Just in case anyone thought that the life of a Playboy Bunny was all toothy smiles and heavy tipping, this made-for-TV movie is a prime vessel of disillusion. Set in the early 1960s, the story follows a brace of small-town cuties, Holly (Marina Black) and Ruby (Julie Condra), who are among the first of well-endowed young ladies to land jobs as Bunnies (waitress dressed in revealing costumes, replete with rabbit-ear headgear and cotton tails) in the many Playboy "key" clubs dotting the landscape of the era. Our starry-eyed heroines are soon made to realize that the rules and regulations of the profession are strictly enforced--for example, woe betide the hapless Bunny who is caught chewing gum, or who forgets to point her tail in the direction of the person she is serving. While one of the girls becomes the protegee of tough but protective "Bunny mother" Miranda (Marilu Henner), the other buckles under to the temptations of wealthy customers and free-flowing liquor. One observer labelled this one as Valley of the Bunnies, while for cable-TV exposure the film was rechristened The Price of Beauty. Under its original cognomen, A Tale of Two Bunnies made its ABC network bow on March 20, 2000.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
