"
Everything old is new again" goes the line from the late
Peter Allen song. Always has been really. A great example-in the last ten years
Playboy Clubs have been closing down across the USA but in London, a new Playboy Club
has just opened.
It reminds the
Shuttle of the heyday of the Playboy Clubs. We've only been to two. Arriving at the New York club once with 3 friends for a party thrown by
Hugh Hefner we were mistaken for
Abba. We also attended a few product launches at the former London Playboy Club in Mayfair run by
Victor Lownes and once visited the Playboy Mansion in LA.
Probably the biggest ever Playboy party was the 25th year anniversary party thrown by Lownes at the Playboy mansion
Stocks House in Hertfordshire. It went for 3 days and many guests were ferried in by helicopters. Victor Lownes ran the European Playboy operations for Hefner but had a falling out with him in the '90s and was fired.
He was always good at the required quips. Once asked what a playboy was he said "
someone who is probably having more sex than you". It was all a fantasy of course but the whole charade worked during the Playboy hey days from the 60's through to the 80's.
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| Stocks in Hertfordshire |
The LA Playboy Mansion which can now be rented out for corporate parties was even more of a fantasy. Hefner boldly sold a dream built on tack and the idea if you could only crack the inner circle sex was yours for the taking. Once you did get 'in' the Bunnies were very prudish and strict rules prevented them from fraternising with guests on pain of sacking.
The LA mansion was like a
Disneyland ride-looked exciting from the outside but disappointing once you got up close and the cracks were revealed. It was full of dreadful reproduction antique furniture of the worst taste. The rocks in the grotto swimming pool seemed to be fake. The whole place was tired and grubby looking.
At the UK 25th anniversary party every hotel, motel and boarding house in the surrounding area of Stocks was booked out by guests. Not that the rooms were always used. At the party there were a series of marquees- permanent food tents, a champagne bar and a non stop discotheque. They were open for the entire 3 days. Most of it passed in a blur and the
Shuttle never made it back to our booked rooms. We collapsed in Stocks living room for a few hours kip at a time.
There was always a two tier guest regime at Stocks. The general party goers had the run of the house and grounds while a handful of honoured guests were entitled to visit the upstairs floor.
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| A Bunny Re-union |
And they weren't always celebrities who made it upstairs to drink with Lownes or Playboy boss Hugh Hefner who only stayed for one day.
Amongst business cronies of Lownes,
Tony Curtis and
Rod Stewart would be Upstairs while Downstairs were newer stars of the day including
Star Wars' actor
Mark Hamil. who the
Shuttle shared a spa bath with along with half a dozen bunnies !
Not very PC but who cares ?
## "The Boy From Oz " was a huge Broadway hit and made
Hugh Jackman into a star. Based on the life of Australian singer
Peter Allen it captured the exciting performances of Allen who was always over the top and as camp as a pink Koala Bear. A big favourite with other celebrities his shows were packed out with performers like
Elton John,
Barry Manilow and even
Frank Sinatra who came to paid homage to one of the US top live performers. Here is his big hit
'I Go To Rio"
Melissa Hoyer is one of the most respected, well liked and experienced commentators on Australian television covering fashion and celebrity.
The Herald Sun in Melbourne has been experimenting with pay per view for several months and although it's had an 18% drop in print sales it still flogs a healthy 343,103 copies daily and it's website and that of Sydney's Daily Telegraph have picked up visitors steadily over the past 5 years.
