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Playbill .......... 5

The World of Playboy .......... 13

Dear Playboy .......... 15

Playboy After Hours .......... 21

Are fraternities for you? Checking in with Kathleen (Body Heat) Turner.

Music .......... 30

Heavy Metal roundup; "Holiday Record Rack."

Books .......... 34

The compleat Elvis; "Holiday Book Bag."

Book Essay .......... 40

No-frills books speak volumes.

Movies .......... 42

In the stage-to-screen parade: one hit, one near miss.

Coming Attractions .......... 49

Sequelmania strikes again: Watch for more of The Sting, Star Trek, Airplane! and Grease.

The Playboy Advisor .......... 53

Dear Playmates .......... 57

The Playboy Forum .......... 59

Playboy Interview: George Carlin--candid conversation .......... 69

His wry radicalism has taken him from class clown to class act, but he's still looking for ways to shake things up. The speaker of The Seven Words speaks with us about cocaine, cardiac arrest, courts-martial, the cosmos, comedians' groupies and comedy to come.

Killing--fiction ..........John Updike 102

Anne's father is dying, and so is whatever she once shared with her husband. A thanatotic tale of crisis and estrangement in our modern shadowland.

The Unreturning Army--article ..........Philip Caputo 106

The author of A Rumor of War searches the psyches of Vietnam veterans and finds them still under fire. Rumor has it that the Vietnam vet is an ambulatory scar. The rumors are true.

The Bad and The Beautiful--pictorial .......... 110

What's brasher than M*A*S*H, bigger than the Hulk, sexier than Charlie's Angels and harder to follow than the Road Runner? A soap opera, of course--and the loveliest soap stars of all reveal a lot more than plot lines in their dazzling debut in our pages.

Between Rock and A Soft Place--article ..........Stephen King 120

America's reigning creep-show barker is horrified at the beating up of the beat. Can rock take a stand and carry the day, or is the dead zone dead ahead? Also: a visit with an embattled hard-rock disc jock trying to preserve a place for his music.

The Eleventh-Hour Santa--gifts .......... 123

Salvation for the poor soul who has let those shopping days dwindle.

Blue Cadillac--fiction ..........Michael Malone 126

Braxton Cox is headed home to Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner, when blonde, beautiful Marie sidetracks him. Mourning the King together, they go for a ride in her blue "Elvis" Cadillac, and Braxton gets all shook up.

Together Again: Bubbly & Black Tie--drink ..........Emanuel Greenberg 128

Champagne's the perfect potable at tuxedo functions for the holidays.

At Home with The Haigs--humor ..........Henry Beard, Christopher Cerf and Tony Geiss 131

A comic-strip sortie into the flinty heart of the man who would be king.

The Gentleman Prefers Blondes--pictorial .......... 134

John Derek's blonde ambitions are fulfilled with a passion.

Reagan of the Lost Art--satire ..........Jules Feiffer 143

One of our foremost social commentators represents the supply side of some cuts that come at our Chief Executive's expense.

Cars '82: All Systems are Go!--modern living ..........Gary Witzenburg 144

The means, methods and opportunities of finding the best automotives.

Lords of The Rings--sports ..........Richard Price 148

Kurt Thomas and Bart Conner, that matched set of tumblers, personify only the tip of the iceberg in the new gymnastics generation--and a very cold iceberg it is.

Southern Star--playboy's playmate of the month .......... 150

Kimberly McArthur didn't make the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders because she didn't kick high enough. While Kim doesn't do Dallas, you'll agree that she provides plenty of kicks as January's gatefold girl.

Playboy's Party Jokes--humor .......... 162

Tailored for '82--attire ..........David Platt 165

Style in haberdashery requires a dash of designer flashery--and a lively imagination.

Live Like A King--travel ..........Stephen Birnbaum 172

Louis XVI lost his head over accommodations like these.

That Was The Year That Was--humor ..........Tom Koch 174

1981 gave us a royal wedding and a lot of royal pains, from Reagan to Begin to Byrne. The high points were hard to discern.

20 Questions: John Matuszak .......... 176

The news from The Tooz is that some football heroes really are larger than life.

In Praise of Older Women--fiction ..........Thomas M. Disch 180

Brief breakfast banter between Jocasta and her husband Oedipus, who is certainly a complex character. A classic little dialog.

Playboy's Playmate Review--pictorial .......... 183

A dreamer's dozen--last year's delightful duodecimal.

The Tale of A Sofa--ribald classic ..........Crebillon Fils 197

Playboy's Annual Awards .......... 198

Harder to pick than a stringless guitar--Playboy's best writers, artists, photographers and cartoonists of 1981; here they are.

Man and Woman: Part I of a Series ..........Jo Durden-Smith and Diane De Simone 202

From the frontiers of sex and science, this seven-part Playboy series will explore the latest thinking on what makes man man and woman woman. In this introductory installment, there's also a stimulating Playboy questionnaire that will help us (and you) determine your place in the sexual scheme.

Playboy Funnies--humor .......... 216

Playboy Potpourri .......... 276

Little Annie Fanny--satire ..........Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder 303

Playboy On the Scene .......... 307

Wine storage; loungewear; monograms; Sex News; Grapevine.

Cover Story

The delicacy offered as this month's cover comes not from the nearby patisserie but from the camera of Christian Moser and the office of our French edition in Paris. We think it's the best Franco-American product since SpaghettiOs. The lady is Natalie Levy Bencheton, a mademoiselle whose modeling career lasted only six months. Now she lives with her husband in Paris and throws an occasional soiree. We're glad Moser got our cover shot before Natalie got up and slipped away.