The Bunny Years (22 page)

“I learned how to swing my pearls, do the Charleston and sing songs like ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find'—only we would spice up the lyrics and sing, ‘and a hard man is a good find.' Everybody in the speakeasy would scream, throw peanuts on the floor and fill up our trays with dollar bills.

“One day, Capt. Murphy called me off the floor and said, ‘Don't come back here until you're of age.' I went straight to Playboy with the same ID and got hired. I was still 17—at least for a few more weeks.

“I was invited to live at the Mansion, but I didn't want to move into the Bunny Dorm with seven other women. I was raised in a Catholic boarding school from the time I was 5 years old; like the army, we slept in bunks. When I saw the dormitory I said, ‘No way. Not again. Let me out, I've suffered enough.' I talked to Hef about it and learned there was one studio apartment available because a Playmate, Terre Tucker, was moving out. However, Hef had rules: No pets, no boyfriends. Well, my studio was a tiny room, but I moved in my dog, two cats, a parakeet and an aquarium. And I was a slob. I didn't pick up anything. I'd bring my boyfriend, an Italian guy, into the Mansion and walk right up the stairs with him to my room. A couple of times, we ran into Hef walking down the stairs in his silk pajamas and smoking jacket, carrying his pipe. I said ‘Hi, Hef,' as we walked by. He never said a word to me about my friend.

“Hef had a Saint Bernard named Humphrey. My little Pekinese would jump up and bite Humphrey's lip, then hang on, his feet off the ground, as Humphrey walked around with him dangling. That's how these two very different-sized dogs would play together.

“I had a horse stabled just three blocks from the Mansion, and in the early mornings I would ride through the gates, tie my horse up near the door and go in for breakfast. My horse, of course, would make a mess, and the butler would go out and sweep it up. One day I rode up and the gates were locked; I took the hint and didn't bring him back.

“During the two years I lived at the Mansion, I reveled in every sort of mischief. On one occasion when Hef was entertaining, and there were a good many celebrities invited, Marika Lukacs and I got a huge inflatable naked doll and tied her to the railings of the little balcony outside my window. The police came as soon as the neighbors reported seeing a naked Playmate about to jump off a balcony. I don't think Hef thought it was very funny.

“I wanted to be a Playmate and I thought Hef would never notice me with all those gorgeous girls around—but he did. One morning, I pulled on a little shift with an elastic top to run downstairs to get a coffee. I was wearing nothing under the shift. Hef and the usual movie star and celebrity guests were in the breakfast nook as I pranced in. I saw a bowl of giant Delicious apples, grabbed two and put them in my pockets—and with that, the entire shift slipped to my ankles. I was totally naked. Then I had to bend over to pull up my shift, with the butler standing behind me. Needless to say, Hef noticed me.

“Later that morning I ran through the living room in a suntan and white bikini, my bra stuffed to perfection, as Hef stood talking with Tony Bennett. As I streaked past on my way to the pool, I heard Tony Bennett say, ‘
Who
is
that
?' The next thing I knew, things started rolling and I was asked to be a Playmate.

Entrepreneur Patti Reynolds, with her invention, The Bird Guardian™, which protects nesting birds from predators.

“I worked as a Bunny for three years, and I loved it. I love people, and the Club was a place where I could just joke and have fun. Another Playmate, Mickey Winters, [September 1962] and I got demerits the minute we walked on the floor: mismatched shoes, no lipstick, messy hair. Finally, we both got fired. We looked at each other and laughed. It was the middle of winter, we were both Playmates—
we knew they would take us back. We went to Florida for a two-week vacation and came back to our Bunny jobs.

“After I left Playboy in 1966, it was my love for animals that led me to my career as an entrepreneur. I became the only female naturalist with the Cook County Forest Reserve Conservation Department—and wore my uniform with skintight, butt-grabbing jeans. I would do nature walks with kids, give lectures and do rescue work with birds. One day, I saw a bluejay poking its head in a birdhouse, pulling out baby birds and eating them. I got so upset, I went to a hardware store and bought some materials to fashion a screen to keep the predator birds from entering the birdhouse. My little invention worked so well, and there was nothing like it available commercially, so I decided to patent it. I now market the Bird Guardian nationally, and have several other patents pending for various birdhouse accessories.”

K
ELLY
C
OLLINS

I
think I was the one who came up with the Bunny Dip,” says Kelly Collins, whose perfect Bunny Image adorned the cover of the Bunny Manual throughout the 25-year history of the Playboy clubs. “I'm tall—5'8”—and with 4-inch heels I topped 6 feet. Bending over in a Bunny costume to serve a cocktail was unattractive from all angles, so I came up with the idea of bending at the knees. It was easier, more graceful, and gave a nicer line to the body. Besides, we were always tugging the costume down in back and pulling it up in front, so this stylized service helped keep everything in place.”

Kelly, who was born in Colorado, was modeling in Chicago when she saw a newspaper ad about the new Playboy Club opening. She met her future roommate, Bonnie Jo Halpin, at the Bunny auditions, and the two worked as Door Bunnies opening night, February 29, 1960. “I remember the two of us looking at each other that first night with the crush of people at the door and wondering, ‘What's going to happen to us now?' It was such a new experience, and I felt like a fish out of water in the beginning.

“There were no rules or guidelines when I first started as a Bunny, but over time I started to pass along my ideas and comments to Keith Hefner, who took charge of Bunny training.” Kelly, who dated Keith for three years, traveled with him training new Bunnies for Club openings in Miami, New Orleans, New York, St. Louis, Detroit and Cincinnati.

“Few of us had any idea what the ingredients were in a particular cocktail, or how to garnish a drink, so it was necessary to come up with a training program. The notorious call-in sequence for the drink orders was designed to make things easier and faster for Bunnies and bartenders alike.

“I loved the Club openings, but I always had First-Night jitters. Everything had to go perfectly, and I took pride in being a big part of making those events come off smoothly. It was a great opportunity for me to travel and to be at the center of something that was very special. While working as a Bunny, I continued to do a lot of modeling in Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles, and did ads for
Playboy
magazine. I didn't do a centerfold because, in those days, models couldn't even do lingerie ads without harming their careers.

Kelly Collins with “Sonny.”

“Bonnie and I lived together in a small apartment in a women's-only residence in Bellevue Place, a half-block from Lake Michigan and four blocks from Playboy. Those were wonderful times, and terribly exciting. I loved feeling like I was part of a team.”

In 1966, Kelly left Playboy to marry Ron Alexander, one of the room directors at the Club. She's been divorced since 1980, and lives outside Chicago with a horse, two dogs and three cats. “When you don't have children of your own, you find a way to nurture that ‘mothering' thing.” For the past 10 years, she's worked as a “headhunter” for office management positions, “because I like people and this is a way of helping others.”