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PLAYBOY – JUNE 1998 – VOL. 45, NO. 6
COLLECTOR’S SPECIAL – THE BABES OF BAYWATCH
A particularly desirable late-1990s issue of Playboy, published in June 1998 and prominently designated by Playboy on the cover as a “Collector’s Special.” This issue combines one of the magazine’s great 1990s pop-culture subjects — Baywatch — with an unusually diverse lineup of celebrity, entertainment, political, sports and historical features.
The major attraction is Playboy’s extensive “The Babes of Baywatch” pictorial, bringing together many of the women associated with one of the most internationally recognizable television programs of the 1990s. The issue’s special foldout cover and interior Baywatch feature make this much more than an ordinary monthly Playboy and give it considerable crossover appeal to collectors of Baywatch, Pamela Anderson, 1990s television, celebrity memorabilia and pop culture.
COLLECTOR’S SPECIAL — THE BABES OF BAYWATCH
The centerpiece is a 12-page Baywatch pictorial featuring an exceptional lineup of stars, former stars, guest stars and Playboy personalities associated with the television phenomenon:
Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Donna D’Errico, Traci Bingham, Marliece Andrada, Erika Eleniak, Geena Lee Nolin, Jenny McCarthy, Julie McCullough, Tai Collins, Rhonda Rydell, Heidi Mark and Kelly Monaco.
The special foldout cover features Donna D’Errico, Traci Bingham, Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Marliece Andrada, Erika Eleniak and Geena Lee Nolin. The full group and 12-page pictorial are independently documented for this exact issue.
For collectors today, this feature is an outstanding snapshot of late-1990s television culture. Baywatch was one of the era’s defining international television franchises, and this issue gathers an unusually large number of personalities associated with the program into a single Playboy feature. Rather than merely having a celebrity cover, the magazine devotes a substantial pictorial to the Baywatch phenomenon.
PLAYMATE OF THE MONTH — MARIA LUISA GIL
June 1998 Playmate of the Month Maria Luisa Gil appears in the pictorial “Cuba Libre!”, photographed by Richard Fegley.
Gil was born in Cuba and was selected as Playboy’s June 1998 Playmate of the Month. Her feature gives the issue another distinctive international element alongside the Baywatch material.
Maria Luisa Gil’s original centerfold is present and intact in this copy.
PLAYBOY INTERVIEW — PAUL REISER
The issue includes a substantial Playboy Interview with Paul Reiser, then at the height of his Mad About You fame.
The interview is especially interesting as a period document of 1990s network television. Reiser discusses his career, his public image, working with Helen Hunt and the television business as Mad About You approached the end of the decade.
Seen more than a quarter-century later, the interview captures a particular moment when enormously successful network sitcoms still occupied a central place in American popular culture. Reiser is therefore much more than another celebrity name in the contents — the interview provides a contemporary perspective from one of the recognizable television performers and creators of the era.
The Paul Reiser interview is specifically documented as the principal Playboy Interview in the June 1998 issue.
20 QUESTIONS — YASIR ARAFAT
Perhaps the most historically fascinating feature in the issue today is 20 Questions with Yasir Arafat, then president of the Palestinian Authority and one of the central figures in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The interview discusses such subjects as the prospects for a Palestinian state, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the peace process, political violence and assassination attempts.
This feature has acquired considerably more historical interest with the passage of time. In 1998, the Oslo peace process was still relatively recent and there remained significant international attention on the possibility that negotiations could produce a lasting Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Arafat had shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres following the Oslo Accords.
Reading the interview today provides a fascinating primary-source snapshot of what Arafat was publicly saying about peace, Israel and Palestinian statehood during that period.
The subject remains relevant because many of the fundamental issues being discussed — Palestinian statehood, Israeli security, political leadership, territorial disputes and whether a negotiated settlement is possible — remain central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict decades later. The value of the piece is not that a 1998 interview predicts subsequent events, but that readers can compare the assumptions, expectations and political arguments of that moment with everything that followed.
The June 1998 issue is independently cataloged with Yasir Arafat as its 20 Questions subject.
“FLY GIRL” — FREDERICA SPILMAN
Another distinctive feature is “Fly Girl,” a pictorial featuring Navy aviation officer Frederica Spilman.
The feature combines military aviation imagery with Spilman’s story and is prominently advertised on the cover as:
“Navy Flier Shows Her Stuff — Breaks the Playboy Barrier.”
