After Shel Silverstein finished his two year stint with the Army (amidst the publication of his first book, Take Ten) he started work in 1956 for Playboy created and run by fellow Chicago native Hugh Hefner. He was a regular contributor from then on, dropping off somewhat in the 1970s when other pursuits like songwriting, authoring books for children, and playwrighting took precedence. His last contribution to Playboy before his death appeared in the January 1998 issue: "Hamlet as Told on the Street", a reworked version of the 1990 play. However, in the January 2001 issue, a previously unpublished epic poem called "Topless Town" was published, with illustrations by Arnold Roth. In the his forty-plus years with the magazine, Silverstein contributed cartoons, satire,poems, articles from far-flung places in his role as Playboy's international correspondent, and much more.
Below you will find a comprehensive (but likely not complete) listing of all of Shel Silverstein's contributions to Playboy. Some of the listings will have hyperlinks to the actual content, either on my site or elsewhere. If there are any factual errors or items missing, please email me.
The List
August
1956: "The Disguise"
December
1956: Confessions of an American Button Man
January
1957: unknown
May
1957: Return to Tokyo
July
1957: Silverstein in Scandinavia
October
1957: Silverstein in London
January
1958: Silverstein in Paris
March
1958: Silverstein in Moscow
November
1958: Silverstein in Switzerland
March
1959: Silverstein in Spain
April
1959: Silverstein Fights a Bull
August
1959: Silverstein among the Arabs
July
1959: "Teevie Jeebies"
October
1959: Silverstein in Africa
1959:
"The Scarf"
April
1960: unknown
May
1960: "The Distortion" (appears in "Now Here's My Plan)
June
1960: "The Cork"(appears in "Now Here's My Plan")
August
1960: "The Golfer" (appears in "Now Here's My Plan")
September
1960: Silverstein in Greenwich Village
October
1960: The Character Actor(appears in "Now Here's My Plan")
November
1960: Good Grief! Still More Teevee Jeebies
1960:
"The Humorist", "The Bank Robber", "The Commercial", "the Quiet Man"
January
1961: unknown
May
1961: Silverstein in Alaska
June
1961: Silverstein in Hawaii
July
1961: Bride of Teevee Jeebies
August
1961: Uncle
Shelby's ABZ Book
November
1961: Teevee Jeebies
December
1961: Napoleon in Russia
February
1962: Silverstein's Zoo
March
1962: I Was a Teenage Teevee Jeebie
April
1962: The Mad Scientist
May
1962: Marriage
June
1962: Silverstein Plays Ball (hanging out with the Chicago White Sox) and
"Teevee Jeebies Around the Clock"
August
1962: Teevee Jeebies Meets the Wolfman
November
1962: unknown cartoon
March
1963: Silverstein in Miami
April
1963: Meanwhile, Back at the Teevee Jeebies
May
1963: unknown Satire
June
1963: unknown Teevie Jeebies
July
1963: Road to Teevie Jeebies
August
1963: Silverstein in a Nudist Colony
October
1963: Gone With the Teevee Jeebies
November
1963: Lafcadio, the Story of a Lion Who Shot Back
January
1964: History of Playboy, Part I
February
1964, History of Playboy, Part II
March
1964: History of Playboy, Part III
April
1964: La Dolce Teevie Jeebies
May
1964: The Creature from the Black Teevie Jeebies
June
1964: Uncle
Shelby's Scout Handbook
July
1964: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Teevee Jeebies
September
1964: The Wonderful World of Teevee Jeebies
November
1964: Anatomy of a Teevee Jeebie
January
1965: Uncle
Shelby's Kiddie Corner
March
1965: Silverstein in Mexico
April
1965: Send me no Teevie Jeebies
June
1965: Teevee Jeebies, Please Come Home
August
1965: Silverstein at Fire Island
September
1965: What's New--Teevee Jeebies
December
1965: The Silverstein Songbook:
contains "Plastic",
"Yowzah",
"Ever Lovin'
Machine", "Who's
Been Scorin?", and "Yellow
Haired Woman"
May
1966: May Lord Love a Teevie Jeebie
October
1966: Who's Afraid of Teevie Jeebies
December
1966: The Silverstein Songbook:
-contains "The
Clam","I
Don't Know Which Way I'm Going", "Everybody
Got Some But Me",
"If You Can't Do It",
"Never Bite
A Married Woman On The Thigh", "Jaded"
and "The
Mermaid".
June
1967: Silverstein in London
July
1968: Silverstein Among the Hippies
August
1968: More Silverstein Among the Hippies
December
1970: The
End
January
1971: Silverstein Around the World
January
1973: The Song of Songs Which is Silverstein's:
contains "Don't
Give a Dose to the One You Love Most", "I
Got Stoned and I Missed It", "Liberated
Lady 1999",
"The Man Who
Got No Sign", "Masochistic
Baby", "The
Perfect Wave", "Stacy
Brown Got Two", and
"Thumbsucker"
December
1973: Silverstein
Meets Mother Goose
January
1978: The
Smoke Off
January
1979: The
Devil and Billy Markham
July
1979: The Perfect
High
September
1979: Numbers
October
1979: The
Diet
November
1979: "Escape" (previously appeared in "Different Dances")
December
1979: The
Winner and "Teach Your Children Well" (previously appeared in "Different
Dances")
January
1980: "The Deadly Weapon"
February
1980: "Paintin'
Her Fingernails"
March
1980: "Uncle
Don" and cartoon previously appearing in "Different Dances"
April
1980: "Some Enchanted Evening" (previously appeared in "Different Dances")
June
1980: "My Fear of Dentists" (previously in "Different Dances")
November
1980: California
C's
December
1981: Rosalie
Good Eats Cafe
December
1982: The
Twenty Commandments
January
1989: Silverstein's Zoo
March
1994: Silverstein's Zoo
December
1996: New St. Nick
January
1998: Hamlet
as Told on the Street
January
2001: Topless Town
