Woody Right for Playboy?

GETS IT FOR THE ARTICLES Allen, Soon Yi Previn

Is Woody Allen getting a bit prudish in his old age?

The auteur of the Upper East Side has a short story, "Nib for Hire," in the June issue of Playboy. Excerpted from Allen's collection, Mere Anarchy, it's the author's first new piece in nearly 35 years to appear in Playboy's pages. And it almost didn't happen: Rachel Bernstein, Allen's editor at Random House, says he was initially uncomfortable about what she delicately calls "the whole Playboy thing. We didn't know how it would look." But Allen came around after some coaxing and reminders about other famous authors whose work the men's magazine has recently published (for example, Stephen King, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood).

Still, you'd think a guy who once took nude photos of his adopted daughter would be a little more open-minded—especially considering he used to hang out at the mansion with Hef.

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