Sunday, December 27, 2015

Pamela Anderson's First Cover/Doug's Cartoon: October 1989

The January/February 2016 issue features Pamela Anderson's 14th cover; her first was published in October 1989.


Doug's full-page color cartoon in the October 1989 issue was published on p. 103.

Caption:  "The 'Phi Beta Kappa' card is helpful, but what really grabs them is the 'allover tan.'"

To see more of Doug's Playboy originals, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:


January (1960) Playboy Cover

The Rabbit icon is on the cover of the holiday issue, but not the year.

I also noticed a popular monthly feature in today's magazines was not yet included: the in-depth Playboy Interview.  It debuted in the September 1962 issue and focused on jazz legend/trumpeter Miles Davis.


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Final Days Sightseeing in England

After visiting the gardens and enjoying a champagne tea at Highgrove, our tour continued on to Thornbury Castle, a 500-year old property where King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn once stayed.  Today, it's a 26-room luxury hotel and restaurant in South Gloucestershire, England.


Doug waited for me in the hotel drawing room before we went for dinner.


This was the view (from the window in our master bathroom) of the walled garden; we stayed in the DeClare bedchamber on the top floor.


Thornbury Castle is behind St. Mary's Church, whose founding dates from the Norman period.





The next day we drove through the Cotswolds to the Oxfordshire village of Bampton, where most of the outdoor scenes for Downton Abbey were filmed.  (Interiors were shot at Highclere Castle, near Newbury in Berkshire; the kitchen, servants' quarters and attic bedrooms were filmed at a set built at Ealing Studios, 60 miles away from Highclere Castle.)

The green outside of St. Mary's Church was where the fairground scene was filmed; Lady Mary was married in the chapel/Lady Edith was the disappointed bride.




Doug and I easily recognized Mrs. Crawley's house on the green, by the church.



Blenheim Palace - built between 1705 and 1722 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England - is the principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace (November 30, 1874) of Sir Winston Churchill.

Like the fictional Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle), Blenheim Palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlborough's November 1896 marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt.


We entered Blenheim Palace - opened to the public for the first time in April 1950 - after crossing the Great Court.


Another similarity to Downton Abbey:  Blenheim Palace was used as a convalescence hospital for wounded soldiers during WWI.


It was a lovely day so we also visited the Water Terraces, redesigned in the 1920s by Achille Duchene, a French landscape architect.




Before going inside Highclere Castle - the TV home of Downton Abbey - we walked around the grounds and gardens, designed by Britain's most famous landscape designer, Lancelot "Capability" Brown, who promoted natural overgrowth and rolling meadows.


Taking the path to the Monk's Garden, originally cultivated in the 12th century when the estate was occupied by the bishops of Winchester.  The Carnarvon family acquired the estate in 1679.


Depending on the season, fruit trees and climbing roses mix with yew topiary in the Monk's Garden.


After leaving the Monk's Garden, we walked along the path in the Secret Garden, featuring borders planted with annuals, perennials and shrubs.


The area south of the castle is a meadow of wild flowers and natural grasses.



Our 2 weeks of touring museums, palaces, castles and gardens in England ended with a visit to Windsor Castle, the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world.  (I took this photo around 5 p.m. on a week day - long after most tourists "called it a day.")


The weather was beautiful so we saw the 11 a.m. Changing of the Guard.




It's a challenge to see the castle's State Apartments, art from the Royal Collection, St. George's Hall, St. George's Chapel, Queen Mary's Dolls' House and gardens in a one-day visit.




Since Windsor Castle closes to the public at 5:15 p.m., downtown Windsor was not congested so the walk back to our hotel took only a few minutes - unlike in the morning when the castle opened to the public at 9:45 a.m.


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon

A timeline in the Shakespeare Centre documents the marriage of William Shakespeare (born in 1564) and Anne Hathaway in 1582.


After seeing exhibitions in the contemporary Shakespeare Centre, visitors exit and walk past the gardens and up to the house (top right),


entering through a side door instead of off Henley Street.

Replica of the downstairs eating area.


Replica of an upstairs bedroom; a guide told us this was not wallpaper - the design was stencilled on linen so it could be easily changed and reused in another room.



Before exiting Shakespeare's birthplace/home, a troupe of professional actors entertained visitors with excerpts from several of his more popular plays.


Despite a light rain, Doug and I walked through the gardens after touring the house.


This is the front of Shakespeare's birthplace, a restored 16th century half-timbered house, bought by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1847.


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Unpublished Holiday Favorites: Playboy Gag Rough Rejects

Happy Holidays!





To see more of Doug's Playboy gag rough rejects, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Doug's Christmas Cartoons: December 2010 Issue

Doug's full-page color cartoon was published on p. 77 of the December 2010 issue of Playboy.

caption:  "Not bad---I'd suggest a threesome."


Notice changes Doug made from the approved gag rough to the published original.


Doug had a second cartoon published in the Christmas compilation, pp. 102-103 - Classic Cartoons of Christmas Past.

caption:  "I'd like to see Miss December . . . I'm Mr. December."

To see more of Doug's Playboy cartoons, visit the Doug Sneyd Premium Gallery at:



Cover of the December 2010 issue.


(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)

Burghley House

Continuing on with our 2-week tour of English castles and palaces, we visited Burghley House, near Stamford in Lincolnshire.  The 13,000-acre working estate has been the home of the Cecil family for over 400 years.


Despite being one of England's greatest Elizabethan houses, visitors will see  a number of contemporary sculptures (this was at the Visitor Entrance/Brewhouse Centre) in the property's permanent collection.


The entrance to the state rooms is directly behind this tree in the courtyard.


The tour of 18 state rooms begins in the Tudor kitchen.


Turtle soup may not be on many menus today, but it must have been popular at Burghley House from the display of the turtle skulls in the kitchen.


Visitors will see a wonderful private collection of 17th century Italian paintings, 18th century furniture and wood carvings, and Japanese ceramics.








(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)