Playboy in Jamaica

Twenty-two minutes out of Montego Bay, the de Havilland Heron, its quartet of Rolls-Royce engines thrumming gently, flew eastward over the ribbon of white beaches lazily lining Jamaica's swank north coast. The plane held its course past the town of Ocho Rios; then, banking slowly to starboard, it began chasing its shadow across the lush jungle surrounding the huge resort hotel that now lay below.

Inside the de Havilland was Hugh M. Hefner, Playboy's Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Jamaica, Editor-Publisher of Playboy and President of Playboy Clubs International, come to the island in the sun to make a decision that would extend the world of Playboy to the most exciting and sophisticated of all the Caribbean isles. With him were Playmate of the Year Donna Michelle, whose photogenic presence would later enhance this magazine's editorial coverage of Jamaica and the Club's promotional literature, and long-time friends Shelly Kasten, Playboy Club Talent Director, and Lee Wolfberg, former head of the Chicago office of General Artists Corporation and now personal manager for singer Vic Damone. Pompeo Posar, Playboy Staff Photographer, rounded out the airborne entourage.

Hefner earlier had sent Arnold J. Morton, Director of Playboy Club Operations, and Robert S. Preuss, Business Manager for all Playboy enterprises, to Jamaica for preliminary investigations and to work out details for the acquisition of the $6,500,000 ultraluxurious Reef Club, which had been offered to Hefner as a Playboy Club-Hotel. The glowing reports of Morton and Preuss had brought Hefner and the others that morning from Chicago to Montego Bay in a private JetStar lent to him by Lockheed. From Montego Bay's International Airport they'd switched to the prop-driven de Havilland for the short hop to the smaller field near Ocho Rios. If Hefner agreed with the recommendations of his top executives, the signing of final papers would take place and the multimillion-dollar property, framed in a fabulous Jamaican land- and seascape, would be on its way toward becoming the most lavish and spectacular link in the Playboy Club chain.

Leaning forward in his seat as the plane began to circle for a landing, Hef pointed out the window with the stem of his briar. "There it is," he said. "My God, it's beautiful!"

"It looks like something out of The Arabian Nights," said Donna, as the resort came into full view.

In that brief glimpse, the Hotel did indeed seem as plush and as elegant as it had in the reports Morton and Preuss had sent back to Chicago--and, as it proved on inspection, to be: ten acres of choice land fronting on a sculptured cove; the largest swimming pool in the West Indies; an 800-foot private coral sand beach; two championship tennis courts; exotically landscaped gardens and walks; and a separate night-club building. The Hotel complex itself has a main building and two large wings, between which is the huge circular dining room. There are 204 spacious rooms, most of them bilevel, with step-down living rooms for entertaining; private patios; sunken baths; and penthouse apartments. Tiers of lanai rooms and cabanas overlooking the ocean complete the layout. The site itself, though secluded and jungle girt, is within easy reach of the island's myriad vacation delights.

The private airfield is adjacent to the Hotel. Donna was the first one out of the plane. It was a balmy 72 degrees outside (it was mid-January and the temperature had been close to freezing when they left Chicago a few hours earlier): a refreshing breeze was blowing in off (continued on page 176)Playboy in Jamaica(continued from page 102) the ocean. A pair of Bunnies were at the field to greet them when they landed: Playmate-Bunny Jean Cannon (Miss October 1961) and Bunny Diane Stewart, who had been flown down from the Miami Playboy Club for publicity and promotion photos; they began waving and running across the field, their familiar costumes an incongruous but welcome sight in this tropic island setting.

A party had been arranged for that evening in order to meet the local dignitaries and the press. Someone suggested a bite to eat, but Hefner wanted to take a tour of the Hotel and its sun-drenched grounds before anything else. Preuss and Morton accompanied him, and Art Miner, Director of Playboy Club design, followed them with a pad and pencil.

The Hotel's rooms were everything they had said, being 30 feet long and 16 feet wide, with step-down living rooms, private patios 10 feet wide, and baths equipped with sunken Grecian tubs, all tile and 9 feet long by 4 feet wide. Morton pointed out a large low structure adjacent to the Hotel. This would be ideal for a shopping arcade where guests might purchase all manner of luxury items--British tweeds, silver, diamonds, Swiss watches, leather goods, cameras, bone china, French perfumes, binoculars, fine liquors, crystalware--from all over the globe. Since Jamaica enjoys free-port status, with no duty on these luxuries, shops could sell at prices half those in the States.