This is another interesting late-1990s period piece, appearing only a few years after major changes expanded opportunities for women in U.S. military aviation. It gives the issue a subject quite different from Playboy’s conventional celebrity pictorials.
NASCAR RULES
“NASCAR Rules” by Geoffrey Norman examines stock-car racing during the period when NASCAR was rapidly expanding from its traditional regional base into a truly national American sports and entertainment phenomenon.
That timing gives the article additional period interest today: the late 1990s were an important era in NASCAR’s growth and mainstream popularity.
PLAYBOY’S HISTORY OF THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION
The issue contains Part VII (1960–1969): “Make Love Not War” from Playboy’s History of the Sexual Revolution.
Covering the tumultuous 1960s, the feature examines the changing sexual and social culture of the decade and includes material on the underground-comics movement. It provides another historical dimension to an issue already unusually rich in period material.
FUNNY GIRLS
“Funny Girls” by Lu Hanessian profiles Saturday Night Live performers Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer, three important members of the late-1990s SNL cast.
For collectors of 1990s comedy and television, this is another very recognizable period feature.
FICTION — MARIO VARGAS LLOSA
Also included is “The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto” by Mario Vargas Llosa, giving the issue a notable literary connection. Vargas Llosa would later receive the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT
Other material includes Playmate Revisited: Anne Randall; Party Jokes; Shaq’s Tracks; Playboy After Hours; Music; Movies; Video; Travel; Wired; Books; Money Matters; Men; The Playboy Advisor; The Playboy Forum; Playmate News; and Playboy on the Scene.
Taken as a whole, this is an unusually content-rich issue: Baywatch and Pamela Anderson at the height of late-1990s pop culture; Paul Reiser and the network-sitcom era; Saturday Night Live; NASCAR during its national expansion; Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa; and a historically significant interview with Yasir Arafat about questions that remain consequential today. The combination gives the magazine appeal well beyond traditional Playboy collecting.
CONDITION
Very Good+ condition with an excellent overall presentation for a magazine published in 1998.
This copy has been photographed extensively so buyers can evaluate the actual magazine they will receive.
The glossy Collector’s Special Baywatch foldout cover remains exceptionally bright, colorful and attractive, with strong gloss and excellent image quality. The cover displays very well and shows only relatively minor handling/storage wear consistent with age.
The photographs show a solid spine and binding, clean page edges and exceptionally clean, bright interior pages. The Baywatch pictorial remains vivid and glossy, and the other photographed features show excellent color and preservation.
Most importantly for a Playboy collector:
• Special Baywatch foldout cover is present
• Maria Luisa Gil Playmate centerfold is present and intact
• Baywatch pictorial is present
• Paul Reiser Playboy Interview is present
• Yasir Arafat 20 Questions feature is present
• Frederica Spilman “Fly Girl” pictorial is present
• Interior pages shown are clean, bright and well preserved
• Binding appears tight and secure
There are minor signs of age and handling visible upon close inspection, as should reasonably be expected from an original magazine now more than 28 years old, but there are no major condition problems apparent in the supplied photographs. I would conservatively describe it as Very Good+, while noting that its overall visual presentation is closer to excellent.
Please review all photographs carefully. They form an important part of the condition description and show the actual magazine being offered, not stock photographs.
WHY THIS ISSUE STANDS OUT
The June 1998 Playboy is particularly attractive as a collectible because so many different areas of late-20th-century culture intersect in one issue.
The Collector’s Special Baywatch theme and 12-page pictorial provide the strongest visual and celebrity appeal, with Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra and an extraordinary group of other Baywatch personalities. Maria Luisa Gil supplies the traditional Playboy Playmate/centerfold component. Paul Reiser represents one of the defining television sitcoms of the decade. The SNL feature captures another major piece of 1990s television comedy. NASCAR represents a sport undergoing tremendous national growth. Mario Vargas Llosa supplies literary significance.
And the Yasir Arafat 20 Questions interview gives the magazine genuine historical-document interest, preserving a contemporary discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at a moment when its future appeared very different from the way history ultimately unfolded.
It is therefore an excellent issue for collectors of Playboy, Baywatch, Pamela Anderson, 1990s television and celebrity culture, vintage magazines, NASCAR, political history and late-20th-century Americana.
Original June 1998 Playboy — Vol. 45, No. 6.
Ships promptly and securely via USPS Ground Advantage with tracking.
