People

By Sara C. Medina

Her satin suit was cut up to here and down to there, her white cottontail jiggled provocatively, and her accomplishments included the "bunny dip," which enabled her to serve drinks without bending too far over. Thus the Playboy bunny, for 26 years the just-out-of-reach embodiment of the Playboy philosophy in Hugh Hefner's Key Clubs. But alas, what was once risque is now passe, not to mention money losing. This week Hefner is closing the three remaining (out of a high of 17) Playboy-owned clubs, in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Reunions in the latter two last week brought out more than 300 present and former bunnies for a final hop down memory lane. "There was glamour, there was excitement. We met a lot of stars," reminisced Liz Kay, who helped open the Chicago club in 1960. A nostalgic Hefner, 60, made the West Coast party and called the bunnies and clubs "a reflection of something very special that was part of the swinging '60s and '70s." Ave atque vale.