【hollyhoon原创中文翻译】
今天我宣布我参选 I am today announcing my candidacy
美利坚合众国总统。 for the Presidency of the United States.
时间到了1960年。 The year was 1960.
美国陷入冷战。 America was locked in a cold war.
在北卡罗莱纳， In North Carolina,
四名非洲裔美国人 举行了一场静坐游行， four African-American students staged a sit-in
在一个“白人专用”的餐馆柜台前。 at a "whites only" lunch counter.
美国食品和药物管理局通过了 And the FDA had just approved
一种新型的避孕药... a new form of birth control...
...那很快会被简称为“药片”。 ... that would soon be known simply as "the pill."
一切看起来像是新时代的黎明。 It seemed like the dawn of a new era.
而对于我，生活 显而易见的改变了。 And for me, life was definitely changing.
我刚刚离婚... I was newly divorced...
在芝加哥有一幢全新的豪宅。 with a brand-new mansion in Chicago.
第一次， And for the first time,
我公开的拥抱 花花公子的生活方式。 I was publicly embracing the Playboy lifestyle.
由于我的新家让我精神涣散， With all the distraction at my new home,
我开始跟不上我的工作。 I was starting to fall behind on my work.
因此找了一名私人助理。 So I brought on a personal assistant.
她的名字叫芭比.阿恩斯坦。 Her name was Bobbie Arnstein.
太阳晒屁股了。 Rise and shine.
我让你睡到3点。 I let you sleep till 3:00.
你要出租车吗，亲爱的？ 我帮你叫一辆。 You need a taxi, honey? I'll call you one.
来吧。 Come on.
你一小时内有个编辑会议。 You got an editorial meeting in an hour.
斯派克和拉塞尔等着呢。 Spec and Russell are waiting.
45分钟之内叫醒我。 Wake me in 45.
芭比.阿恩斯坦从中学毕业 Bobbie Arnstein started as a secretary
就开始担任公司秘书的职务。 for the company right out of high school.
她非常聪明。 She was incredibly bright.
[理查德.罗森威格，《花花公子》执行副总裁] 她有非凡的幽默感。 She had a marvelous sense of humor.
海夫纳向她征求个人建议， Hefner looked to her for personal advice
有时甚至是商业建议。 and even business advice at some time.
她也毫不犹豫的给他。 And she did not hesitate to give it.
自觉点，去洗个澡。 Do yourself a favor and take a shower.
你该洗一下了。 You need one.
她有着我一生中从未在 She had a sensitivity and a humor
其他女人身上发现过的 and an intellect that I have never found probably
敏感、幽默和理解力。 in any other woman in my life.
她是个伙伴。 She was a pal.
她是个知己。 She was a confidant.
她就是，嗯，我的左膀右臂。 And she was, yeah, my right hand... arm.
芭比快速融入花花公子大家庭， Bobbie was an instant fit in the Playboy family,
驾轻就熟的处理我的生活 handling my life and responsibilities
和杂志社的内部职责。 within the magazine with ease.
人们不习惯于真正聪明的女人。 People were not used to really bright women.
[亚瑟.克雷奇默，《花花公子》前编辑主任] 一个女人想要成功当然可以。 It was okay for a woman to try to succeed.
但一个女人比你快、比你聪明， It wasn't okay for a woman to be faster than you are,
那是不行的，而芭比就是。 smarter than you are, and Bobbie was.
有了芭比管理我的生活， With Bobbie managing my life,
我几乎不需要离开我的豪宅。 I rarely had to leave the mansion.
我把员工召来开会， I brought the staff in for meetings,
工作和生活的界限开始模糊。 and the line between work and play began to blur.
-雷。 -海夫。 - Ray. - Hef.
很高兴见到你，我的朋友。你好吗？ Good to see you, my friend. How are you?
非常好。 Very well.
舞会不断增多。 The parties were growing.
流连于舞池... And between the dance floor...
...泳池、鸡尾酒、女人之间， ... the pool, the cocktails, and the women,
我的豪宅很快成了人间胜地。 the mansion quickly became the place to be.
