heard money talks? Well, these people can hear it.
I really enjoyed that feeling that I was actually talking to a person and it was very strange
but the most interesting thing was when my money talked back to me, I was very surprised
that it had more grievances against me than I did.
Unlike these other people, my money, it seemed to be very impersonal and I had a tough time
talking to it. What I felt like was if I could have a whole bunch of it there, it would be
better, but it's almost like the money was reverent on a pedestal above what I could
get in touch with. Rub it against your face, and rub it against
your whole head and your ear. After making verbal contact with a few of
our presidents, they now make bodily contact. Toss it up in the air and catch it.
Take crumple it into a ball and pop it in your mouth and chew it.
Take it out and dry it out. Nobody told me not to swallow.
John, I can give it a try. What you do is you just take the bill, you
look right into George's face here and you say, listen George, if you just get all your
dollars and come to me, I'll treat you right. Man, I'll be good to you. I know what to say.
I can make you happy. What do you say George? What do you say?
I said he wants to borrow a five till Tuesday. Don't go away, because we'll be right back
to show you how the Russians set up an Air Force base in Nevada.
John will conclude his inside look at how Nielsen family really views television.
And we'll go to Hugh Hefner's house to look at a reunion of centerfold models.
That's right. So bear with them. I mean with us.
We frequently do typographical errors and bloopers here on the show.
Well, a Mr. And Mrs. McCoy and family of Forks, Washington sent us this clipping from the
Forks Peninsula Herald, which tells us about a small Southern newspaper that presented
a whole series of bloopers, only not on purpose. On Monday, the following ad appeared in the
classified section. That's right. It says for sale, R.D. Jones
has a sewing machine for sale. Phone nine five eight after seven p.m. and ask for Mrs.
Kelly, who lives with him. Chief. Well, he had brought in a lot of response, but not
what Mr. R.D. Jones expected. He was furious. So on Tuesday, the paper quickly printed an
apology that said, Notice, we regret having aired an R.D. Jones ad yesterday. I should
have read one sewing machine for sale. Chief. Phone nine five eight and ask for Mrs. Kelly,
who lives with him after seven p.m. By now, Mr. Jones was getting all kinds of offers,
but none of them for the sewing machine. He must have blown his fuse because the next
day the paper said, On Wednesday, Mr. R.D. Jones has informed us that he's received many
annoying phone calls because of the error we made in his classified ad yesterday. His
ad stands corrected here as follows. For sale. R.D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale.
Chief. Phone nine five eight after seven p.m. and ask for Mrs. Kelly, who lives with him.
The next day was Friday and the following appeared. Says, Notice, please do not call
nine five eight anymore as the phone has been taken away. I have not been carrying on with
Mrs. Kelly. She was my housekeeper, but she quit. And I, R.D. Jones, do not have a sewing
machine for sale because I smashed it. The international news gets more startling every
day. We recently discovered that there are Russian combat units in Cuba. We know there
are Russian ground troops in Africa and recently we heard that there is a Russian Air Force
unit training in Nevada. Basic game plan is for the F-4Ds to strike target, go flat airfield
to go a sweep V-sweep against the F-15s. The F-106s will be running a delayed pincer to
pick up any F-15s. The idea, of course, is to have the F-4Js eliminate the F-15s and
for us to hit the strike force before they hit their targets. That pilot we've just seen
wearing the Russian Red Star in his uniform standing in front of a hammer and sickle instructing
his fellow pilots on how to down U.S. aircraft is obviously not a Russian. He's a 29-year-old
real down home country boy from Tennessee named Steve Whelan. Here at Nellis Air Force
Base just outside Las Vegas, Captain Whelan has been trained to think, live, and fight
like a Russian in one of the most unique combat training programs in the U.S. military called
Operation Red Flag. American pilots often carrying live bombs trained by trying to hit replicas
of Russian targets in the desert. These targets are defended by the select members of the
Russian squadron. At aggressor headquarters, I was briefed by the operations officer, Colonel
Three Story.
Good morning, John. Welcome to the tank aggressors. It's my privilege to...
The Colonel said Operation Red Flag was set up following Vietnam because too many American
pilots and planes were lost in combat against Russian MiGs and their Russian-trained pilots.
You can train American pilots to fly like Russian pilots, but how do you train them
to think like Russians?
We give him a lot of academics concerning the man, the Russian man, his ideology, his
background, his selection process, the type of training he undergoes, the airplane that
he flies, and it's very easy for us to portray the Russian pilot.
Okay, let's go.
He believes deeply in his heart that he's doing the right thing in defending the motherland
Russia, and he's good. We only take the best. Our men are hand-picked, and they have attained
a level of maturity. They don't have the need to go out and prove how good they are to each
other.
I think anybody who flies an aircraft to begin with, be it a small airplane or a fighter,
really does get a feeling of high ego, if you will.
If he has a healthy ego, he got it because he flies a good airplane.
Sometimes we're known as hot dogs.
We make sure that we don't get negative feedback concerning a man's personality, because we
believe we can teach him to fly. Teaching him to change his personality is much more
difficult.
Sometimes we're known as the Tom Sniders of the military. You have to be rather innovative
at times. You have to be reasonably aggressive so as to provide maximum training.
Aggressive? You won't find a more aggressive group.
How do enemy tactics differ from American tactics?
In most cases, he is more regimented. He is more closely under the control of the man
on the ground who is controlling him via radar.
In combat, Russian pilots aren't as free-flying as our Americans. They're guided by ground
control officers, usually women. Steve's ground controller holds the rank of captain.
When a pilot has to travel at those speeds and turn it for Gs or whatever, and he only
has a second and a half, possibly, between life and death, how do you keep from throwing
up?
