parker [Woody Parker], After Love Afterthoughts. 

Playgirl Discoveries

Gene Burton, Jerry Lane, Angie Reno, Terry House, Leonard La Lumiere, Mike Purpus, Ron Henriquez, John Coletti [John Traynor]

Bob Prince-Man for January

John Corvello-Mr. California. Backstage Las Vegas. Al Cavuoto, John Gibson, Biff Manard, Lou Zivkovich Jumbo Poster. 

Fiction

Florence King, Million Dollar Baby-Seventh Heaven Preview Hal Bennett PLUS!

John Gibson was born in Grayling, Michigan, July 15, 1948. After a failed marriage, he had moved to Aspen, Colorado. In 1974 his then girlfriend sent some Polaroids to Playgirl. After being the April 1975 Centerfold, he discovered he was much in demand for modeling & he worked briefly on the soap opera General Hospital. He then started dancing at Chippendales. In 1979 while, living in Atlanta, Vanna White saw John dancing on The Merv Griffin Show (Griffin would later be Vanna's boss ! )

 

 

    Vanna immediately decided she had to meet him. She moved to Los Angeles & started going to Chippendales. She met him & introduced herself to him... He told her he had a girlfriend. But they remained "friends".

   John's 2nd appearance in Playgirl Male Strip Clubs (Chippendales) January 1980. John Gibson broke up with his girlfriend by Dec. 3, 1981. On Dec. 4, 1981 Vanna White met him for drinks. The following week, they had their 1st date. "From this point on, John and I were nearly inseparable" Vanna writes  in Vanna Speaks. Around this time John got an acting job on the soap opera The Young & the Restless ... He & his friend Noel Blanc (Son of voice actor Mel "Bugs Bunny" Blanc) eventually took up flying small planes & helicopters. In Dec. 1982, Vanna White started her long tenure as "letter turner" on the Merv Griffin-produced game show Wheel of Fortune.

 John continued to fly small aircraft. On May 17, 1986 left for Big Bear Lake, CA in a two-seat Trinidad TB-20. Noel Blanc had a "house on the lake". Gibson had landed the plane safely once, but was practicing landing the rented plane -- unfortunately a C-130 transport plane had created too much turbulance for John to land the plane. The plane went down on Roscoe Boulevard. near the Van Nuys, California airport. The body was burned beyond recognition.

I wonder what he's watching...

Al Cavuoto - PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2 - 1975

  PLAYGIRL: THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL’S MEN #2

1975

Contents / Models

The Rogers Brothers [Gregg Rogers, Don Rogers], Dr. Paul Keith, Jim Brown, Christopher George, Phil Avalon,Woodroe Parker [Woody Parker], After Love Afterthoughts. 

Playgirl Discoveries

Gene Burton, Jerry Lane, Angie Reno, Terry House, Leonard La Lumiere, Mike Purpus, Ron Henriquez, John Coletti [John Traynor]

Bob Prince-Man for January

John Corvello-Mr. California. Backstage Las Vegas. Al Cavuoto, John Gibson, Biff Manard, Lou Zivkovich Jumbo Poster. 

Fiction

Florence King, Million Dollar Baby-Seventh Heaven Preview Hal Bennett PLUS!