Feminists are ruining good clean fun, says former Playboy bunny
thisislondon.co.uk | May 27th 2011
A sixties playboy bunny girl today hit back at claims by feminists that Hugh
Hefner's new London club is demeaning to women.
Heather Colne-Bird, 70, hung up her rabbit ears and cuffs decades ago but
believes campaigners are ruining "good clean fun".
The launch of the Mayfair venue comes 30 years after the closure of the
original 45 Park Lane club that was popular with Michael Caine, George Best
and Jack Nicholson. It closed in 1981 when its gaming licences were revoked.
Mrs Colne-Bird applied for the job in 1966 after reading a story about it in
the Standard. She said it was wrong to liken the waitress role of the
bunnies to the close encounters offered by lap dancers and strippers.
"I think these protesters are being pathetic, nobody forces a girl to do the
job. Bunnies certainly aren't the same as table dancers or girls walking
around in hooker shoes.
"We were more glorified waitresses and couldn't even sit with customers, we
had to perch. We were told that we were celebrities and that we had to keep
our noses clean. The job was highly glamorous, that was very well paid and
we were very protected."
Campaigners believe the new club in Old Park Lane is a retrograde step for
women's rights. Activists from Eff Off Hef! picketed its press launch last
night, with one protester dressed as
85-year-old Playboy founder Mr Hefner.
Campaigner Anna van Heeswijk said: "It's not sexual liberation to serve men
when you're dressed in bunny ears and a fluffy tail."
The new private members' club has a casino, dining room, cocktail bar and
terrace as well as the bunny hostesses. Mrs Colne-Bird said: "Perhaps
bunnies are a bit twee by today's standards but it was a highly-respected
and prestigious job. Even now, people say 'wow' when I tell them I was a
bunny."
Mrs Colne-Bird from Whetstone, north London, recalls regular customers
including the Beatles, Sammy Davis Jr, Dick van Dyke and Tommy Steele. She
added: "If the men touched a bunny they were slung out, it was a lovely
regime and that's why I was happy to work there and my mum was so proud.
There was nothing seedy or sordid about it."
Mrs Colne-Bird went on to run a Rolls-Royce hire company with her husband.
She said: "I'm sure we'll be taking a trip up there to see the new club.
There's a reunion each year in Limehouse, but vanity creeps in."
Original Page:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23954243-feminists-are-ruining
-good-clean-fun-says-former-playboy-bunny.do
Shared from Read It Later
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Sixties-L" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
