Playboy Club Suit Hailed by NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel

Press Release
July 2, 1964

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Playboy Club Suit Hailed by NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel, 1964. 9131f77f-bd92-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/914e7a12-6c95-4bb3-8cfe-099b7859fa4f/playboy-club-suit-hailed-by-naacp-legal-defense-fund-director-counsel. Accessed August 19, 2025.

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    FOR: IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

E FROM: NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 Columbus Circle July 2, 1964 
New York, N.Y. 

PLAYBOY CLUB SUIT HAILED 
BY NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE 
FUND DIRECTOR - COUNSEL 

NEW YORK, N.Y.--The NAACP Legal Defense Fund this week praised 

the Playboy Club of New Orleans for its suit against Louisiana 

laws prohibiting Negroes from attending the Club. 

Jack Greenberg, the Fund's director-counsel, called the 

Playboy suit a major legal step by a private firm aimed at 

breaking down racial barriers in the south. 

"It is encouraging to see a private corporation invoke the 

U.S. Constitution in seeking to open its entertainment facili- 

ties to all citizens," Mr. Greenberg said. 

The Playboy suit also asks the Court to issue an injunction 

restraining the defendants, who include Governor John McKeithen, 

Mayor Victor Schiro, and other state and city officials, from 

enforcing the discriminatory laws or the segregationist policies 

they embody. 

Playboy International, which supervises the operations of 

the Playboy Clubs in eight cities, has 300,000 "key holders" 

throughout the United States. A substantial number are Negroes, 

However, the exact number is not known since Playboy Club 

membership applications do not ask racial, religious or ethnic 

information. 

Any "key holder" is entitled to the full privileges of all 

Playboy Clubs, regardless of his place of residence. But the 

Louisiana statute and New Orleans ordinance challenged this 

week make it impossible for the New Orleans Club or its manager 

to admit Negroes without risking fines from $100 to $1000, 

a jail term ranging from 60 days to one year, and loss of 

liquor license. 

=-80 =

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Playboy Club Suit Hailed by NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel

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