ONBC: Would you mind sharing a little bit about your time at Playboy?
WJ: After a BJ in journalism at The University of Texas at Austin, did three years in magazine work in NYC, followed by several years at the U.T. graduate school for an MA in history (almost got a PhD also, but didn't feel like studying for the orals or translating a foreign language). Then, in 1969, other editors I'd met in NYC had meanwhile moved to Chicago and hired me to do the Playboy Forum, which gave the magazine its "redeeming social value." Left there as a senior editor about 1995 to go into writing. About 2000 moved to Iowa where my daughter was teaching school, and about 2003 returned to Texas when my daughter got a new job teaching near Boerne (pronounced Burr-nee, for Yankees). Still writing books on true crime in the Twenties and Thirties, latest being The Complete Public Enemy Almanac.
Playboy was a hoot. Loved it. Got to know Hefner via Sunday movies with filets and fried chicken at the Chicago Playboy Mansion, where at a party got a little soused and took turns sliding down the firepole to the basement bar with John Kenneth Galbraith, also pretty drunk. Also got to know daughter Christie, who had an incredible memory for names. After a private movie screening in town, she gave me a ride in her limo to my apartment, everybody thinking she was my date.
William Helmer Q&A #14
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Liz
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William Helmer Q&A #14
You can't judge a book by its cover.
The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.
The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.
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shadowydog
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Re: William Helmer Q&A #14
Somehow I had a feeling that someone who was so into "Dillinger Died for You" would not have lived a boring life. I like that you gave Playboy its "redeeming social value". 
Didn't I read recently that Hefners daughter Christie, had stepped down from running Playboy Enterprises? I think she is married to a former Senator from Illinois.
It is great that you can live near your daughter. I see I will have to check into another gangster book, The Complete Public Enemy Almanac. Oh, I just saw it has great reviews on amazon. Congratulations.
There goes some more of my book allowance.
Didn't I read recently that Hefners daughter Christie, had stepped down from running Playboy Enterprises? I think she is married to a former Senator from Illinois.
It is great that you can live near your daughter. I see I will have to check into another gangster book, The Complete Public Enemy Almanac. Oh, I just saw it has great reviews on amazon. Congratulations.
There goes some more of my book allowance.
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers
Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
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Liz
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Re: William Helmer Q&A #14
gemini wrote: I like that you gave Playboy its "redeeming social value".
I found that quite interesting, myself.
You can't judge a book by its cover.
The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.
The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.
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