The announcement of Scarborough-born Port Perry resident Jayde Nicole, Miss January 2007, as Playboy Playmate of the Year 2008 — the first Canadian to score that title since Gene Simmons’ squeeze Shannon Tweed in 1982 — resonated enough with local media outlets to suggest that Hugh Hefner’s bunny brand has some life in it yet.

Worldwide reports of the Playboy Mansion press conference, however, were more focused on Hef (b. 1926) responding to a question about Vanity Fair photo spread provocateur Miley Cyrus (b. 1992) by saying she’s welcome to pose in Playboy around 2010.

Was this the Playboy founder’s “We begin bombing in five minutes” moment? Or just giving the lascivious celebrity media the exact sort of response they wanted?

The attention came on the heels of reports that Playboy Enterprises lost money in the first quarter of 2008. So, while Hef was holding forth on how hoopla over provocative Annie Leibovitz pics of Miley is “a reflection of how schizophrenic America is about sexuality,” his CEO daughter Christie Hefner was speaking on “unprecedented changes in the way consumers access and use media content.”

Yet, it’ll be just like old times at the Mac’s store in Port Perry, where franchisee Abdul Rashid expects to sell 700 issues of Playboy when the PMOY appears there on Wednesday, reported the Toronto Star. Mike Strobel is covering the Jayde beat for the Toronto Sun, meanwhile, showing his age — if not the age of Sun readers — by pointing out that Port Perry’s most famous daughter prior to their centerfold was Mae West and Carol Channing impersonator Craig Russell.

Certainly, the lineups seeking an autograph from Jayde Nicole at one of three Toronto newsstands this week will be the kind of men and women who read Playboy — or, at least, have no qualms about being seen with a copy in public.

(Gone from the scene, unfortunately, is late publicist Gino Empry — who, as Hef’s man in Toronto, squired naked chicks of more dubious distinction around this town.)

While her dark hair and apparent all-natural physique distinguish her from the recent Playmate stereotype reflected in the stars of the Girls Next Door reality show, 22-year-old Jayde’s most prominent feature is a Blackmoor font tattoo on her well-waxed lower abdomen — a spot variously described online as above her “public line,” “ovaries,” “fun box,” “Pharoh’s tomb” and “Hefner hole” — that reads “Respect.”

Must be a generational thing, as past PMOYs weren’t known for their body art. But doesn’t that risk making veteran Playboy readers feel more self-conscious?

“Not any more than readers of Sports Illustrated are likely to complain that all the ball players are in their 20s,” says Playboy managing editor Jamie Malanowski.

“This is still a fantasy magazine for a certain kind of lifestyle. Where the girls are all pretty, the locations are all exotic, and the cars all go fast. Plus, there’s no high Cholesterol in its bloodstream.” Which is crucial for anything 54 years old.

Malanowski, just a few months older than Playboy itself, was an original staffer of Spy magazine, and more recently author of a satirical novel, The Coup. So, the tradition he’s charged with maintaining for Hefner has more to do with Vladimir Nabokov and Shel Silverstein than Pamela Anderson and Anna Nicole Smith. But working on articles for Playboy means you don’t apologize for the pictures.

“Consider that the magazine has withstood all of the Penthouses and Hustlers, not to mention all the lad mags. The combination is still a smart one, editorially.

“When it was originally founded, it was really the cutting edge,” says Malanowski. “Jazz, nightclubs and comedians like Lenny Bruce. Then, through the '70s, it was synonymous with ethic of sexual liberation. From there, it was demonized as the face of immorality and feminist attacks. Somewhere along the line, it became more of a party boy bible. But, all along, it’s kind of been the same magazine. The DNA is still the same. And the readers tend not to throw their issues away.”

While the management suggests print advertising erosion will be offset by sales of spin-off products featuring the iconic logo, Malanowski is a bit more hopeful.

“There are still nearly three million readers of the magazine every month,” he says. “There may not be too many of these big dogs around in the future, but the top magazines in each category are the ones that are also most likely to survive.”

Plus, no website offers $100,000 and a Cadillac CTS to the model voted the year’s favourite — or the opportunity to be discussed in water-cooler conversation. Jayde Nicole at least looks different enough to make her victory spark debates.

Victoria Zdrok, the October 1994 Playmate of the Month, has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, although she ran afoul of Hef’s mansion by later working for Penthouse.

She knows what kind of girl grows up wanting to pose for Playboy: “There’s a certain degree of narcissism, exhibitionism and attention craving,” says Zdrok.

“It’s often girls who wanted to pursue a mainstream fashion model route, but maybe they weren’t tall enough. I was told by those agents that I had too much of a ‘pageant look’ and was too curvaceous, so Playboy provided me with an outlet.

“But most of these girls aren’t particularly bright. It’s not like they would have much of a career beforehand — Anna Nicole Smith was working as a fry cook. This becomes a good career choice for someone who doesn’t have another option. You get $25,000 for the first pictorial, and money for each subsequent appearance. Maybe you can be an actress in a B-movie, or meet somebody wealthy. And there were a few who had more ambition, and were successful.

“Most of the time, though, it’s a big letdown. There’s a flash of stardom, and literally 15 minutes later a fade into history. These women tend not to realize they need a degree of determination, and business savvy, to stay in the limelight.”

Zdrok, now 35, is most recently the author of Dr. Z on Scoring: How to Pick Up, Seduce and Hook Up with Hot Women, her attempt to capitalize on the seduction industry. By contrast, Jayde Nicole owns her own modeling agency in Port Perry.

What they have in common is that Hugh Hefner chose them to be a centerfold in his magazine — even though Jayde is the one who emerged with the PMOY title.

“It’s still the ultimate crown in the microcosmic universe he created,” says Zdrok.

“But he’s also become secluded in that world. He thinks everyone wants to be a part of it, and not everyone does anymore. I recently heard he propositioned a girl who said she didn’t date anyone over 24 – his response was, ‘Neither do I’.”

Previously on the Scroll: Jayde Nicole: Playmate 

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