Recently Dead

The very first person one saw at the door of the very first Playboy Club, in Chicago, on its very first night, in 1960, was Bonnie Jo Halpin, who was wearing the now-legendary, then-skimpy satin bunny costume with rabbit ears, cottontail, white cuffs and collar, and black bowtie. She was the club's "door bunny." "It's quite appropriate to refer to her as the very first bunny," said Playboy founder Hugh Hefner after hearing of her death, at age 65, last month. "She was a very special lady." Halpin died in her West Hollywood apartment after she was injured in a hit-and-run accident. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office said her death was caused by an accidental overdose of the painkiller Vicodin.

Victor Lownes, who was a partner with Hefner and restaurateur Arnie Morton in the Playboy Clubs, posted this message on the Ex Playboy Bunnies Message Board:

Sad news... I received this message from Hef.

"I thought you would want to know that Bonnie Jo Halpin has died. She was badly hurt in a cross-walk hit-and-run accident two or three months ago, but the actual cause of death was apparently an overdose of Vicadin."

Bonnie was one of the original Bunnies at the first Club in Chicago. She was also on the cover of an issue of the magazine in 1962. She kept her looks and was a keen jogger, running several miles every day. (That was probably how she was hit by the driver.)

I kept in touch with Bonnie over the years, and she visited my wife and me in Aspen several years ago. Bonnie Jo had a marvellously appealing ingenuousness that gave her childlike charm that stayed with her into her 60's.