Victor Lownes

Lownes set about drumming up advertising for the pariah publication, most conservative companies wanting nothing to do with the magazine. He was quite successful in changing minds. Advertising for a club called Gaslight in Chicago, Lownes saw an opportunity to diversify the Playboy brand and suggested to Hefner that Playboy should open a club of its own. Hefner immediately saw the commercial and promotional benefits. Read Less

They had three London casinos, two provincial casinos, interests in two others, 72 off track betting parlors, and six bingo parlors. In these casinos they attracted some of the highest of the high rollers and societies’ upper crust.<br /><br /> In 1975 Hefner's penchant for becoming involved in various ventures and then losing interest led to unprofitability in many areas of Playboy. Lownes was brought back to Chicago by Hefner personally as a hatchet man to trim the fat off the corporation. He was given virtually unlimited powers and on the job, Lownes was so dedicated to cutting expenses that he was known within the company as "Attila" or "Jaws".<br /><br /> Lownes was the executive producer for And Now For Something Completely Different, the first Monty Python film. He was a fan and proposed the idea of a film specifically designed to introduce the British comedy troupe to a US audience. He was very egotistical. According to Terry Gilliam, Victor Lownes insisted on getting an animated executive producer credit equal in size to those of the group members. Gilliam refused and so Lownes had the credit made elsewhere at his own cost. Gilliam then created a different style of credit for the Pythons so Lownes' credit is the only one that appears in this way. Read Less