任何一个晚上， 宾客名单上明星如云， On any given night, the guest list included stars
如托尼.柯蒂斯， like Tony Curtis,
法兰克.辛纳屈， Frank Sinatra,
伍迪.艾伦， Woody Allen,
乔.迪马吉奥， Joe DiMaggio,
菲利斯.狄勒， Phyllis Diller,
小萨米.戴维斯， and Sammy Davis Jr.
我所听说的关于 那个地方的一切都是真的。 Everything I had heard about the place was true,
[迪克.卡维特，脱口秀主持人] 那是一个神奇国度。 it was exotic.
无数青春女郎撩动着每个人的欲火。 Many young women excite anyone's amorous propensities.
人们在豪宅外排成长队， People were lining up outside the mansion
只希望能进去看上一眼。 just hoping to get a glimpse inside.
由于每个人都想进来， With everyone wanting in,
我意识到也许有办法 I realized there might be a way
让公众体验到我的世界。 to let the public experience my world.
那一刻，我想出了个点子， And in that moment, I came up with
那将成为我们最具雄心的事业。 what would become our most ambitious undertaking yet.
1960年春天， In the spring of 1960,
我开始和一个女孩叫 辛西娅.麦道克斯的约会。 I started dating a girl named Cynthia Maddox.
嗨，我是辛西娅.麦道克斯， 我为这个杂志工作。 Hi, I'm Cynthia Maddox and I work for the magazine.
辛西娅和我在 花花公子的办公室认识。 Cynthia and I met at the Playboy offices.
她刚被提升为助理漫画编辑， She'd recently been promoted to assistant cartoon editor
是从前台接待做起来的。 after working her way up from receptionist.
嗨，辛西娅。 Hi, Cynthia.
辛西娅是芭比.阿恩斯坦 介绍来的。 Cynthia was brought in by Bobbie Arnstein.
她们是高中时的朋友。 They were friends in high school.
她聪明、迷人又漂亮， She was bright and charming and beautiful
也显示出在编辑方面的天分。 and demonstrated editorial intelligence.
-准备好了。 -哦，太好了。 - It's ready. - Oh, excellent.
-这个也准备好了。 -是的。 - And this is ready, too. - Yes.
在她的新岗位上， With her new position,
辛西娅和我一起度过了很多时光。 Cynthia and I began spending more time together.
辛西娅.麦道克斯是个好女孩。 Cynthia Maddox was a great girl.
你知道，她很开朗。 You know, very outgoing.
她成了海夫的女朋友， And she became Hef's girlfriend,
呃，同居女友。 uh, live-in girlfriend.
她经常和他一起旅行。 And she traveled a lot with him.
她经常在公开场合 She would be seen in public
和海夫一起出席大型活动。 with Hef at all major events.
这是我离婚以来第一次谈恋爱。 It was my first real relationship since my divorce.
尽管我和辛西娅在一起很快乐， But as happy as I was with Cynthia,
我还没有准备好放弃 我的单身生活方式。 I wasn't quite ready to give up the bachelor lifestyle.
离婚后我发过誓... I vowed after my divorce...
永远不再结婚。 never to marry again.
海夫总是向他的女朋友们坦陈， Hef was always very upfront with his girlfriends
他对白头到老的关系根本不感兴趣， that he was not interested in a monogamous relationship at all,
即便他们生活在一起。 even though they were living together.
无论我怎样在一段主要的 No matter how involved I became
恋爱关系中爱得死去活来， in a primary romantic relationship,
我总还是有另一个备胎。 there were still other secondary affairs.
我想我是希望，自己如同年轻人那样， I guess I wanted, as a young man
在这两个世界当中找到某种最好的东西。 to have somehow the best of both worlds.
我们可能会有几百人 We're probably gonna have a couple of hundred
在这里共度良宵，整个晚上。 people here, uh, throughout the night.
这样一个派对，我们通常会 It's, uh, a party of this kind usually begins for us
在凌晨1点钟左右开始，呃，通宵达旦。 around 1:00 and, uh, and goes till dawn.
