Saginor, Jennifer 1969(?)–

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Saginor, Jennifer 1969(?)–

PERSONAL: Born c. 1969, in Los Angeles, CA. Education: Mount Vernon College, graduated.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperEntertainment, 10 E. 53rd St., 7th Fl., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Writer. Worked in film production and development at Spelling Entertainment, Miramax Films, and Motion Picture Corporation of America.

WRITINGS:

Playground: A Childhood Lost inside the Playboy Mansion, HarperEntertainment (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: In her memoir, Playground: A Childhood Lost inside the Playboy Mansion, Jennifer Saginor recalls her life after her mother and father divorced when she was six. Her father, a doctor to the rich and powerful in Hollywood, started taking her and her older sister to the Playboy Mansion with him. Saginor recounts how, on her first visit to the mansion as a little girl, she saw a famous actor having sex with a Playboy bunny. Over the years, Saginor would witness much that is not meant for children's eyes, including rampant drug use. Although her mother tried to prevent her exhusband from taking their daughters to the mansion, where he seems to have a permanent open invitation, the girls enjoy the party atmosphere and often, at the behest of their father, lied to their mother about these visits. Saginor moved in with her dad full time when in high school, and eventually she was drawn into the hedonistic lifestyle, starting a relationship with an actor when she was fifteen and becoming involved in drugs.

In a review of Playground in Salon.com, Christine Smallwood noted that "one becomes not just a private witness and voyeur to Saginor's life, but a friend and confidante." Smallwood went on to comment that the author's "style creates this eavesdropping effect." Scott Eyman, writing in the Palm Beach Post, commented that "her characterization of her father is as a classic emotional bully, a man dependent on a proximity to fame for his identity, and who uses that proximity to score a succession of women and drugs that gradually debilitates him physically and emotionally." A Publishers Weekly contributor commented of the book that "readers seeking colorful general-issue dish, sleaze and bad behavior will find it in spades."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Saginor, Jennifer, Playground: A Childhood Lost inside the Playboy Mansion, HarperEntertainment (New York, NY), 2005.

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, May 27, 2005, Gilbert Cruz, brief review of Playground, p. 103; June 17, 2005, Jennifer Reese, review of Playground, p. 85.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2005, review of Playground, p. 407.

Palm Beach Post, August 28, 2005, Scott Eyman, review of Playground.

Publishers Weekly, April 18, 2005, review of Playground, p. 53.

Weekly Standard, June 13, 2005, "Great Moments In Acknowledgments," p. 39.