Cleo magazine closing: Red Symons says centrefold was unpleasant

AUSTRALIAN musician, actor and radio host Red Symons has recalled what shooting his nude Cleo magazine centrefold with Skyhooks was really like.

Symons appeared on ABC 730 where he was reminiscing about the nude centrefold he shot with his band Skyhooks in the 1970s, before the magazine officially folds next month.

The former lead guitarist of the band said the experience of shooting the centrefold was “fairly unpleasing”.

“It’s not really possible to climb a tree naked with grace,” he said.

“There are a few intermediate periods that are fairly unpleasing. It’s largely a fairly unpleasant experience.”

Symons also said that the setting of the shoot made if more difficult.

“For the obvious reason that we’re naked in a tree in the blazing sun,” he said.

But despite the difficulties in shooting the famous picture of the band, he said it was part of what performers such as himself did for their fans.

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“It’s in the nature of being a performer that you do unpleasant things for the joy of everybody else,” he said.

“I didn't realise how attractive I was!” he added.

Looking back at the role of Cleo among womens’ magazines, Symons described it by saying: “Dolly teaches you how to have an orgasm Cleo teaches you how to fake an orgasm and the Women’s Weekly teaches you how to knit an orgasm.”

After more than four decades, the last edition of Cleo magazine will hit the shelves on February 22 after publisher Bauer Media confirmed its closure.

The long-running publication was launched in November 1972 by founding editor Ita Buttrose and media mogul Kerry Packer.

It has since been edited by prominent female media personalities including Lisa Wilkinson, Deborah Thomas and Mia Freedman.

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