事实是，我正享受着 我生命中最好的时光。 The truth was, I was having the time of my life.
我的豪宅派对已经成为传奇。 Our mansion parties had become legendary.
现在，我想给我的读者 Now, I wanted to give my readers
一个机会来亲身体验。 a chance to experience them firsthand.
我最后想出了一个办法。 And I'd finally come up with a way to do it.
灵感来自于我们几年前 The inspiration came from a feature
做的一期特写。 we'd run years earlier.
1956年10月的一篇文章， A November 1956 article
描述了芝加哥一家 新开的私人夜总会， profiling a new, private nightspot in Chicago,
“煤气灯”俱乐部。 the Gaslight Club.
仿效一个本世纪初的地下酒吧， Modeled after a turn-of-the-century speakeasy,
有严格的内部会员政策， with its exclusive membership policy
衣着清凉的女服务员， and scantily clad waitresses,
它很快吸引了读者的注意力。 it quickly caught the attention of our readers.
[维克多.洛恩斯，《花花公子》前营销总监] 它是私人俱乐部，姑娘们统一穿着 It was a private club, and the girls were uniformed
类似18世纪的某种服装。 in a sort of 18th-century outfit.
我们收到超过1200封读者来信， And we had over 1,200 letters from readers
询问怎样才能加入煤气灯俱乐部。 asking how they could join the Gaslight Club.
我想我们可以做 煤气灯俱乐部那样的概念， I knew we could do the concept of the Gaslight Club,
但规模更大，更好，更亲民。 but make it bigger, better, and more accessible.
这就是我对外开放 花花公子俱乐部时的想法。 And that's when I decided to open the Playboy Club.
杂志上的画面走进了生活。 The pages of the magazine come to life.
维克多.洛恩斯和我 立即开始工作， Victor Lownes and I immediately got to work,
制订一个计划。 formulating a plan.
小兔子标志...就在这儿。 The Bunny logo... right there.
联系花花公子， Connecting to Playboy,
参加一场花花公子派对， coming to a Playboy party
成了很多人的终极目标。 was the ultimate goal of so many people.
这个俱乐部意味着走进 And the clubs were meant to bring to life
生活中花花公子生活方式。 the lifestyle of the magazine.
这会很有市场的。 There's a market for this.
[库柏.海夫纳，《花花公子》首席创意官] 我父亲对于这个俱乐部的设想， The vision that my dad had for the clubs were to act
是提供某种机会给 as a sort of opportunity for readers of the magazine
杂志读者和电视观众，让他们能 or watchers of the show to be able to go and live out
过一次他们读过或看过的那种生活。 whatever they were reading or watching.
如果我们想要这么做的话， If we were going to do this right,
我们知道还需要一位合作伙伴。 we knew we needed a partner.
你好吗？ How are you?
那个时候，在芝加哥我们最喜欢的俱乐部 Back then, our favorite club in Chicago
是“沃尔顿舞步”， was the Walton Walk,
归阿诺德.莫顿所有。 owned by Arnold Morton.
阿尼！很高兴见到你。 Arnie! Good to see you.
-维克多，别来无恙。 - Victor, always a pleasure. -阿尼... - Arnie...
我有个朋友，阿尼.莫顿。 I had a friend, Arnie Morton.
我们知道他懂点生意上的事情 And we knew that he knew something about
这就够了，因为我们对 the business end of it, 'cause we knew nothing
[维克多.洛恩斯，《花花公子》前营销总监] 怎样运营一个餐厅或夜店一无所知。 about running a restaurant or nightclub.
我给你们拿点饮料好吗？ Can I get you guys a round of drinks?
即便在那些年，阿尼.莫顿 Arnie Morton was well-known
已经是一个广为人知的餐厅老板。 as a restaurateur even in those days.
当然，后来他成了一个餐饮巨头， Of course, he became gigantic as the years went on
他旗下的莫顿牛排屋遍及全美半数城市。 with his own Morton's operations in half the cities in America.
希望再见到你。 Hope to see you again.
幸会，约翰。 Good to see you, John.
