The Bunny Years (51 page)

“McArthur/Glen became the leading developer of designer outlet malls in the United States, building 21 centers in 19 states over a nine-year period. On October 14, 1993, we went public, and I became one of the few female CEOs to head a New York Stock Exchange company. At the ripe old age of 45, I retired. I had been working seven days a week, and I wanted a personal life. I remarried and now devote myself to oil painting and working with a number of organizations I've joined.”

I
n stark contrast to the bitter 1965 union strike waged on Manhattan's frigid Fifth Avenue by Bunnies wearing fur coats and snow boots, the 1975 walkout by Chicago Bunnies was a frolic on Playboy's Michigan Avenue doorstep. Television crews and press reporters were invited to what was billed by Playboy as the “World's Most Beautiful Walkout”—a sunny afternoon display of costumed Bunnies marching along a sidwalk, laughing and wielding “Bunny Lib!” placards. The staged walkout was all for a good cause, heralding policy changes supported by Bunnies and Playboy management alike.

“The things we wanted,” said Chicago's 1975 Bunny of the Year, Laura Lyons, at the time, “were pretty basic. Freedom to date Keyholders if we want to, freedom to use our real names if we choose and freedom to patronize the Club as Keyholders whenever we wish.”

An open letter spelling out these desired policy changes was sent by the Chicago Bunnies to Hugh Hefner, President of Playboy Enterprises:

We love being Playboy Bunnies, and most of the time we love you, but there are times when we think you are a Male Chauvinist Rabbit. Those are the times when, because of the archaic rules you have decreed for Bunny behavior, we are made to feel like strange objects out of step with our times.

While you are, admittedly, the leader of sexual liberation, you have set the cause of Bunny Lib back 10 years. Our private lives should be our own. For example, we're not allowed to date Keyholders. We are human beings with human feelings and passions. Yet, you have decreed that Keyholders can “look but don't touch.” In short, you have created a caste system through which we Bunnies have become America's “Untouchables.”

We can't use our real names and even when asked we can't give out our last names. This, Hef, is medieval. You have prohibited us from enjoying the pleasures of the very place we work. We are not allowed to come into the Playboy Club as private citizens. This is anti-Bunny discrimination. We should be honorary VIP Keyholders, in fact. Also, we ask you to reconsider your outdated mandates. We believe you to be a kind, considerate and progressive-thinking person. We expect to hear from you in a positive way. Until we do, we intend to let the outside world know that we are unhappy. We have nothing to lose but our tails and ears.

The Chicago Bunnies

Hugh Hefner responded:

I have received your letter dealing with Bunny Lib, and I have to admit that I am both distressed and pleased. I am distressed because many of the ideas you propose are ideas that have discussed and then allowed to be tabled for some future consideration, and nothing has been done about them. But I am pleased that these ideas can surface in the Club. And I am reassured that the company is one where employees feel they can express themselves without any fear of reprisal.

For a long time, I have been thinking that some of the rules and regulations instituted in the early '60s make little or no sense in 1975. Some of these rules came about because of specific legal restrictions in certain areas, and these, of course, we must still impose. Other rules were considered sound public relations where and when the public thought there was something suspect about the Bunny concept. But I
agree that you have proved to the world that Bunnies are mature, responsible young ladies fully capable of leading their own private lives without bringing any discredit to themselves or to the company. And I agree that is exactly the way you should be treated.

I agree and am enthusiastic about your suggestions for the Chicago Club and any other Clubs where there are no legal problems. Therefore, as of today:

1. All Bunnies are honorary members of the Playboy Club and are entitled to use all its facilities.

2. Bunnies are free to date whomever they choose.

3. Bunnies may use their real names, and full names if they choose, in the Club.

In short, we are making Bunny Lib a reality rather than just a slogan, and I will welcome any additional suggestions you may have.

Hugh M. Hefner

P.S. Really, Bunnies, I'm not a male chauvinist rabbit and I love and respect all of you. Maybe I've been just a wee bit overprotective.

L
IZ
D
OYLE

P
layboy paid my college tuition; I studied banking, credit and finance at a community college in New Jersey. I was married during the four years I worked as a Bunny. My husband, who is a musician, put together a musical act for us. I began working part-time so I could continue taking classes and also travel with my husband performing. I was a Training Bunny, working in the VIP Room on weekends, and also found time to do promotional work for Playboy.

“After I graduated, I felt I had gone as far as I could at Playboy. It was time to turn the page and start a new chapter in my life. I wanted to have a family life and start a business with my husband. I turned in my costume and we left for a three-week vacation in Europe.

“Many years later, when I was running my own special-events company, one of my clients found out that I had been a Bunny and blurted it out during a dinner meeting. I thought, ‘Oh boy, here goes.' I stepped up to the microphone and said, ‘I want you to imagine me doing this 15 years ago when I was 15 pounds lighter.' I put water glasses on a tray, went over to the president of the company and demonstrated the Bunny Dip. No problem. I had done that Dip so many times it was a piece of cake. Everyone just roared. They loved it. I never took being a Bunny seriously. I always looked at it from the lighter side.

Liz Doyle is executive vice president of Corporate Styles, a multimillion-dollar New Jersey-based company specializing in planning, designing and managing corporate events.

“Even the way I got the job in the first place was a lark. One night in 1970, I went to the New York Playboy Club with some friends. We were standing in the lobby checking our coats when the Door Bunny came up to me and said, ‘We're interviewing girls right now—how'd you like to be a Bunny?' Well, this became the topic of conversation for the rest of the evening. My friends were saying, 'Oh, this is so funny, you could never get a job here,' and ‘I dare you to try out!'

“At the time, I was 19 years old and working at CBS in executive personnel, a strait-laced corporate job. I went for the interview with the Bunny Mother on my lunch hour. I could always go back to CBS, but I'd never get another chance to be a Bunny. I was young and spirited enough to give it a shot just to see where this adventure would lead. I was hired.

“My father is English and a ship's captain. He was so concerned when he heard I was working as a Bunny that he went over to the Club to check it out. He took a look around and said, ‘All right, go ahead. It's no big deal.'

“The more I got into the training program and saw how protective all the rules and regulations were for the girls, the more I liked the idea. I realized I could easily fall into the mold. And that's what I did—until one day when I was approached about doing the centerfold for the magazine. At the time Playboy was paying $5,000, but it was just not worth it to me to pose nude.

“I never lived in a college dorm but, in a way, being a Bunny made me feel like I was in a sorority. A few years ago, I was on a business trip to Florida to do site inspections for some resort properties and had a meeting with a woman who was in charge of the catering department. In her office, there was a picture of her in a Bunny costume. When I asked
her about it, she said, ‘Oh, that was me a long, long time ago in Chicago.' Telling her that I had worked as a Bunny in New York only a few years later really opened the door for me. After that, it was a whole new ball game, sort of an ‘old girls' network.'”