Entering the Hotel through the main lobby, they made their way down a flight of steps to a large hall about half the size of a basketball court. This would become the Living Room, a place for quiet socializing, relaxing over a drink with some friends. The back of the room, under the overhang of the upper lobby, would be turned into the Den, with card and billiard tables.

The grand tour led next through a wide corridor to the circular dining room.

"I think this would make an ideal VIP Room," Morton said.

"It could be decorated in Wedgwood blue and white," Miner added, "with blue carpeting, sconces, dark-blue tablecloths and light-blue napery." The room --one of the largest on the island, seating 450--seemed perfect. Continental cuisine and tangy native dishes could be highlighted on the menu, Morton pointed out. At the front of the proposed VIP Room, French doors open onto a terrace that offers a stunning view of the blue Caribbean. "It's breath-taking," Donna said, and Hefner nodded in agreement.

From the dining room they walked down one flight to the Shipwreck Bar, and all agreed that there would be no difficulty in turning it into a Playmate Bar, complete with illuminated transparencies of Playmates on the walls. The bar opens onto a terrace bordered by shrubbery and overlooking the Olympic-sized 50-meter pool. Here, luncheons are served and guests gather at night to dance, enjoy an outdoor buffet, and watch the native floorshows.

"We'll want Bunny lifeguards for the pool," Hefner said. "Maybe we can design a special Bunny bikini for them."

"With waterproof Bunny tails," injected Lee Wolfberg with a laugh.

A pair of championship clay tennis courts are hidden by some trees at one side of the pool, and there's a top Jamaican tennis pro on hand to give free lessons. There's also an archery range on the grounds and a nine-hole golf course nearby.

The group walked on past the pool to the beach tower, which houses an automatic elevator to whisk guests to the sunny beach below. At the bottom of the tower is a thatched-roof bar on the coral strand. When the Playboy Club-Hotel is in full swing, there will be weekly burro races with pari-mutuel betting, torchlit beach parties after dark complete with native entertainment, outdoor barbecues and Bunny beachguards.

All agreed that this was an aquatic sportsman's paradise. With swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing and water skiing already available, it would be simple to add a glass-bottomed boat for sight-seeing over the coral reef that sheltered the cove, pedal boats, sailboats and a sportfisherman or two for deep-sea angling. Hefner suggested that they rename the cove Bunny Bay and check the cost of building a small marina at one side of the beach so that visiting yachtsmen could tie up.

Now everyone was talking at once-- making suggestions, expressing their enthusiasm in superlatives that were unprecedented even for Playboy, where, after a decade of unprecedented publishing and Club success, the extraordinary is almost commonplace.

"Every Playboy Club keyholder will want to vacation here," Hefner exclaimed. "It can become a meeting place for keyholders from all over the world. When we add the fun and excitement of The Playboy Club to what's already here, this will be one of the most fabulous resorts in the world!"

"There'll be nothing else like it anywhere," Shel Kasten said.

"My only problem," Hef added, "will be trying to explain to the staff of the magazine why it isn't a good idea to move our editorial offices down here."

"Well, for one thing," said Preuss, "you'd never get an issue out on time. All the editors would be down on the beach, or chasing the bikinied Bunnies around the pool. Now with my business department, it might just make some sense..." His voice cracked as he ended the sentence and began to laugh. Everyone was feeling wonderful. The tropic sun warmed them. This was another world; the pressures and problems of everyday life seemed a million miles away. This was a paradise ... a Playboy paradise.

The hotel is set on ten acres of gently sloping land, surrounded by jungle on three sides and the ocean on the fourth, with the main building, the dining and drinking areas, pool, cabanas and beach all on separate levels. The grounds are handsomely landscaped with tropical greenery; there are winding paths, and water fountains, and exotic flowers and foliage, and numberless palm trees.