我知道让我们从 I knew the only way
想象走进生活的唯一办法， to bring our vision to life
就是使阿尼成为我们团队的成员。 was to make Arnie part of the team.
首先，我们需要一个场地。 Well, first of all, we need a location.
我们联手，我们每个人出一份。 We teamed up, we each took a piece of it.
海夫纳算一份，杂志算一份。 Hefner had a piece, the magazine had a piece.
阿尼和我各算一份。 Arnie had a piece and I had a piece.
那样就有了业主。 There were four owners.
我知道有个地方目前没人用， I know of a premises that isn't being used down there
我想我可以打几个电话问问。 at the moment and I think I can make a couple of calls.
我们的当务之急就是找到完美的场地。 Our first order of business was to secure the perfect location.
先生们... Gentlemen...
致花花公子俱乐部。 To the Playboy Club.
花花公子俱乐部。 The Playboy Club.
阿尼说我们的俱乐部只能选在一个地方。 And Arnie said there was only one place our club could be.
芝加哥的黄金海岸区。 Chicago's Gold Coast district.
这个地方曾因黑帮控制的 地下酒吧和赌场而闻名， Once known for its mob-controlled speakeasies and casinos,
现在是芝加哥最热门的 it was now home to the hottest clubs
俱乐部和餐馆聚集地。 and restaurants Chicago had to offer.
夜店是一种新兴的声色场， Nightclubs were a new, a new glamour,
[迪克.格雷戈里，喜剧演员] 呃，对男人来说。 uh, for manhood.
每个人都有自己的夜店。 Everybody had their nightclub.
有本地人的夜店。 There were local nightclubs.
有黑人的夜店。 There were black nightclubs.
有犹太人的夜店， There were Jewish nightclubs,
意大利夜店...在旁边。 Italian night... in the neighborhood.
但最轰动一时的来了。 But the big hit was to come downtown.
阿尼知道有个可用的地方... And Arnie knew of a place that was available...
东沃尔顿116号。 116 East Walton.
先前“配角俱乐部”的所在地。 The former home of the Cameo Club.
5层楼高，位于繁华的市中心。 Five stories high and right in the heart of the action.
我们计划把配角俱乐部改造成 We planned to transform the Cameo Club
一个梦幻的单身汉寓所， into a fantasy bachelor pad
房间设计成一间客厅 with rooms designed to look like a living room
和一个图书馆， and a library,
还有一间迪厅和一个剧场。 as well as a disco and a theater.
施工进行当中， With construction under way,
我们开始考虑俱乐部最重要的特征。 we began focusing on the club's most important feature.
海夫，我们要商量女招待的问题。 So, Hef, we need to deal with the issue of the waitresses.
好的，好的，呃，玩伴女郎。 Right, right, the, uh, the Playmates.
你喜欢什么样的？ What's your preference?
海夫纳想把女招待 叫作玩伴女郎。 Hefner wanted to call the waitresses Playmates.
他想让她们穿上短睡衣。 And he wanted to dress them in shorty nightgowns.
[维克多.洛恩斯，《花花公子》前营销总监] 这样一来，一定会非常性感。 And somehow that was gonna be very sexy.
但是，我们同时也看到， But, uh, we kept seeing that there were gonna be
会有诸如过度暴露等一系列问题， a lot of problems in overexposure, et cetera,
如果我们让姑娘们穿上睡衣的话。 if we dress the girls in nightgowns.
我倒是建议换个方向思考。 I would like to suggest going in a different direction.
如果不用玩伴女郎， Rather than the Playmate,
你觉得小兔子怎么样？ what do you think about Bunnies?
-小兔子？ -嗯。 - Bunnies? - Mmm.
我们试图说服他用花花公子兔子， We tried to persuade him to use the Playboy rabbit,
那一直是一个穿着 小礼服的男性兔子形象。 which was always a male rabbit in a little dinner jacket.
但我们试图说服他， But we tried to persuade him that this could be
这也可以用在姑娘们身上，他接受了。 applied to the girls, and he was sold.
