Marilyn Monroe, 1953

As the centerfold for the premier issue of Playboy, Hugh Hefner purchased this previously unpublished shot of the sexy starlet Marilyn Monroe from the John Baumgarth Calendar Company. Today it is synonymous with Playboy's early days. Marilyn graced the pages as the magazine's first "Sweetheart of the Month" invitingly posed on the cover with the promise of more inside. The first issue of the magazine - a "handbook for the urban male" - was printed without a date so that it could remain on newsstands indefinitely and sold more than 50,000 copies.