Playboy by Josh Robertson

Playboy by Josh Robertson

Author:Josh Robertson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2014-06-02T16:00:00+00:00


Atlanta Bunny Sara Atkinson wielding the club’s camera.

The Playboy Bunny Manual.

An exception to the no-dating rule was made for the members designated number-one keyholders, or C1s. Originally limited to Hefner, Lownes, and other club brass, the designation was extended to celebrities and, in a strategic move, influential members of the media. The rule confused more that a few Bunnies over the years—if they were allowed to date the C1s, did that mean they had to if asked?

Bunny comportment was also micromanaged. “We weren’t allowed to be seen drinking water,” says Judy Sterling. “Because how would people know it was water? And we weren’t allowed to be seen going into the restroom; we had to go into the dressing room if we had to use the restroom. No one was allowed to touch you. You weren’t allowed to wear any jewelry except for your cuffs and your collar. Before you walked out on the floor, you had to stop by the Bunny Mother, who would check that your fingernails were clean and your tail was fluffed. We were a figment of the male imagination, a fantasy.”

An important rule for patrons, one for which Bunnies were universally grateful, was that Bunnies were never to be touched. If a keyholder was getting a bit grabby, the proper Bunny response was to say, politely but firmly, “Sir, you are not allowed to touch the Bunnies.” Failure to knock it off was not tolerated. “The assistant manager in Atlanta was Joe Lipstein,” says Sterling. “If a man got unruly and tried to touch you, the trick was to say ‘Mr. Lipstein …’ Because I never called him Mr. Lipstein; I always called him Joe. So if I said, ‘Mr. Lipstein, I’d like for you to meet Mr. Smith,’ that was the signal to get rid of this jerk, he’s too drunk, and he’s tried to touch my arm twice. We had a lot of control like that. We felt very protected and watched over. You didn’t shout at the Bunnies, you didn’t use curse words to us. You’d be kicked out in a second. We were to be treated like we were crystal.”

The rules were in place to protect the company, its image, and its Bunnies. Keith Hefner and others at the top knew that without discipline and professionalism the clubs might devolve into (or be perceived as) little more than saloons with scantily clad women slinging drinks. Yet almost in spite of themselves, the clubs were fun places to work, and the Bunnies were colorful and spirited young ladies (many of them college age) who learned to bend the rules and work the system.

Jan Marlyn Reesman provides a window into Bunny life outside the pages of the Playboy Bunny Manual. Reesman was an early bloomer who by her midteens was taking the train into New York regularly for modeling jobs. She entered and won the Miss New Jersey pageant only to be dropped when organizers learned she was just 16. A year later, as



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