The Black Bunny Hop: A Conversation with Pat Lacey

One would be hard-pressed to share the history of PLAYBOY without the history of Pat Lacey. After a fateful afternoon in 1965 spent auditioning at the Playboy Club in Los Angeles, the Alabama-born ingénue would witness generations of change at one of our country’s longest lasting cultural institutions and be right at the forefront of a societal revolution. In her recent autobiography, The Black Bunny Hop, Lacey details her very American journey into the heart of a very American brand, and the challenges and lessons that came along with it.

In an interview with PLAYBOY about her book, she recounts choosing between being a bunny and finishing school: “I took Playboy over college, because I said, ‘Okay, I can be a bunny now, but I can’t be a bunny at 40 years old. I’ll do this now and then go to school later.’ It never happened.” Instead, Lacey would become a fixture in a worldwide empire and set off down a rabbit hole that would span continents and decades. The Black Bunny Hop author sat down with PLAYBOY to look back on a remarkable life and career.

Hugh Hefner was a living legend and the myth often overshadowed the man. What did it mean to work with him so closely for so many decades?
Hefner was always above board. He knew he was a rich man, so he always gave [career opportunities] to us. He would put the bunnies in the position where we could make money and come up like roses, in a classy way. That’s who he was and all he did. 

Few understand the work that goes into being a Playboy bunny. Tell us about some of the strict rules of decorum you had to adhere to?
It was a challenge make everybody happy, from the bunnies to the Playmates, everybody. The characteristics of bunnies and Playmates is they’ve always been at the head of the class when it comes to intelligence and beauty. When they came to me, they had to make sure we were all on the same page. I worked at night, so during the day I did everything, anything that kept me growing.

Misconceptions abound about what’s involved to become a Playboy bunny. Which one sticks out to you as the most inaccurate?
That nobody worked to make themselves better. It was exactly the opposite. Everybody around me took classes, castings, dance lessons, everything. That’s what I did. Then I went to work and I went home. [They wanted to hire] the girl next door. The one that the guys want to date.

You were one of the few black bunnies of that era, and you mention often in your book how racially progressive the Playboy brand was for the 1970, not even externally when booking talent but internally with how they treat employees. You recounted a specific incident when a yacht owner would only let the group of bunnies onboard if you pretended to be a maid, and your fellow bunnies all walked out in solidarity.
[Another bunny] said, “Okay guys, what do you want to do? All that want to go home, raise your hand.” Everybody raised it, and it was like okay, we’re gone. We never talked to them about it again. In those days, we didn’t talk about it. You know it’s wrong but what can they say? It was the ’70s.

You also had a lot of support from The Playboy Club during the “Black Is Beautiful” movement. You decided to ditch your chemically straightened hair and rock a natural afro, which was controversial in the workplace at that time–and one would argue still bold today.
When I started, I had bangs because you had to have the white girl look. But when I dressed [that day], and I went to work [with my afro]. We didn’t know what was going to happen. The bunny mother says to me “What’s with the hair?” I said, “That’s a natural.” She said, “What did you do?” I said, “I shampooed it.” And I said, “Alice, you have to realize I’m a black girl. We are going through this thing. We are coming out. And I’m so proud this day of being a black woman. Let me do this.” And she said, “Okay.”

That’s one of the times I knew that Playboy was the right thing for me.