The tour ended with a look at the night club. Like the dining room and pool, it is the biggest on the island; it was decided that it would be renamed the Playroom, again carrying through the Playboy Club nomenclature familiar to keyholders. The group discussed entertainment policy for the Jamaica Playboy Club: shows in the Playmate Bar and on the Patio every night, using the best in native Jamaican talent, as well as the most entertaining acts from the Playboy Club circuit in the States. There would also be entertainment down on the beach: a calypso band, limbo dancers and the like. The night club--the Playroom--would be reserved for really big name acts: Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Sammy Davis Jr., maybe Sinatra.

The afternoon had disappeared and it was time to be getting back to the Hotel, to get ready for the party. There are a pair of penthouse suites on top of the Hotel. One had been reserved for Hefner; the other for Hugh Downs and his wife, Ruth, friends of Hef's, who had been invited down for the week. As Hef showered and dressed, he made mental notes on details that could be added to the penthouse suites to make them the ultimate in luxury living.

The beginning of a crowd had gathered at 7:30 P.M. in the Shipwreck Bar. From a landing off the stairway to the dining room, the Shipwreckers, a native calypso group, played Yellow Bird. The landing would also serve as a stage, giving the guests a good view of the fire-dancing and limbo exhibitions to come later. Now the maracas flashed and rattled, the rumba box boomed and the penny whistle and guitar carried the melody of one calypso tune after another--Mary Ann, Star O, Matilda.

Present at the gathering was the Honorable Chester Touzalin, Custos Rotulorum, representing the Government of Jamaica in the area. He was there with his wife, who stood listening attentively as Touzalin asked Hefner questions about his plans--and how many Bunnies would be at the Jamaica Playboy Club.

"I can't be sure until we do a full analysis of the operation," Hefner said, "but we have over five hundred Bunnies working in the nine Playboy Clubs in the States. We'll want to use both Jamaican girls and girls from the U. S. for the Club here. And if those I saw at the airport are any indication, I'd say Jamaican girls are among the world's loveliest."

"Will you use Bunnies for room service?" Mrs. Touzalin asked, having spotted Bunnies Diane and Jean in costume.

"No," said Hefner, "just in the dining and drinking areas, in the night club, at the pool and at the beach."

If Mrs. Touzalin had any vague reservations about the role of the Bunnies in the Playboy Club operation, they had disappeared by evening's end. She engaged Bunnies Diane and Jean in an extended conversation that ended with her requesting, and receiving, Diane's beribboned Bunny tag (worn by each Bunny to identify her by name) as a souvenir for her teenage daughter. "She'll be the most envied girl in school when she wears this," Mrs. Touzalin enthused.

"You'd better be careful," her husband warned. "You may be starting a teenage fashion fad."

Hefner shook his head. "The Bunnies aren't ordinarily permitted to give them away. Your daughter will have the only one."

A reporter from the Daily Gleaner, and another from the Star, Jamaica's largest papers, came over to talk to Hefner. The Star man asked why he had decided to go into the resort business. "That's easy," Hefner said. "The first Playboy Club grew naturally out of Playboy itself. We'd been writing about the best in entertainment, fine food and drink; we'd been running picture stories on beautiful girls and elegant bachelor apartments. Why not a gentlemen's club that incorporated the same ingredients? Make it admission by key only, for those whose appreciation of such things matched our own.

"Now, let's extend the Playboy Club concept a bit. Add to the basic elements I've just mentioned the romance of a Club far removed from the surroundings of office buildings. Put such a Club on an exotic tropical island steeped in romantic legend; supply every modern luxury imaginable, yet retain the full flavor of the traditions of the island. Serve its native foods and beverages along with the finest in urban cuisine. Surround a man with its beautiful women, the sounds of its music. Give him beaches so isolated that he and his playmate can bask and frolic as they please.

"Jamaica is as close to a tropic island paradise as you can find anywhere in the world today, with the advantage of being only seventy-five minutes from Miami and three-and-a-half hours from New York. That's why we're here."

Someone wondered aloud how successful Playboy in Jamaica would be. Major Douglas Vaughan, retired British Army officer, who owns an 800-acre banana plantation in the area, and R. Alan Philip, publisher of Jamaica Pictorial Panorama, voiced as one the opinion that it could only be a resounding smash. They also felt, they said, that the tourist business of the entire island would benefit from Playboy being there. The Jamaican government apparently feels the same way about it, giving Playboy and its executives the warmest welcome they have received anywhere.

