HEF II

As Playboy Enterprises’ senior vice president, marketing and communications, during the period Christie Hefner assumed the position of the company’s president, I have had the opportunity to work both with Hef and Christie. Your excellent article, “Hef II” (by Karen Stabiner, Sept. 10), used a number of adjectives to describe Christie but neglected to use perhaps the most important one: smart. Unfortunately, Christie has been president of Playboy since 1982, and the bottom-line numbers show she has not really turned the company around yet. How many presidents are given that long to turn a company around? Of course, the bulk of shareholders are more likely to display unusual patience when someone close to you controls more than 70% of the stock.

MARTIN M. COOPER, Encino