维克多花了几个星期来试制服装。 Victor spent weeks working on the costume.
经过一次次修改， And after many iterations,
他最终把原型呈现在 he finally revealed the prototype
我们的电视秀 花花公子阁楼节目当中， on our television show Playboy's Penthouse
用完美的模特，我的女朋友， 辛西娅.麦道克斯。 using the perfect model, my girlfriend, Cynthia Maddox.
嗨，海夫... Hey, Hef...
海夫，呃，我不想用生意上的事 Hef, uh, I hate to interrupt you
在晚上这个时候打扰你。 with business at this time of night.
但我已经有了你想看的东西。 But I've got something I want you to see.
呃，小兔子套装， The, uh, little Bunny outfit
给花花公子俱乐部里的姑娘们。 for the girls at the Playboy Club.
-这是套装。 -是啊。 - This is the outfit. - Yeah.
这是我们想出来的。 That's what we cooked up.
我非常喜欢这个，嗯... Well, I like that very much, uh...
包括也这个，套装。 Including the, the outfit, too.
哦，是的，肯定会出彩的。 Oh, yeah, it'll work out.
嗯... Uh...
你觉得我们的会员会喜欢它吗？ Do you think our members will like that?
我觉得会员会喜欢它。 I think the members will like that.
也许我应该解释一下，花花公子 Maybe I ought to explain that, uh, Playboy is,
将运营“钥匙俱乐部”的业务。 is, uh, going in the Key Club business.
从今年1月开始， Starting as of the 1st of the year,
会有一批差不多这个样子的钥匙， there will be keys very much like this
交到全国各地的会员手里。 in the hands of members throughout the country.
我们的观众对服装赞不绝口。 Our viewers gave the costume rave reviews.
但我还是觉得少了点什么。 But I still felt something was missing.
兔子装不完全是 The Bunny costume wasn't quite
海夫纳想象的样子。 the way Hefner envisioned it.
[理查德.罗森威格，《花花公子》执行副总裁] 所以他加了一些重要的元素在里面。 So he added some important elements to the costume.
我们不希望有太大调整。 We don't want this to be too drastic.
如果我们裁掉这个衣领，就整齐的裁掉。 If we cut this collar, just a clean cut.
袖口也是。 And the cuffs as well.
海夫纳很难应付， 因为他是个完美主义者。 Hefner can be difficult because he's a perfectionist.
无论它是杂志版面或一件服装。 Whether it's on the page or whether it is a costume.
我要把你介绍给 辛西娅.麦道克斯， I'd like to introduce you to Cynthia Maddox,
你的首位花花公子兔女郎。 your first Playboy Bunny.
海夫纳在兔子装的改进方面 Hefner was really instrumental
[维克多.洛恩斯，《花花公子》前营销总监] 起到了重要的作用。 in the changes in the Bunny costume.
我只是增加了裁剪 来突出她的双腿。 I just raised the cut to accentuate her legs.
胸口低了一点点。 Lowered it a little on the bust.
他坚持在袖口加上花花公子袖扣， He was the one who insisted on the cuffs
并打领结。 with the Playboy cufflink and the bow tie.
能为我们转个圈吗，辛西娅？ Would you mind doing a spin for us, Cynthia?
我认为这套衣服很可爱。 I think the costumes are adorable.
装上尾巴。在那坐好。 Fixed the tail. Sits nicely there.
有两种东西在其中合二为一， There's just something, the dichotomy
无辜的兔子，以及，性感。 of an innocent Bunny, and then it's, you know, sexy,
再说一遍，我仍然认为它很优雅。 but it's still, again, I think very classy.
Hefner has a tremendous visual eye.
And as a result of that,
our costume is in the Smithsonian Institute
and is the first costume that ever received a copyright.
Perfect.
Now came the hard part.
Finding 30 girls who could fill that costume like Cynthia.
So we put ads about our upcoming auditions
in newspapers around the country.
I was in college, part-time job.
Worked at a pharmacy.
And the pharmacist got something in the mail
that said that they were having a Bunny hunt.
