Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
This September 1956 issue of Playboy holds a specific and well-documented place in the magazine's early history as the issue that introduced Elsa Sørensen, a Danish model and former Miss Denmark, as its Playmate of the Month, making her the first non-U.S. citizen to hold that title within the magazine's history. Sørensen had built her modeling career primarily under the pseudonym Dane Arden, a name she used for the great majority of her professional work across various American men's magazines, making this issue a genuine exception within her broader career, since she appeared here under her real name rather than her more commonly used professional alias. That deliberate distinction, choosing to appear as herself for Playboy specifically while maintaining a separate public identity for other modeling work, reflects a pragmatic and carefully considered approach to career management common among glamour models of this era, allowing her to participate in Playboy's prestige feature while keeping other, more explicit modeling assignments under a separate name. Her centerfold was photographed by Peter Gowland, one of the most significant and technically innovative glamour photographers working in Los Angeles during this period, whose career would eventually span more than a thousand magazine covers and who later developed the Gowlandflex twin-lens camera, a piece of equipment subsequently used by photographers including Annie Leibovitz and Yousuf Karsh. This issue therefore connects a genuinely significant "first" in Playboy's Playmate history to one of the era's most technically accomplished glamour photographers.
Sørensen's own path to this centerfold reflects a specific and well-documented trajectory common among mid-century glamour models working internationally. Born in Copenhagen in 1934, she won the Miss Denmark title as a teenager before emigrating with her family to Vancouver, Canada, eventually making her way to Los Angeles, where the more substantial glamour photography industry was based. Beyond her modeling work, Sørensen also held a position as a secretary in Hugh Hefner's Chicago Playboy offices during this period, giving her a genuinely unusual dual relationship to the magazine's operation, working both in front of the camera as a featured Playmate and behind the scenes within Playboy's actual business operations. That combination was not entirely unusual during Playboy's earliest years, when the company remained small enough that employees frequently wore multiple hats across different aspects of the business, but it remains a specific and interesting detail relatively uncommon among the broader roster of 1950s Playmates. Just days after this issue's publication, on September 13, 1956, Sørensen married singer Guy Mitchell, a popular recording artist of the period, adding a further layer of contemporary celebrity connection to this issue's timing, though the marriage would ultimately end in divorce in 1965.
The broader significance of Sørensen's selection as the first foreign-born Playmate reflects Playboy's gradually expanding international scope during the mid-1950s, a period when the magazine was still primarily built around American models and American cultural references. Her selection, arriving just months after German-born model Marion Scott had been recognized in Wikipedia sources as an early foreign-born Playmate for the May 1956 issue, situates this issue within a broader pattern of Playboy's growing willingness to look beyond a purely domestic pool of models during this period. That expansion reflects the magazine's increasing confidence and reach as it approached its fourth year of publication, gradually building the kind of international glamour photography roster that would become more common in later decades. This issue's specific "first" status for Sørensen as the inaugural Playmate appearing under her genuinely foreign nationality and real name gives it a documented place within that broader story of Playboy's developing international character.
Taken as a whole, this issue offers collectors a genuinely well-documented artifact within Playboy's early history, anchored by a Playmate selection with a specific documented "first," connected to one of the era's most significant glamour photographers, and carrying a substantial personal afterstory involving both her Playboy office employment and her marriage to a well-known recording artist. For collectors specifically focused on the international expansion of Playboy's early Playmate roster, this issue offers a clearly documented starting point for that broader trend. For collectors interested in Peter Gowland's substantial body of glamour photography work, this issue represents one of nine Playboy Playmates he and his wife Alice photographed together over the course of his career. This issue stands as a genuinely multifaceted historical artifact within Playboy's early publishing history.
