# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/21 "2019-04-02T00:03:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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. Another Bradbury non-original publication: Fahrenheit 451 was serialized in the March, April and May 1954 issues. The original paperback publication was in October 1953. > [@Stephe96](#): > > “Duel” by Richard Matheson originally appeared in Pkayboy, according to Steven Spielberg Matheson’s “Prey”, which was adapted as the famous Zuni fetish doll segment of the made-for-TV _Trilogy of Terror_, first appeared in the April 1969 issue. “Button, Button”, adapted for the 80s Twilight Zone and more recently as the film “The Box” was also a Playboy original (June 1970) ---
**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:** [April 2, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/22 "2019-04-02T00:38:12Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > 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. Asimov also had a series published in the even racier men’s mag “Gallery”…or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/23 "2019-04-02T00:42:23Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > 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. I might be the only person who loved SFW. I thought it was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/24 "2019-04-02T01:04:58Z")
I think I remember a chapter of “The World According To Garp” appearing in Playboy before it was published in book form. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/25 "2019-04-02T04:59:00Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/26 "2019-04-02T05:18:42Z")
I read **Sound Of Thunder** , **The Fly** , **Duel** , all of **Jean Shepherd’s** hilarious “Parker Family” stories, and **Mr. Sardonicus** in Playboy. I was a strange teenager- got into PB for the usual teenage boy reason, but soon found myself avidly reading the interviews, articles, and stories just as eagerly. I remember being most impressed by **Duel** - a great short story, and surprisingly made into an even better movie by some director I’d never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/27 "2019-04-02T09:14:04Z")
I remember reading ‘A boy and his dog’ by Harlan Ellison in an anthology I borrowed from the school library. I’m sure it said the original version first appeared in Playboy, but wikipedia doesn’t agree. It was later turned into a very 1970s film with Don Johnson. Can anyone confirm my 30+ year old memory? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/28 "2019-04-02T11:13:17Z")
Irwin Shaw had a short story called _Rich Man, Poor Man_ published in Playboy, which he then expanded to a bestselling novel, and which them became a massively successful ABC miniseries (which I watched!) that featured, among others, a young Nick Nolte. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2019, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/29 "2019-04-02T12:10:13Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > I remember reading ‘A boy and his dog’ by Harlan Ellison in an anthology I borrowed from the school library. I’m sure it said the original version first appeared in Playboy, but wikipedia doesn’t agree. It was later turned into a very 1970s film with Don Johnson. > > Can anyone confirm my 30+ year old memory? According to the authoritative Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase (isdfb), “A Boy and his Dog” first appeared in _New Worlds_ in 1969, then in the anthology _The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World_ , published in softcover by Avon (which is where I read it). It doesn’t list any publication in _Playboy_ at all, even much later. None of his other stories about Vic and Blood appeared in _Playboy_ either. Sorry, I think you got something confused with something else. Ellison did have other pieces in _Playboy_. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/30 "2019-04-02T12:21:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > According to the authoritative Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase (isdfb), “A Boy and his Dog” first appeared in _New Worlds_ in 1969, then in the anthology _The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World_ , published in softcover by Avon (which is where I read it). It doesn’t list any publication in _Playboy_ at all, even much later. None of his other stories about Vic and Blood appeared in _Playboy_ either. > > Sorry, I think you got something confused with something else. Ellison did have other pieces in _Playboy_. Thanks for checking! I’m probably confusing it with something else that was in that anthology. My mind has probably made the connection as ‘a boy and his dog’ did have some sex scenes in it and I was about 13 when I read it. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/31 "2019-04-02T13:23:25Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Asimov also had a series published in the even racier men’s mag “Gallery”…or so I’ve heard. I think those were a series of “Two-minute Mystery”-type stories, where this retired spy/LEO would regale members of his club with tales of how he cracked his most puzzling cases. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/32 "2019-04-02T15:17:29Z")
[”Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues”](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dealing:_or_the_Berkeley-to-Boston_Forty-Brick_Lost-Bag_Blues) was written by Michael Crichton and his brother Douglas Crichton under the joint pseudonym “Michael Douglas.” I remember reading it my sophomore year in college (1970) over three consecutive issues of Playboy, before it was released as a novel. In 1972 it was made into a movie that featured the film debut of John Lithgow. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/33 "2019-04-02T15:39:35Z")
> [@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. Yep. When I was editing top crime writers like Ed McBain, Don Westlake, Joe Gores, and Larry Block, they said much the same thing. Playboy was also very, very good to cartoonists — a young Hefner had aspired to that profession — which is why Playboy was second only to The New Yorker as a cartoon showplace. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/34 "2019-04-06T03:02:59Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > Thanks for checking! I’m probably confusing it with something else that was in that anthology. My mind has probably made the connection as ‘a boy and his dog’ did have some sex scenes in it and I was about 13 when I read it. 🙂 I see that I’m not the only one who remembers it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/35 "2019-04-06T04:29:26Z")
_Playboy_ had stories? 😕 ---
**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:** [April 16, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/36 "2019-04-16T12:48:44Z")
As I was reading through Benson’s book **Space Odyssey** , it occurred to me that Clarke’s **2010: Odyssey two** (which became the Peter Hyams movie **2010: The Year we Made Contact** was excerpted in Playboy before it appeared in hardcover. Ironically, much of what appeared in Playboy was material that didn’t appear in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![cgg419](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cgg419/32/2847_2.png) [@cgg419](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cgg419)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/37 "2019-04-16T13:38:17Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I might be the only person who loved SFW. I thought it was brilliant. I loved it when it came out. Came across a DVD copy for $5 a few years ago, so I also own it. Haven’t rewatched it though. Perhaps it’s time. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/38 "2019-04-16T13:50:52Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > _Playboy_ had stories? 😕 **kaylasmom** used to receive it from the Library of Congress in Braille. Definitely had stories. And articles. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/39 "2019-04-16T14:00:32Z")
> [@cgg419](#): > > I loved it when it came out. Came across a DVD copy for $5 a few years ago, so I also own it. Haven’t rewatched it though. > > Perhaps it’s time. I just looked and I can stream it for free on amazon prime. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796/40 "2019-04-16T14:05:37Z")
> [@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. > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Playboy was also very, very good to cartoonists — a young Hefner had aspired to that profession — which is why Playboy was second only to The New Yorker as a cartoon showplace. I’m another one who acquired it for the usual teenage boy reasons but read the articles - and the cartoons and the jokes page and everything else - cover to cover. A lot of ridiculously high quality writing for a skin mag. > [@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. A terrible, terrible movie. But at least, unlike the book, the characters in the film weren’t snuffling at each other’s crotches all the time. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > **kaylasmom** used to receive it from the Library of Congress in Braille. Definitely had stories. And articles. \*Playboy \* had to discontinue the Braille edition - there were too many hard feelings. \ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-story-that-movie-was-based-on-appeared-originally-in-playboy/831796.md?page=3)