It said you'd make a good salary
and you'd have fun.
And you got to wear this Bunny outfit.
And it was the 1960s where it was perfectly acceptable
to tell these girls to bring a bathing suit to audition in.
Nowadays, they'd be up on all kinds of charges.
But back then, it was perfectly acceptable.
Maybe I could go and be a receptionist
or work in a department store and move my way up.
But this was an opportunity for me
to make a very good living.
So I went.
The day of the first Bunny auditions
was one of the coldest days I can remember.
We weren't even sure if anyone was going to show up.
So, do we know what kind of questions
we're gonna be asking these girls?
Well, I think, uh, keep it simple, um...
Arnie's started on a few here.
I put Bobbie in charge of running the auditions.
Finally.
You try wrangling 400 girls without running behind.
400?
You ready?
Absolutely.
Quite ready.
- Hello. - Hello.
Uh, please take your mark.
Thanks, Hayley, and where are you from?
Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Hello.
Women came from all across the country...
- Where are you from? - Seattle, Washington.
- Massachusetts. - Milwaukee.
... and from every walk of life...
I'm a teller at First Chicago.
I'm a nurse.
Real estate agent.
I'm a sophomore from DePaul.
Great school.
... looking for excitement, adventure,
and a taste of the Playboy lifestyle.
It was about youth.
The advert said, "Be a Playboy Bunny."
And you had to be between 18 and 22 years of age.
And so, naturally, it was about young people,
the spirit and whatever went with that.
All right, thank you very much.
All right, good-bye.
Okay, so... that's it, that's the last one.
- That's it? - Yeah.
What do you do?
I'm an assistant to you assholes.
Uh, uh, ma'am, uh, where's your swimsuit?
Go fuck yourselves, okay?
You're hired!
Ahh...
- Carol. - No.
No, not Carol. Carol's in my top five.
We spent hours deliberating over the candidates.
Of course, the Bunnies had to be skilled waitresses,
but they also had to be much more.
They were performers, bringing to life
the pages of the magazine.
How's it going?
- Hm... - Not well.
We only have 17.
How about using some Playmates?
No.
Why not?
They're not gonna wanna serve drinks for eight hours.
I was just talking to Joyce,
and she said she thought about auditioning
- but she was sick. - Joyce Nizzari?
Joyce would look amazing in one of those outfits.
Uh-huh.
Do you think any of the other girls might consider it?
I'll make some calls.
Okay.
Thanks, Bobbie.
Anytime!
Bobbie was able to get five of our Playmates to sign on,
including Joyce Nizzari,
December 1958's Playmate of the Month.
To our loyal readers,
our Playmates were as famous as any celebrity.
And the chance to meet them would be a dream come true.
When the club opened in Chicago, it was a knockout.
We opened the door, and the door Bunny
was one of the original Playmates.
That's the stuff of a fantasy land.
Finally, we had our Bunnies.
Let's give it a try, go along this way, okay?
Way we go, low, carry at the moment, low carry.
But if these Bunnies were going to represent our clubs,
we needed to make sure nothing was left to chance.
So I asked my brother Keith to join the team.
Faster, faster, faster, high carry.
Reverse!
Keith had studied at the Lee Strasberg studio,
trying to make it as an actor.
But when his career failed to take off,
he jumped at the opportunity to help.
I'd had a background in teaching.
I had a background in show business,
and I tried to bring both of those things
to bear in the clubs.
So the first people that I trained were the Bunnies.
Good evening, I'm your Bunny, Izzy.
You notice that she smiles,
gives eye contact with all four of us.
We imagine that there's another gentleman sitting there.
Along with Victor Lownes,
Keith created what would come to be known
as the Bunny Manual.
This is a Bunny Manual
that we give to all the girls when they start working.
That gives you all the rules and regulations
that pertain to being a Bunny in the Playboy Club.
You will find that we are very, very strict.
In order to maintain the right image for the club,
we needed our Bunnies to follow very specific rules.
We wanted them to be glamorous, but also highly professional.
Bunnies were only allowed to use their first names.