After the mission, Steve and his fellow pilots go through an extensive debriefing session.
After that, they get a chance to relax with more target practice.
Wherever I went in their quarters, I saw constant reminders of their mission. Red stars, enlistment
posters, books on Soviet life, pictures of Lenin on the wall, more red stars on their
coffee cups, more books on Soviet life, Uncle Karl Marx needs you posters, and finally a
place where Soviet life could be forgotten. They are all dedicated Americans with a sense
of humor, so their favorite poster is Snoopy.
The day we were there, that sense of humor was in evidence. One pilot who had flown his
last mission before being transferred was given a going-away bash. He was bashed by
the ground control officer. She said she'd saved him from being hit in the air so she
could get him in the locker room.
And then become very close. They travel in terms of groups of one week, sometimes two
weeks, all over the United States. They're gone over 33 percent of the time.
Following goodbyes to old friends, Steve and his squadron were back up in the air flying
against and training new pilots. I asked one of the trainees what it felt like to be shot
down.
When you see yourself on film or tape being shot down, you learn real quick how to avoid
it the next time.
What I really feel good is when I get shot. I know the other guy is doing the best he
can to get me.
Well, I think we all feel about the same way. We don't want to go to war, but if we do go,
we want to be the best there is.
We don't consider it a game. We run an element of risk in any air-to-air environment. Flight
safety is paramount. However, the training, the realistic training that we're striving
towards does not come without some price.
Flagging one, you're left 11 o'clock, eight. How come I'm not here an arch?
During these operations, some ground control officers have actually seen blips disappear
from the radar scopes, blips that represented the very real cost and lives of American pilots.
Operation Red Flag is probably the most realistic and dangerous training program in the military.
Since 1976, there have been 20 crashes and 17 fatalities. After a dedicated men and women
like Steve Wheaton taking these kinds of risks in peace to protect American war makes the
real people in this country real lucky.
I'm leaving on a jet plane. I don't know when I'll be back again. Leaving on a jet plane.
I don't know when I'll be back again. Leaving on a jet plane. I don't know when I'll be
back again. Oh, babe, I hate to go.
Well, the celebrated 25th anniversary. I wish I'd have been here. I'm a great playboy fan.
I never miss a copy. I think I've gone through every issue that ever came up.
I'll bet you have. You must have read about the reunion in the article.
Article? I didn't know they had articles in there.
See that as it may skip, it was a fabulous get-together. They had most of their centerfold
models for the past 25 years there.
Articles? Are you sure they didn't have articles in the book?
The reunion was at the Los Angeles mansion of Playboy's founder, Hugh Hefner.
Publishing barons are traditionally fond of castles. Most castles have most. Hefner's
has swimming pools and today they were filled with almost half of the 200 plaintiffs who
showed up for the reunion. The centerfold and the bunny, Hefner's two trademarks were
prominently displayed. I could see there were a lot of familiar faces looking at a lot of
familiar bodies.
Which one do you prefer? The Chicago house or this one? Why?
It's more of home. Typical middle-class Southern California living.
It's a very unique day because playmates have really been a very real source of erotic
dreams and fantasies for much of American manhood for now three decades. And to bring
so many of the women together in one place at one time is a great kick. A lot of fun.
In 1955 when Janet Pilgrim became the first girl-next-door centerfold for Playboy, this
picture caused quite a furor. Now we're looking at it on television. I guess that says a lot
about how far Playboy and we have come in the last 25 years.
Well when I started at the magazine, they were one-year-olds and at that time they were
buying calendar penitential pictures. And it got to a point where Hef just wasn't finding
the type photographs and the quality pictures that he wanted. He was looking for something
new. And there I was sitting in the subscription department and big joke, you know the whole
staff at Osher was sending Janet on over to the photographer. I was totally sick of it.
I was sick and tired of waiting on students. And I was looking for other ways to pay my
way to the pool. I was working or hoping to work with the Los Angeles Herald Examiner
last summer. And I decided to write a story on the star machinery of Hollywood. If you're
going to be in show business, you've got to get some national recognition. Let's send
some pictures to Playboy. So I did. The story is that if you get in a magazine, it leads
to movie contracts and everything else. And so I made an appointment to come as a contestant
to the 25th anniversary Playmate Search, which was held in Los Angeles last summer. I felt
that by doing that I could sort of ask questions and people would think I was just another
contestant and they'd be off guard and they'd tell me things. I did go over there, they
did take some test shots of me and they called. I still don't believe it. They said they liked
my pictures, they said I love you and would like to go to Chicago. So then it was time
to make a decision. Oh boy. I said no. I said sure. There wasn't any difficult decision
to make at all. It was a very difficult decision. I have a lot of brothers and sisters, a lot
of family. The most difficult thing of course was just my mother. My mother, when I told
her about the original phone call, she said they asked you to take your clothes off in
the magazine? And I said well yes. And she said well what did you say? I said well no,
I'm not going to do it. She goes good. I'll think you have to. I grew up with Playboy
seraphos. My father always described a Playboy. I knew I would have to cope with a whole different
attitude if people recognized me as oh, Playboy stuff. And that was the attitude of most people
in those days. Best of all, Playboy said if you're worried about how you're going to be
portrayed in the magazine, you choose the theme of the pictures and you write the article.
And that's what I did. To get my first byline in Playboy magazine as a freelance writer
was quite a thrill. I got $500 for writing my story. Did you get paid for being a centerfold?
Yes, I got $10,000. Vicki is a graduate of Cambridge University Law School and is definitely
a liberated lady. But this year she was paid $500 to use her brain and $10,000 to show
her body. In the first thing I knew I was Miss July, 1951. As you might assume, I had
never closed nude in my life. And I started out completely dressed. I had layers and layers
and layers of clothes on.