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Playboy magazine was a financial and cultural phenomenon of post-war
America, in which aspiration and affluence marched to a beat determined by men.
In the 1950s, the British, still recovering from the sacrifices made in World
War II, could only watch Hefner's combination of sex, conspicuous consumption
and the strenuous flexing of literary muscles with a degree of muted envy: the
quest for the perfect orgasm and the great American novel in a single magazine.
But in the 1960s there was a sea change in cultural hegemony. For a fleeting
period, the cultural torch passed to the other side of the Atlantic and to 'Swinging
London'. The British had a more easy-going attitude compared to the almost clenched-jaw
seriousness of the Hefner philosophy, and this attitude included a relaxation
of the British gaming laws, enabling Hefner to open a Playboy Club in the heart
of the capital, at 45 Park Lane.
When the club advertised for Bunny Girls, there was no shortage of applicants
- ranging from debutantes to working girls from Dagenham, many of them joining
the Playboy empire in the teeth of parental opposition. The club offered wages
of £35 a week - big money in the mid-1960s, when added to tips - and a chance
to meet the stars, albeit while squeezed into the agonisingly uncomfortable
Bunny Girl outfit.
The boss of the London Playboy Club was the American Victor Lownes, a friend
and business partner of Hugh Hefner. 'UK One', as Lownes was known, slid easily
into the feverish atmosphere of 'Swinging London'. Hefner always seemed in the
grip of his obsession. Lownes, in contrast, was an immensely attractive and
shrewd philanderer.
Next:
BUNNY TRAINING
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www.channel4.co.uk.
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Victor Lownes
Victor Lownes
and friends
London Bunnies |