They could not be seen drinking any beverage
or wearing any jewelry during their shift.
And each Bunny had to make sure her grooming was impeccable.
They knew the ingredients of 125 different drinks
and always had their service trays
arranged in a precise order.
Our Bunnies went through rigorous training,
led by the Bunny Mothers
who made sure each Bunny met the manual's requirements.
Honey, why do you have this costume on today, dear?
My other costume's in the cleaners.
Mm-hmm, you'll have to go downstairs
and find something else.
Your shoes are soiled, too.
I'd like to have you change clothes.
Your ears are always bent a little too much, Terri, why?
I didn't know any particular way to fix them.
We had training about four hours a day
for six weeks.
You started off with the tray.
You spread your fingertips and therefore you have full balance.
Okay, now who's gonna try a real high carry, okay?
Whoop, there we go, no!
It was intense.
Do you notice that she is doing
what we call a Bunny dip?
To enforce the polished image of our Bunnies,
there were specific movements each girl had to execute
with the utmost precision while serving our patrons.
There was the Bunny stance, how a Bunny should stand.
Look, leg should be against that table.
Straight, all right?
The Bunny perch, how a Bunny should sit.
Now dip.
And most famously, the Bunny dip.
There you notice that she's bending at the waist.
That's incorrect.
Another way that it could be incorrect
is if she were to go down in a sitting position.
Look, when you're doing your dip, bend.
This side should never be broken.
Let's see the Bunny dip done just so.
That's absolutely correct.
With the Bunnies in training,
the rest of the staff was working overtime
to get the club open by the end of February.
While Arnie was supervising renovations...
Victor was working hard to sell memberships
to the most affluent
and most important men around the country.
The buzz around the club had been building for months,
but for all the people excited about our opening
there were just as many who hoped we would fail.
Everything about the extravagant Playboy empire accents youth,
glamour, money, and pleasure.
Is Hugh Hefner's empire a 20th-century Garden of Eden,
or it is a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah?
Many still saw Playboy as just another smutty magazine,
and our famous parties as just another example
of the kind of debauchery
people could expect at our clubs.
Hef always had the eyes of the Catholic Church
and the city government
looking for any excuse to close them down.
Because every city thought it would destroy the neighborhood.
But I was determined to prove them wrong.
When opening night finally arrived,
all of our hard work was put to the test.
The club looked great.
The Bunnies looked even better.
And we were ready to share our vision with the world.
All right, ladies, let's hit the floor.
Open the doors.
The opening of the Chicago club
was something truly exceptional.
There was a line around the block.
You had to be a key holder in order to get into the club.
As you entered the club, there was a board
with the name plates of all the club members
so that when they checked in, their name went up.
And you could see who was in the club that night.
Every detail of the club had been carefully thought out
with something exciting and new in every room.
Across from the lobby
was our full-service bar and pool room
where you could go one-on-one with our Bumper Pool Bunny.
The bar was called the Playmate Bar.
And we had transparencies of all the Playmates on display.
Upstairs in the "living room" was the piano bar
where we served up our world-class buffet,
all set to live music.
And on the top floor, we called that "the library,"
our marquee performance venue.
Now you can walk into this experience.
And for most people, it was a fantasy.
You know, you weren't gonna get this at your neighborhood diner.
You weren't gonna get that anyplace
but at the Playboy Club.
But the stars of the evening were the Bunnies.
We had desk Bunnies to greet guests at the door
as well as coat check Bunnies...
cigarette Bunnies...
roaming camera Bunnies
to capture every special evening...
gift shop Bunnies selling Playboy merchandise...
and our floor Bunnies serving up drinks
from the Playmate Bar.
- Victor. - Hef.
Good to see you.
Welcome to the Playboy Club. Look around.
Hello, gentlemen.
When Cynthia and I showed up,
the party was in full swing.
With every detail in place
and the Bunnies looking fantastic...
... all that was left to do was enjoy the show.
Just seven years after launching Playboy
from my kitchen table,
there I was, hosting what felt like
the biggest party on the planet.
The opening in Chicago was one of the best moments of my life.
