# The Story that Movie was based on appeared originally in Playboy! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796 "2019-03-31T02:00:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/1 "2019-03-31T02:00:11Z")
I recently picked up a collection of William Castle’s films. Although I’ve known of them and read about them for years, I haven’t seen most of them. So I finally got a chance to see **Mr. Sardonicus** , a rather Poe-esque story about a man cursed with disfiguration for violating his father’s grave. I was surprised to learn that it was derived from a then-recent story by Ray Russel (who also wrote the screenplay, his first), which had originally appeared in the January 1961 issue of _Playboy_. Russell was its fiction editor. That, of course, got me thinking about George Langelaan’s story _The Fly_, which had appeared in the June 1957 issue of Playboy, and was turned into the 1958 film of the same name. It was much later very freely adapted into the 1986 David Cronenberg film of that name. It also gave rise to three sequels – two to the first film and one to the latter. And got turned into an opera (!!) 9n 2008. The mind boggles. It made me wonder about others. I knew that Ray Bradbury’s _A Sound of Thunder_ had appeared in Playboy (in June 1956), but it wasn’t an original publication. It had appeared in _Colliers_ four years earlier, and in _Planet Stories_ after that, and had even been anthologized before its Playboy appearance. The story was liberally adapted into a lackluster Peter Hyams film in 2005 (and in a Ray Bradbury Theater episode in 1989) The only other case I can think of where a weird story first appearing in Playboy hit the big screen caught me by surprise. I was watching the 1987 movie \* Angel Heart\* when I realized that I already knew the story. William Hjortsberg’s novel _Falling Angel_, on which it was based, had been serialized in Playboy. It got turned into an opera, too. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/2 "2019-03-31T02:08:40Z")
Came in to mention Angel Heart, but already covered. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/3 "2019-03-31T02:45:51Z")
Not a movie, but Henry Slesar’s _Playboy_ story “Examination Day” was dramatized in _The New Twilight Zone_ ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/4 "2019-03-31T02:59:16Z")
“Duel” by Richard Matheson originally appeared in Pkayboy, according to Steven Spielberg ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/5 "2019-03-31T03:50:17Z")
The Fabergé egg plot of _Octopussy_ was based on “The Property of a Lady”, which appeared in the January '64 issue. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/6 "2019-03-31T03:55:51Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > “Duel” by Richard Matheson originally appeared in Pkayboy, according to Steven Spielberg I was unaware of that, but, yup, it’s in the April 1971 issue One that isn’t really weird, and wasn’t even fiction, but which some people might think fits is **The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas** , which started out as a short piece of real-life reporting by Larry L. King in Playboy in 1974. He later co-wrote the script for the Broadway musical and later the movie. King wasn’t particularly happy with the choices of Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds as stars (he preferred Jill Clayburgh and Willy Nelson), but the powers that be went with the more bankable, arguably more extreme stars. King later wrote another Playboy piece about his experiences. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/7 "2019-03-31T03:57:08Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > The Fabergé egg plot of _Octopussy_ was based on “The Property of a Lady”, which appeared in the January '64 issue. I didn’t know that. Playboy also ran much of _The Man with the Golden Gun_ in 1963 before its book publication. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/8 "2019-03-31T05:34:29Z")
I wouldn’t know. I only bought it for the pictures 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/9 "2019-03-31T05:34:30Z")
Originally I was trying to remember something that appeared in Playboy. It was 9 1/2 weeks, but it has already been published and only an excerpt appeared in Playboy. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/10 "2019-03-31T06:06:20Z")
The October 1989 issue featured a short story called “The Madison Heights Syndrome” that was later turned into a little-loved 1994 movie called _S.F.W._ starring Stephen Dorff and Reese Witherspoon. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/11 "2019-03-31T06:28:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I recently picked up a collection of William Castle’s films. Although I’ve known of them and read about them for years, I haven’t seen most of them. So I finally got a chance to see **Mr. Sardonicus** , a rather Poe-esque story about a man cursed with disfiguration for violating his father’s grave. One of my favorite old-time movies! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/12 "2019-03-31T06:38:37Z")
I know it became a punchline but playboy would have some damn good writing in its fiction and its true crime articles … and humor… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/13 "2019-03-31T08:34:29Z")
The 1983 movie _A Christmas Story_ was based on various short stories by Jean Shepherd, some of which appeared in _Playboy_. The movies _Boys Don’t Cry_ and _The Hurt Locker_ were inspired by articles in _Playboy_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/14 "2019-03-31T13:09:02Z")
I remember someone- Issac Asimov, maybe, saying in an interview that he always sent his stuff to playboy first, as they paid the best and were always looking for content by name authors to add class to the magazine. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/15 "2019-03-31T13:21:14Z")
Kurt Vonegut’s _Slapstick_ was originally a (IIRC) two-part short story in Playboy. Later, of course, it was expanded to novel-length, and eventually made into a movie with Je rh Lewis and Madeline Kahn. (I can’t find a citation for that, but I do vividly recall the illustration that accompanied the story.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/16 "2019-03-31T13:38:25Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Kurt Vonegut’s _Slapstick_ was originally a (IIRC) two-part short story in Playboy. Later, of course, it was expanded to novel-length, and eventually made into a movie with Je rh Lewis and Madeline Kahn. > > (I can’t find a citation for that, but I do vividly recall the illustration that accompanied the story.) [Actually, I found this ad for a first edition, giving the publisher as Playboy.](https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Slapstick-Lonesome-Vonnegut-Kurt-Jr-Playboy/8372961471/bd) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/17 "2019-03-31T13:54:04Z")
Not a movie, but Stephen King’s, “Word Processor of the Gods,” first appeared in _Playboy_ (as, “The Word Processor”), then was adapted as an episode of _Tales From the Darkside_. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/18 "2019-03-31T15:30:49Z")
Cameron Crowe’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” was published as an article in Playboy before being fictionalized into a movie. [http://joshspector.com/fast-times-ridgemont-high-cameron-crowe-article/](http://joshspector.com/fast-times-ridgemont-high-cameron-crowe-article/) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/19 "2019-03-31T19:05:23Z")
Ron Kovic’s memoir _Born on the Fourth of July_ ran in the July 1976 _Playboy_, just before the book was released. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/20 "2019-04-01T22:56:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > I remember someone- Issac Asimov, maybe, saying in an interview that he always sent his stuff to playboy first, as they paid the best and were always looking for content by name authors to add class to the magazine. I don’t know if he ever got anything published in Playboy? I know he wrote one of his stories specifically for Playboy, on request, but it was rejected. It was noticeably more racy than his other stuff\*. He wrote later that he had the satisfaction of seeing it in print before the Playboy number that it would have appeared in came out. \*A bit of tentacle porn and some off screen sex, but not as bad as that sounds. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796.md?page=2)