Playboy Swings by Patty Farmer

Author:Patty Farmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beaufort Books
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

New York Bunny Lisa Aromi. Courtesy Lisa Aromi

“Sadly, I wasn’t assigned to work the Party Room the night Woody Allen was there with his Dixieland Band. I’m a big fan. But I did ride in an elevator with him and his wife at the time, Louise Lasser. We exchanged a few words.

“Gerry Mulligan played in the Living Room with a jazz trio. At the time, he was dating Sandy Dennis, the actress, and she’d come and listen to him play.

“Cindy Adams came in one night with her husband Joey, to see Soupy Sales. That was a fun night, because I got to go on stage and introduce him. In her column, Cindy could sometimes be snippy and mean—but I remember that when her husband left the table to go talk to Soupy, she was concerned about keeping his coffee warm until he came back. She put the saucer over the cup as a cover. I only mention this because it made me see her in another light. I met her years later and told her that story, and she said, ‘Thank you for telling me that. It means a lot to me.’ Joey was apparently quite ill at the time.

“As Bunnies, we had to follow so many rules and regulations, but we liked it that way. The rules protected us. No one was allowed to touch us, and if someone tried, we’d call a room director who would step in and deal with it. The only time I had an incident was in the Playroom, when someone pulled off my tail. It happened to be a woman who did it. Looking back on it, it seems funny. I was serving drinks and she said, ‘Bye Bunny,’ and ripped the tail clean off my costume. The tray of drinks crashed to the floor—and on some patrons, I’m afraid—and I yelled, ‘Stop that woman! She’s got my tail!’ People were yelling and pointing at her. She ran the whole length of the room before the room director stopped her. Then she looked at me and said, ‘You lousy Bunny! I wanted this for my Halloween costume.’ I told her I was sorry, that maybe they would sell her one, but that I had to turn mine in at the end of the night. It was part of my costume; I was responsible for that tail!

“The only other time I remember someone trying to steal anything was when a group of men took a huge painting of Frank Sinatra. It was by LeRoy Neiman, who did a lot of the paintings that were in the clubs. They took it right off the wall, put their overcoats over it, and tried to smuggle it out of the club. They were caught as they scrambled to get it out of the elevator. After that, Tony Roma, the manager, hung Frank in his upstairs office and had the rest of the paintings bolted to the walls.

“After work, I’d usually go straight home to Brooklyn and my daughter.

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