-Caveat Lector- c. 2000 N. Y. Times News Service Startling evidence emerged last week that somebody once really did look at Playboy magazine for the articles: none other than J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. According to newly released FBI files, Playboy got a careful eyeballing at bureau headquarters in the 1950s and 60s not because of the centerfolds, but because the FBI wanted to keep tabs on jokes and criticism aimed at the bureau and Hoover, its ultraconservative director, who died in 1972. "I knew somebody was buying it for more than the pictures," said Hugh M. Hefner, Playboy's founder, in a phone interview on Friday. APBNews.com, which specializes in criminal justice news, obtained more than 200 pages of FBI documents on Playboy under the Freedom of Information Act. Here are excerpts from the dossier, which the Web site posted last week, commenting that it arrived at its offices, fittingly enough, in a brown wrapper. - BY TOM KUNTZ Founded in 1953, Playboy drew FBI attention with its September 1955 issue, which included a sci- ence fiction story about G-men in outer space. An agent gave a top Hoover aide a synopsis: The story is about an individual called Bill employed as a "sphinx voice assembler on the Starling Spaceship production line" who believed that his every move was surveilled by numerous cameras and tape recorders. Mention is made of a tape recorder in his TV set, and that "the FBI never adjusted it right, and it hummed all night long." . . . In an effort to escape being shadowed, Bill buys a spaceship and travels to outer space. . . . After leaving earth, Bill discovers a woman concealed in a potato sack whose handbag contained, among other things, "a badge that read: Special Investigator, FBI." The agent panned the yarn from a law-enforcement perspective: This story is a satire on the government's use of informants, and although it is fantasy and fiction, it does cast unfavorable references on the use of informants. In view of the nature and quality of the magazine, it is not advisable for the Bureau to dignify this publication by taking any action whatsoever. But the FBI's scrutiny intensified after the February 1963 issue, in which Hefner, in his column The Playboy Philosophy, criticized Hoover for his anti-pornography stance. Hoover penned this portentous note to subordinates: What do we know of H. M. Hefner? Before long, the FBI knew plenty. From the start, the bureau's man on the Playboy case was Milton A. Jones, chief of the crime records section (now deceased). He laid it on thick for his bosses, writing in May 1963: In order to be aware of the rabid ramblings of Hefner, since his unwarranted attack on the Director in the February 1963 issue of this magazine, we have been reviewing the "editorial credo" written by Hefner. . . . Hefner has stated that the Director was wrong about pornography's effect on the nation's youth and that it was simply a way to distract the attention of the public from the FBI's embarrassment concerning the nation's crime syndicate, which it (the FBI) was unable to do "anything effective about." . . . In the May issue he dwelt at great length on a reported school of scientific opinion, which suggests that pornography is not only harmless, but that it may actually have some value as a release for pent-up sexual frustrations and desires. The files are rife with contempt for Playboy. Still, it courted Hoover, sending him more than a score of interview requests and requests for comment. Hoover typically scrawled "Ignore. H" on the letters, and in one case, "Ignore. It stinks," meaning the magazine. In September 1963, Playboy escalated its charm offensive with this letter from a club representative while the director visited New York: Dear Mr. Hoover, Hugh Hefner, Editor- Publisher of Playboy Magazine and President of the Playboy Clubs, has asked me to welcome you back to New York, and to make certain that whenever you wish, the facilities of the New York Playboy Club will be made available to you and your guests. Therefore, at Mr. Hefner's request, we are enclosing a special Celebrity Key which will make it possible for you and your friends to visit the Club anytime during your stay. . . . Of particular interest to you will be the V. I. P. Room (for very important Playboys room) in the Club. . . . Reservations are required for this room, and we therefore ask that you call in advance to our Miss Kent . . . who will see to it that your requirements are given special attention. . . . Hoover ignored that invitation too. Not that the FBI wasn't interested in Playboy Clubs and the special attention that some Bunnies in New Orleans wanted to give clients after hours. This is from an FBI report the same year: An informant of the New Orleans office . . . advised that some of the girls who were employed expected they would be used as prostitutes, but soon quit when they learned that no questionable activity was permitted and that association with customers after hours was cause for dismissal. Agent Jones appeared to relish his role as editorial critic, as this memo from 1964 shows: In the Book Review Section . . . Fred J. Cook's infamous book, "The FBI Nobody Knows," is reviewed in typical Playboy "know-it- all" style. In their characteristic "smart aleck" way, they briefly list the distorted and warmed-over complaints of Cook. . . . The moral degenerates who publish this high-priced trash have presented nothing new. . . . Ignoring these garbage collectors appears to be the best means of putting their rantings in proper perspective. Jones showed similar contempt for figures like Lenny Bruce, whom he called a "foul-mouthed so-called comedian." Of a Playboy interview with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the January 1965 issue, Jones wrote: King rambles on and on, speaks considerably of his religious beliefs and his faith in a Supreme Being, but actually says nothing. . . . The entire article is typical King double-talk and is another classical example of the unbounded duplicity of this false prophet. (Even the cartoons were scrutinized for subversive messages, as this 1967 memo illustrates:) The current issue of Playboy magazine includes a comic strip entitled "Little Annie Fanny." . . . The "plot" of the story relates to the kidnapping in Nevada of a nuclear physicist by foreign spies. A squad of FBI agents led by "The Chief" (obviously referring to the Director) investigates the kidnapping with the help of "Little Annie Fannie." This highly satirical strip attempts to poke fun at the Director and the Bureau's wellestablished reputation for loyalty, patriotism and high moral behavior. Its ridiculous exaggerations indirectly compliment the character and ideals of the FBI. (BEGIN ITALICS HERE) Hoover also seemed to feel the pain of concerned Playboy readers. One wrote to the Director to complain: (END ITALICS HERE) Dear Sir, As a member of the Playboy Club, I like my sex as well as anyone . . . but of late I find myself increasingly disturbed by the contents of Playboy magazine. . . . The constant and continued glorification of drugs in articles and fiction, the continuing effort to downgrade the "establishment," the encouragement of hatred of authority, the playing up of Negro problems all seem part of a definite editorial policy almost subversive in its objective. (BEGIN ITALICS HERE) To which Hoover replied: (END ITALICS HERE) Dear (( name withheld)), I have received your letter . . . and understand the concern which prompted you to write. In view of your interest, I am enclosing some material about organizations and groups which are undermining our basic freedoms. (BEGIN ITALICS HERE) But even sympathetic letter- writers had to be checked out, as this notation at the bottom of the copy in the bureau's files (Bufiles) attests: (END ITALICS HERE) NOTE: Correspondent is not identifiable in Bufiles. (BEGIN ITALICS HERE) Postscript: Hefner said last week that there was a personal irony for him in the Playboy dossier. As a boy in the 1930s, he was enthralled by films like "G Men" starring James Cagney, which glorified Hoover's FBI "When I was a kid, I was a fan," he noted ruefully. 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