Thank you, thank you, thank you much.
The American male has found a new place of relaxation.
It's the Key Club.
The most famous example of such a type club is The Playboy.
Over the next few weeks,
the crowds only grew.
And the Bunnies weren't the only attraction.
Uh, ladies and gentlemen,
I'm really pleased to introduce our next act.
So, please give a warm Playboy Club welcome
to an incredible talent from just up the road
in Detroit, Michigan, Miss Aretha Franklin.
You'll do great.
With our TV show,
we'd fought against segregation
inviting the best American entertainers
regardless of race.
It was a formula I wanted to replicate in our clubs.
Hef decides Aretha Franklin is talented
when no one knew who Aretha Franklin was.
Today, she'll say that the first time she performed
for a white audience and didn't have to enter
through the kitchen was a Playboy Club.
And that was just how Hef thought.
I don't care what the rest of the world thinks.
I think this is good and therefore it's worthy
of exploring and exposing our audience to, that was it.
Along with Aretha Franklin,
our club featured many musicians on the rise,
like Ray Charles...
Sam Cooke...
and Bette Midler.
The best of entertainment,
black and white, went to the Playboy Club.
And it really became a social landmark.
It was a place to be seen.
Our Penthouse stage featured top comedians
like Milton Berle,
edgy up-and-comers like Steve Martin,
George Carlin,
and an unknown young comedian named Dick Gregory,
who we discovered at one of the city's black nightclubs.
'Cause everybody I meet in the nightclub
after they get drunk, they all tell me the same thing.
Greg, some of my best friends are colored.
And Mike, you know and I know
there's not that many of us to go around.
At that time, black comics had not been permitted
to stand flat-footed in a white nightclub and talk.
Hefner brought me in from there
to Time magazine, to the Jack Paar Show.
When you look and see the role that black comics played
and the influence that the Richard Pryors have had
on white comics, all that started because of Hefner.
Thirty years from this year, a Negro can become president.
So treat me right, I'll get in there and raise taxes on you.
With the entertainment,
Bunnies and ambiance,
we were finally giving our readers
the full Playboy experience.
The food was good and the drink was stiff.
And the entertainment was nice.
That's what made people keep coming back.
And the Bunnies were part of the show.
The Bunnies were an undeniable hit.
And though we knew they would earn big money in tips,
our customers' generosity
exceeded our wildest expectations.
Many of the customers are aware that the girls
are oft times making more money than they are.
That's interesting, more money than the fellas
who can afford the $50 for the key?
Oh, yes.
Even Mike Wallace had to admit
that the opportunity we were giving our Bunnies
was something special.
What we did was we stuffed our costumes,
and at the end of the night when you unzipped it
and you dropped it to the floor, all the money was there
so you wouldn't lose it or forget it.
Do, uh, the girls date club members?
Definitely not, you cannot date members of the club.
Our Bunnies were our most valued employees,
and we made protecting them a top priority.
From the beginning, the personnel head
of every Playboy Club was a woman.
That was the Bunny Mother.
And there was a very, very strong and strict culture
around protecting and respecting the women.
So, at a time in which it was very common for women
to get hit on because they were waitresses or working in a bar
or for that matter working in an office,
let's think of Mad Men,
this was an environment in which women felt safe.
Any hint of impropriety between members and Bunnies
would give ammunition to our critics.
So I made sure that the no-dating rule
was strictly enforced.
At least, for most of my guests.
We did make exceptions for a select group,
a few friends and trusted VIPs.
Well, what can I say?
Sometimes being the owner has its perks.
Can you shut the door, Vic?
By the end of the club's first year,
we had over 100,000 key holders.
And we were pulling in
the modern equivalent of $33 million,
doing higher volume in food and drink
than any other night spot in the city.
And there was something about a Playboy Club
that put it in a class by itself.
The Bunnies were the stars of the club.
And we treated them that way.
And they loved it.
And many of them were Bunnies for many, many years.
It was just a special place.
The instant success of our club made our next move obvious.
We needed to go national.
And there was no better place to start...
... than New York.
- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -