Baltimore’s infamous Playboy Club may have closed its doors in 1977, but for an evening last December, Dan Proctor, principal of Kirk Designs, re-created the “Playboy Mansion” of the swingin’ ‘60s in an elegant Mount Vernon townhouse.
“I remembered an issue of the magazine that my older brother had in the 1960s,” says Proctor, who has run his firm from the regal Eager Street address since 2000. “There was a photo spread about a Christmas party at Hugh Hefner’s mansion, and it just looked so interesting and glamorous.” For this, Proctor set out to create just such an event. “And,” he says, “this building lends itself to it perfectly.”
Guests received an elegant black invitation bearing white script that had a Playboy bunny-emblazoned key dangling from a bunny-embossed ribbon. They were invited for “an evening that would make Frank, Dean and Sammy proud.” The prescribed dress code? “Think Ursula Andress meets Audrey Hepburn.” Of course.
Upon arriving at the “mansion,” guests were asked by the doorman to present their keys, then were greeted by “bunnies” clad in authentic Playboy costumes. The bunnies collected coats, guided guests through the rooms of the mansion and served specialty themed cocktails.
The rooms of the townhouse were patterned after rooms in Hef’s notorious Chicago Playboy mansion, and guests wandered through a grand entrance of zebra-patterned walls and grand swags of red satin, beneath a dramatic outsized kissing ball of red roses. A small combo of piano and stand-up bass serenaded guests as they sauntered past the retro-furnished seating areas and mod-style cocktail bars.
Downstairs, the large oval-shaped, mahogany-paneled office became the “smoker,” where guests sipped vintage cocktails and mingled amidst framed Vargas-girl prints. The adjoining salon became a cabaret for the evening’s floor show, “Chou Chou l’amour in the club du jour.” Upstairs, another bar and the “living room” allowed guests to converse beneath large, colorful canvases of faux Robert Motherwells, in homage to the artworks hanging in the original Playboy mansion.
Proctor got the concept for the bunnies when a client mentioned having a baby sitter from Loyola College who would make a cute bunny. The student, Courtney Perkins, who is in the Hopkins nursing program at Loyola, recruited five more friends from the program to attend “bunny school” to effectively work the party and provide the necessary eye-candy. A former bunny who had worked at the local Playboy Club trained the girls in wearing false eyelashes, retro makeup and hairstyles, and the all-important “bunny dip” when serving beverages. “They got way into it,” says Proctor with a chuckle.
The guests got into it as well, with women sporting a variety of sleek, vintage 1960s frocks and extravagant, multi-wigged hairstyles ("We had out-of-town guests booked at salons all over town the day of the party,” says Proctor). Gents opted for the old-school glamour of classic tuxedos, white dinner jackets and smoking jackets. Proctor had his smoking jacket for the evening custom-made from a Clarence House fabric, and completed his ensemble with a silk ascot and Playboy cuff links.
After hors d’oeuvres and dinner, guests settled into the cabaret room for the evening’s floor show, a medley of classic ‘50s and early-’60s tunes by Doc Scantlin’s seven-piece band and the irrepressible chanteuse, Miss Chou Chou.
“I believe in layering a party around an event and a theme,” says Proctor. “And I want my guests to get involved and feel like they’re a part of it.” Little touches, such as the framed photos throughout the mansion of Hef and his bunnies, vintage copies of Playboy strewn about— even bottles of period-correct colognes on the bathroom vanities such as Brut and Hai Karate ("which people actually used!")— all helped guests to get into the swing of the evening.
“I wanted a theatrical event,” says Proctor. “To stage an evening where a mixed, diverse crowd from different circles can mingle. An unusual theme gives guests something to react to, and it makes for a natural ice-breaker.
“Sometimes the reality of the event is even better than you can dream it will be,” says Proctor. For him, that was the case here.
Can he top this one? “I have a roster of parties I want to throw
before I die,” he says. “I can check this one off the list.”
the party line
occasion: Kirk Designs’ Playboy-themed Christmas party.
theme: “A not so silent night” with a retro ‘60s theme.
venue: “The Playboy Mansion,” an elegant 19th-century Mount Vernon townhouse.
decorations: Padded zebra-fabric walls, floor-to-ceiling red satin swags, large canvases of faux Robert Motherwell paintings, framed Vargas-girl prints.
flowers: 2-foot-round kissing ball of red roses and carnations overhead, large sprays on pedestals, smaller kissing balls on tables.
guest list: 180 friends, clients, family, colleagues.
special touch: Six Playboy bunnies in authentic costumes greeted guests, took wraps and served drinks.
fare
menu: 1960s-inspired dishes included mini Beef Wellingtons, gourmet pigs-in-blankets (pheasant sausage in brioche), shrimp cocktail, paté, veal Swedish meatballs, coq au vin, steak Diane, salmon in puff pastry, chopped salad, chocolate fondue.
drinks: The Golddigger (grasshopper cocktail garnished with a chocolate cigar dusted with gold), the Brigitte Bardot (whiskey sour with double cherry garnish) and the Kirkmopolitan (pomegranite martini).
plan
catering: Dogwood Gourmet, 410-889-0952
flowers: Jake Boone, 410-917-2129
entertainment: Doc Scantlin and his Imperial Palms Orchestra featuring Miss Chou Chou, .
photography: Max Glanville, 410-467-2112
