Animated characters like the buxom and oblivious Little Annie Fanny and the "udderly" insatiable Granny have been an integral part of Playboy magazine's successful formula since the inaugural issue. In fact, Playboy is renowned in art, publishing and political circles for its groundbreaking commitment to cartoons. Now, the 368-page coffee table book Playboy: 50 Years -- The Cartoons republishes more than 400 of the most memorable and controversial cartoons from Playboy's first five decades.
Before founding Playboy, aspiring Chicago illustrator Hugh Hefner published his own book of cartoons, titled That Toddlin' Town. When conceiving his sophisticated men's magazine in 1953, it's no surprise then that he sought out the top cartoonists in the world to be part of his mix. Since then, the likes of Jules Feiffer, Jack Cole, Gahan Wilson, Shel Silverstein, Buck Brown, B. Kliban and Alberto Vargas have published some of their most memorable work in Playboy's pages.
"In the sexual and political repression of the '50s, cartoonists were among the first to seek out the magazine as a place where humor of a  more sophisticated nature was welcome," Hef explains in the book's intro. "Mainstream magazines promoted the same sort of family-oriented, Norman Rockwell, Saturday Evening Post togetherness as did early Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver television. But Playboy was a magazine for the young, urban male, and we marched to a different drummer."
Fifty years later, the cartoons are still as integral a part of Playboy as the centerfolds. Looking back, Hef recounts, "Playboy fueled the sexual revolution of the '60s, and our cartoons supplied the spark."
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