Pucci, Gucci, and Fiorucci have become household words in America, and, if Adelina Tattilo has her way, a new Italian phrase will be added to the vocabulary: Playmen. Tattilo, 48, the unlikely godmother of the 12-year-old Rome-based skin magazine, has announced she will start an American edition in October. "Playboy and Penthouse have dominated the market for so many years," Tattilo declares, "the time has come for a magazine that is subtly different and that also reflects the popularity of Italians in America." Tattilo sees her magazine as "more journalistic" than the competition and says its photographs are more explicit than Playboy's, but less graphic than those in Penthouse.
The "subtle difference" is lost on Hugh Hefner, however, and Playboy's founder has gone to federal court in New York to keep Tattilo from using her knockoff of the name that made the bunny famous. Hefner has already successfully sued to keep Playmen off newsstands in England, Germany and France. "I honestly don't understand his problem," Tattilo says. "We are small and modest and he has conquered his enormous public. What could he possibly have to fear from us? If I were Hefner I would not show my insecurity." Hefner sees the lawsuit as the only course open to him. "We have filed suit to protect our trademark," he says.
After Playmen was launched in 1967, Hefner tried to stop Tattilo in Italy and lost the case. He retaliated with an Italian edition of Playboy. After it became a huge success—with an audited circulation of 150,000 vs. Tattilo's estimated 100,000—Hefner registered the word "Playmen" as a trademark in several states, including New York. But Tattilo says Hefner let his legal rights lapse after 10 years—and she rushed in to do battle.
A confident, well-preserved, divorced grandmother, Tattilo—despite her magazine's subject matter—calls herself a feminist. "How could any woman not be?" she asks. Tattilo says she decided to publish a U.S. edition three years ago, at a party at her house in Rome. "Candice Bergen was there, talking about America with Giancarlo Gianinni, Marcello Mastroianni and Lina Wertmuller." Wertmuller was about to direct her first film in America, and Tattilo, caught up by her guest's enthusiasm, made up her mind on the spot. The prospect of a lengthy battle with Hefner does not worry Tattilo, who has survived some 300 legal skirmishes in the "battle of nipples" with Italian censors. She brashly predicts she will win in court and argues for peaceful coexistence between Playmen and Playboy. "There is room for us both," she says.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