About the Publication
Playboy was founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and quickly grew into one of the most influential men's lifestyle magazines of the 20th century, combining photography with fiction, journalism, and cultural commentary aimed at a readership the magazine cultivated as sophisticated and culturally engaged. By 1956, the magazine's operation remained small enough that staff occasionally held multiple roles across both the editorial and business sides of the company, a structure reflected in this issue's featured Playmate having also worked as a Hefner office secretary. The magazine's early Playmate selections were drawn predominantly from American models during these first several years, making occasional foreign-born selections, like this issue's Danish Playmate, notable departures from that general pattern. Playboy's photography during this period relied on a roster of accomplished glamour photographers, including figures like Peter Gowland, whose broader careers in commercial and celebrity photography extended well beyond their individual Playboy contributions. Recurring editorial features, including the magazine's "Dear Playboy" reader correspondence column, gave each issue a consistent structural rhythm alongside its centerfold and feature content. Playboy's audience consisted primarily of young, professionally engaged American men, a readership the magazine's combination of glamour photography and cultural commentary was specifically designed to reach. Advertising within issues from this period commonly reflected products marketed toward that same aspirational male readership. The magazine's gradual willingness to expand its Playmate roster beyond purely domestic models during this period reflected Playboy's growing confidence and reach as it approached its fourth year of publication, a trend this issue exemplifies directly.
Key Highlights Inside
- The centerfold feature of Elsa Sørensen, a Danish former Miss Denmark, the first non-U.S. citizen to be named Playboy's Playmate of the Month. She appeared under her real name, distinct from her usual professional pseudonym, Dane Arden. Her centerfold was photographed by noted glamour photographer Peter Gowland.
- The "Dear Playboy" reader correspondence department, a recurring feature of the magazine throughout this period. This column allowed readers to engage directly with the magazine's editorial voice. It remained a consistent structural feature across Playboy's early issues.
- Content related to boxing, reflecting Playboy's broader coverage of sports and contemporary lifestyle subjects during this period. Specific details of this content are not detailed in available records beyond its documented presence in this issue. It reflects the magazine's varied editorial range beyond photography and fiction alone.
- Additional fiction, articles, and features likely present, consistent with Playboy's standard issue structure during this period. Issues typically combined multiple written features alongside the centerfold presentation. Specific additional article titles for this issue are unconfirmed beyond those noted here.
- Advertising content reflecting the aspirational, consumer-driven readership Playboy cultivated during the mid-1950s. These pages offer useful secondary context for researchers studying period consumer culture. Specific advertisers appearing in this issue are not detailed in available records.
Condition & Rarity
This issue shows wear consistent with its age, including edge and binding wear with marks and rips, characteristics collectors should generally expect from a periodical that has survived nearly seven decades since its original newsstand distribution. It is a newsstand copy without a label, a variant collectors often value for its unobstructed cover presentation, since the absence of a mailing label or subscription marking typically allows the full cover to be viewed without interruption. Early Playboy issues from the 1950s are generally scarce in well-preserved condition, given the magazine's disposable newsstand origins and the tendency for centerfolds to be removed or damaged over decades of handling. Issues carrying genuine documented "firsts" within Playboy's history, such as this one's introduction of the magazine's first foreign-born Playmate appearing under her real name, often see additional collector demand beyond the general scarcity of early Playboy issues as a category. A plastic protective covering, when present, functions as a stabilizing measure intended to preserve a copy's current condition rather than a factor that changes its underlying grade. Collectors evaluating any surviving copy of this issue should examine the spine and staple integrity closely, since these are often the first areas to show age-related stress in periodicals of this vintage and paper stock. Given the combination of this issue's genuine historical significance and its documented condition, a surviving copy represents a meaningful find for collectors of early Playboy history.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Early Playboy issues marking genuine documented milestones, particularly one as significant as the introduction of the magazine's first foreign-born Playmate appearing under her own name, are genuinely important finds within the magazine's early publishing history. For those drawn to this particular issue, our Playboy collection is an excellent place to continue browsing, since it gathers other surviving issues from across the magazine's long publishing history, including further examples of its early international photographic expansion. That collection offers a broader look at how Playboy's Playmate roster and photographic scope evolved across different decades. Collectors with a specific interest in Peter Gowland's broader body of glamour photography, or in the early international history of Playboy's Playmate selections, may find related material of interest scattered throughout that same collection. Beyond the publication itself, our 1956 magazines collection offers useful context for the broader publishing landscape of the same year, spanning titles well outside Playboy alone. Browsing by year can be especially valuable for researchers interested in a specific cultural moment rather than one particular magazine. Given how significant genuine milestone issues like this one tend to be among collectors once discovered, we'd encourage anyone interested in this period to browse both collections at their own pace. There is always more of this history available than a single issue can represent on its own. We hope these collections help round out whatever corner of Playboy's early history you're most drawn to.