Playboy 'readers' get 3-D centerfold

Whew, it’s been a sexy couple of days here at the gossip blog… first it was Claudia Schiffer pregnant and posing in the buff for Vogue Germany– then it was the racy photosthe Miss USA Pageant’s released. Now we’re hearing about Playboy’s foray into 3D erotica. Check this out!

AP–Playboy readers who can only imagine what it would look like if a centerfold jumped right off the page are getting new specs to help them see into Hef’s world.

MultimediaPhotoview all photos The magazine’s June edition hits newsstands Friday equipped with 3-D glasses. Now the toy that has kids dodging dragons, meatballs and tall blue aliens at the movies will help adults focus on what is, at first glance, a very blurry Playmate of the Year.

“What would people most like to see in 3-D?” asked Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. “Probably a naked lady.”

Hefner makes no secret of hoping to capitalize on the popularity of 3-D movies such as “Avatar” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” even as he makes no secret of not quite getting what all the fuss is about.

“I’m not a huge enthusiast of 3-D,” he said in a telephone interview. “I leave real life to go to the movies and 2-D is fine with me.”

If the thought of grown men sitting back in their recliners with a pair of 3-D glasses doesn’t quite say “Playboy,” it should be noted that a few months ago the magazine put Marge Simpson — yes, the blue-haired animated mother of Bart — on the cover and in a two-page centerfold.

“In today’s print environment you have to create newsstand events,” said the editorial director of the Chicago-based magazine, Jimmy Jellinek. “Marge Simpson was one of those.”

Playboy certainly must do something to get more people, especially younger people, to buy a magazine that has seen circulation plummet from 3.5 million in 2006 to 1.5 million today.