TMZ has posted this photo purportedly showing JFK on a boat full of naked women. The article details how TMZ received verification from photo experts who conformed that the print was made on paper consistent with the late fifties, that the damage to the print was consistent with processes of the day, that there are no signs of fabrication; and that the likeness of Kennedy, such as it is, is quite consistent with known images. I am not an expert, but I simply don’t believe it. It’s too perfect. No signs of blur in the girl jumping overboard? Kennedy in a swimsuit, while all the girls are nude? It’s just too perfect.
As it turns out, the TMZ photo was indeed a hoax. The Smoking Gun did a great job demonstrating that the picture originated in, yes, Playboy in a November 1967 pictorial beautifully entitled “Charter Yacht Party: How to Have a Ball on the Briny with an Able-Bodied Complement of Ship’s Belles.” As I wrote yesterday, I am not one bit surprised–I guess I have spent just too much time familiarizing myself with classic Playboy photo composition to believe such balance and detail can be the result of accident. Here are the photos side-by-side: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/jfkpicpopup1.html