Major Vaughan brandished a well-worn Playboy Club key and exclaimed, mustache bristling, "Wait till Noel Coward hears there's a Playboy Club down the highway. He'll be here every night." Coward and Ian Fleming each have homes nearby and, in fact, the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, was filmed near the Hotel. A few days after Hefner's return to Chicago, he received a personal note from Fleming commenting on the amount of excitement Playboy's coming to Jamaica was causing.

Someone mentioned that Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher had honeymooned at the Hotel. Someone else said they thought that it was a very romantic spot anyway.

The Hefner party now included Donna Michelle, magnificent in a chiffon gown, and Hugh and Ruth Downs, who had just arrived by car from Kingston. Downs gave Hefner the latest issues of the Star and the Daily Gleaner which he had brought from Kingston. Both carried stories about the Playboy arrival. The Star's read: "The Playboy agreement to take over the Reef Club has delighted the Director of Tourism, Mr. John Pringle. Mr. Pringle told of the enormous promotional potential of the Playboy organization. The organization, he said, was known throughout North America, but Jamaica was the first country chosen by Playboy for a Hotel and a Club. He added: 'This is international news of consequence.'

"Mr. Morton had earlier told of his admiration for Jamaica and why the country had been chosen for another phase of Playboy International's operations. The Club already has 300,000 keyholders. He said: 'Jamaica is a young, vibrant, growing nation and we believe it will prove to be an ideal tourist location for our keyholders.' "

The story in the Gleaner made page one, and next to a large photograph of Bunnies ran the headline: "Playboy Bunny jobs for Jamaican Girls." The story went on to list requirements for being a Bunny, outlined the strict rules for Bunny behavior, then told about the plans to hire Jamaican girls. "To the query as to whether Playboy chooses colored Bunnies, Mr. Morton said there are colored Bunnies in the American Clubs and the same policy will be applied in Jamaica. A number of American Bunnies will serve in Jamaica along with the local girls."

Hugh Downs told Hefner, "I don't think you could have made a better choice as far as location goes. You've picked the most beautiful island in the West Indies and you're in the area that should become the Riviera of the Caribbean in the next few years."

Downs went on to explain how the trade winds cool the island even in midsummer, that the year-round temperature averages 78 degrees. "Since Columbus discovered Jamaica in 1494," said the erudite Downs, "people of all kinds have come here looking for either peace or excitement. The English drove the Spaniards out in 1655, not far from here, at Runaway Bay. That's how it got its name--the Spanish left in a hurry."

The Shipwreckers were playing a limbo for a troupe of barefooted Jamaicans dressed in clam-digger trousers and ruffled-sleeve shirts. Each member of the troupe moved in turn under the limbo pole which was moved lower and lower. Now the leader of the group took a pole that had been wrapped in rags and doused it with kerosene; he placed it so that each end rested on the mouth of an empty beer bottle, then he ignited the rags. When the flames licked across the entire length of the pole the band began a frenzied beat. The man proceeded to slither step by step under the flaming rod, through a gap from floor to flames of no more than nine inches, as the audience burst into wild applause.

As a capper to the party, the Shipwreckers had prepared an appropriate calypso ditty. The leader sang:

"In January of Sixty-Four Hugh Hefnah come to Jamaica's shore. He bring to our island in de sun A new idea called Playboy fun. Sing de chorus:

Play--boy, Play--boy, Playboy in Jamaica.

Soon we all will roll in clovah When Playboy's Hefnah he take ovah. He bring to our island, plenty money But best of all he bring de Bunny. Sing de chorus:

Play--boy, Play--boy, Playboy in Jamaica."

It wasn't difficult for Hefner to make his decision. He confirmed what his key Club executives, Morton and Preuss, were already confidently counting on; that made it official, and they immediately set up meetings to work out the details of the acquisition. The official opening of the Jamaica Playboy Club-Hotel is planned for late December.

Reservations for the Jamaica Playboy Club-Hotel may be secured by writing to Travel Director, Playboy Clubs International, 232 E. Ohio street, Chicago, Illinois 60611.