The Bunny Years (57 page)

K
ATHARINA
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OVANOVIC
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EVENTHAL

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alter Holmes, who designed the marvelous Jet Bunny uniforms, designed my wedding gown,” says Kathy Leventhal, now vice president of Chicago's Ronsley Events, which she and husband Michael run.

“I felt so privileged to be one of ten chosen out of nearly a thousand Bunnies to work as a Jet Bunny. It was like a paid vacation. The three-week tour of Europe and Africa with Barbi and 15 of Hef's closest friends aboard the Big Bunny was the first time all of the Jet Bunnies traveled together internationally. But whatever was planned throughout the trip—visiting the Serengeti Plain in East Africa, a camel party on the beach in Morocco, cruising on a yacht in Greece, a tram ride in Munich to the top of the Zugspitz, sightseeing in Rome and London—the Jet Bunnies were treated as members of the entourage. Wherever we landed, the press was there to greet us with flashbulbs popping.”

Kathy, who worked as a Bunny for 10 years, says, “My former life meshed very well with my life today, where I still work behind the scenes to help create memorable occasions. When Princess Diana visited Chicago, our firm handled the events, including a gala for 1,600 people. But my husband Michael and I also attend these gala events and are a part of the social fabric of our city.”

Jet Bunnies Britt Elders, Kathy Jovanovic and Tonia Shipley (back to front) in black and white nylon ciré costumes designed by Walter Holmes.

The Living Room area of the Big Bunny.

Hefner's private quarters with the famous elliptical bed upholstered in black Himalayan goat leather and covered with a spread of Tasmanian opossum pelts.

Hefner talking with Jet Bunnies on a flight from Chicago to California.

T
he Baby Lift began in April 1975 with a telephone call from Yul Brynner to Hugh Hefner on behalf of the Friends of Children and a planeload of Vietnamese orphans,” former San Francisco Bunny Mother Frankie Helms recalls. The 41 infants, some of them survivors of an ill-fated earlier flight that had crashed, were destined for adoption by American and European families. An airplane was needed to transport the babies from San Francisco to New York's LaGuardia Airport, with stops in Denver and Chicago.

The Brynners, who were adopting one of the babies airlifted through the concerted efforts of the Catholic Relief Services and the Friends of Children, “asked Hef to make the Big Bunny available for the Baby Lift—and, of course, he did,” Frankie recalls. “I got a call at home close to midnight asking me to be at the airport to help out—there were only 11 of us on board, each with four babies to tend. I would just finish changing one, and it would be time to do the next. Several of the infants were ill from the rich baby formula they weren't used to, and a few were badly scarred from burns they'd suffered from the plane crash. One of my little charges could only be comforted if I held him and let him put his hand in my mouth. He was so frightened. By the time we reached New York and the waiting arms, I could barely let him go.”

Baby lift, 1975. Janice Raymond (standing, Jet Bunny/Playmate, December 1974) and Bunny Mother, Frankie Helms (center, holding a baby) tend Vietnamese orphans aboard the Big Bunny.

Francesca Helms, known as Frankie, was one of the most beloved of all the Bunny Mothers, and the self-described adviser, zipper-upper, confidante and friend to a generation of Bunnies, beginning with the opening of the St. Louis Club in 1962. During her 15-year career with Playboy, Frankie was also Bunny Mother in the Phoenix, Miami, Jamaica, Atlanta and San Francisco clubs. Today she is a concierge at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.

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WEN
W
ONG
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AYNE

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uring my 10-year Playboy odyssey, I was a Bunny, a Playmate and a Jet Bunny on the DC-9 Big Bunny. During this period I also managed to graduate from college with a degree in art.

“My aunt, Sienna Wong, had been a Bunny in Miami and New York and she encouraged me to apply for a job at the new Playboy Club opening in Los Angeles January 1, 1965. I was 22, married and had two children, my first born in Ohio when I was 17. “I don't drink and it took me a while to remember not to put a cherry in a martini or an olive in a Manhattan. Obviously I figured it out because I was later asked to become a Training Bunny. Doing promotions on behalf of Playboy over the years helped me deal with my self-consciousness. As a Playmate and a Jet Bunny I frequently did press interviews and made personal appearances around the country.

“When I first became a Bunny, I was asked if I wanted to be a Playmate and I declined. Several years later when my marriage was ending, I changed my mind. I wanted money in the bank in case I needed it for my children. Mario Casilli took my center-fold photographs. It was a terrible ordeal for poor Mario because I was so shy. He'd say, ‘Here, Gwen, have a glass of wine,' thinking that maybe then I would take my blouse off! Even without the drink I somehow worked up the nerve and appeared in the April 1967 issue of Playboy.