50 Years of the Playboy Bunny

by Josh Robertson, John Dante (Introduction)

For the first time ever, Playboy presents the complete, official account of the iconic Playboy Bunny. Coinciding with the Bunny's 50th anniversary, this richly illustrated book presents stunning pictorials of famous and classic Bunniesfrom the likes of Debbie Harry, Lauren Hutton, and Gloria Steinemas well as rare images unearthed from the Playboy vault. A fascinating narrative charts the 50-year history of the Bunny, from the opening of the first Playboy club in Chicago to the making of a global empire. Former Bunnies and Playboy legends share insider secrets: a former "Bunny Mother" dishes on daily life in the clubs, Hugh Hefner reminisces on the swinging '60s, and his brother Keith discusses Bunny etiquette. With oodles of gorgeous Bunnies and a foreword by Hef himself, this is the perfect gift for any Playboy fan.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Matthew Lipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for the pictures years ago during my lets-build-a-Playboy-book-collection days. This weekend I decided to read it. I say, stick to the pictures.

The introductory essays are unabashed male dated attitude with Hefner's being the worst. With references to placing bunny tales on the Bunnies cans and how beautiful women were put here for men to look at, the book and the people putting it together show how dated an institution Playboy has come. While once being on the forefront of the sexual revolution, like most institutions, it has become something to evolve past.

The pictures on the other hand show a bygone past of innocence. An important history of our changing entertainment values and an important evolution in human culture. These are not things to be repeated, but seen as a sophomoric growing stage from being under the thumb of our repressive parent to becoming something, hopefully, better.

So, stick to the pictures. They'll make you smile and wonder if there is a place right now you can go that is similar to this.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a coffee table in the truest sense of the word. It is full of pictures - mostly culled from the magazine - of Bunnies at work and play. They are all highly stylish and just ooze with the Playboy vibe. The text is not deep and a little self-glorifying but it leaves the reader with a sketchy history of the clubs and how they fell. The lifestyle portrayed here is long gone of course and modern clubs are overly expensive cavernous buildings with computerized music but it was fun to see how nightlife once was. But it's the pictures that make the difference. BUnnies abound and there are even some nude shots but they capture a moment in time when jazz was cool, comedy was blue and a man could take his date to a club that had pretty women serving high-end drinks. If I had a time machine traveling to 1960's Chicago with a key in my hand would be high on my list of destinations.

[Igor · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone like me from Brazil, 46 y, who watched only one time a party or sth like that on the YouTube inside a playboy club, this book is very interesting. Both the (short) texts and plenty of photos. All of them with explanation.

But, for those expecting a full review of those clubs must be disappointing.

[Nick Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

If read critically, this is a fascinating and informative look at a vanished world. Looking back at that past shows just how much the culture and its values have changed, both for better and worse. The look back is worthwhile here, but this book’s tone of self-adulation is not.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice look into a bygone era that is sadly missed in today's world. It has just the right amount of text and photos.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no doubt that for many people the word 'Playboy' will almost immediately conjure up ideas of the seismic publishing, cultural and sexual movement that was sparked by Hugh Hefner's desires to produce a stylish, semi-intellectual 'girlie' magazine for middle class Americans of the Baby Boomer generation. Idealised women who offered erotic temptation in glossy photographic spreads were coupled with upmarket advertising and highly literate and political articles, all bound together in monthly magazines that were for awhile de rigeur reading for your red blooded heterosexual male. For some time, coupled with the printed illusion of he 'Playboy' lifestyle there was the club land of bunny dips and key holders, and this book maps the history and imagery of these places.

It goes without saying that this book will be problematic because of its subject matter and its associated perspective. Make no mistake; '50 Years of the Playboy Bunny' is in effect a hagiography of a company and its operations. The clubs were designed to facilitate and satiate male sexual desires, as well as other interests, and whilst it would appear from the text there was a strict regime that bordered on the arch conservative, it would be impossible to deny the underlying premise of female exploitation. That beautiful women were the main sales pitch of Hefner's empire will cause many folk to find what is inside the covers of this book to be reprehensible. Even those who grew up in the halcyon years of 'Playboy' might find cause to pause and think about the messaging of 'Playboy'. Was it nothing more than an elaborate 'sex sells' scheme? Almost certainly, yes.

However this book can also be approached as a study of how the dialogue between the sexes in the specific cultural and historical contexts of the 'Playboy' clubs developed and changed. For good and for bad Hefner and his business empire shaped a sizeable portion of the western world's popular opinions on sex, particularly in the 1960s, and the clubs were part of that social, cultural and political disruption. Whilst undoubtedly marketed to an upper market clientele in America and in some other countries, they also portrayed yet another aspect of the American dream. Beautiful people drinking highballs in jazzy clubs may seem outmoded today, however it was intoxicating, it was successful for awhile.

As to the actual contents of this book it is for the most part a collection of glamorous pics of the sexy women who donned (or disrobed from) the bunny outfit. There is some discussion of specific aspects of the clubs as they were established, run and then (for the most part) folded. However make no mistake; '50 Years of the Playboy Bunny' is a celebration of female pulchritude in he best possible taste (and with only a few pubic hairs showing). The account of the history of the individual and collective clubs, their business practices and key personalities alongside Hugh Hefner are of some value, however it will only be natural for the reader to focus on the sexy women of yesteryear featured herein.

There is too much said in favour of the clubs as business practice, as a pathway for female economic empowerment, as a place of well behaved hedonism, and not enough recognition of the core raison d'etre (relieving horny men of their money). The text doesn't do enough to account for the collapse of the clubs in the 1980s, and there are some occasions when this book will actually make one cringe. For example, seeing photos of Bill Cosby in the company of beautiful women seems wrong in so many ways, and the so-called civil rights activism of Hefner et al as shown in the clubs seems like exploitation.

At the end of the day it would be perhaps rather unfair to find so much fault with the book itself. It is a well produced, easy to read and impressively illustrated publication. It certainly captures the cachet or spirit of 'Playboy' as an entrepreneurial force, and yes; the photographed Bunnies are gorgeous. One may still admire the sensual beauty of these women without necessarily agreeing with the politics behind their depiction.

It would be no surprise for one to consider the natural audience for this book to be devotees of 'Playboy'. Social and pop culture historians may also find something of note in this text, and it will also be grist for the mill for those studying sexual politics. Is it a perfect book; no, of course not. Is it entertaining, provocative and a window into times and people past? Most assuredly so.

[T. Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this book for my boyfriend for Christmas one year but I think I read it more than he does.;)

Beautiful pics, stylist book. Every man should have this on his coffee table (if they have a coffee table). This book takes me back to a long forgotten time..