Tricia Pimental

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Rabbit Trail: How A Former Playboy Bunny Found Her Way

Neil Simon, Henry Miller, Mickey Spillane, Norman Mailer, Walt Whitman. Brooklyn, New York has produced a wealth of famous writers, and Tricia Pimental is delighted to share her birthplace with such inspiration. After receiving a B.A. in French from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, she began a career in retailing, but quickly took Horatio Alger’s advice and headed West to California at the age of twenty, where she signed on as a Bunny at the Playboy Club of Hollywood. A later stint as a legal secretary led to marriage and the birth of her two daughters: Kristina, now a practicing attorney, and Shauna, a singer/songwriter.

A member of the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA for over 40 years, Tricia studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles, acting on both stage and screen, also enjoying parts on such television series as Santa Barbara, Sisters, and Seinfeld.

Having achieved the levels of Advanced Toastmaster-Bronze and Competent Leader with Toastmasters International, she also is a member of both the Florida Writers Association and the American Christian Writers Association. Her memoir, Rabbit Trail: How a Former Playboy Bunny Found Her Way has been completed, and she is currently at work on her second book, A Moveable Marriage.

Tricia resides in the horse country of Ocala, Florida with her husband, Keith, aka “The Renaissance Man,” and an opinionated Maltese named Carson.

Rabbit Trail: How a Former Playboy Bunny Found Her Way
Chapter Summary

Chapter 1 Genesis

The day I got kicked out of heaven was no ordinary day, not by a long shot. After years of doing my best, following rules, and living clean, there it was. And news like that travels fast. I was sure my grandparents knew because, after all, they were already up there. Daddy and Mommy would probably find out about it soon, but only if I told my brother Doug, so if I just kept quiet about it, I might be able to coast for awhile. It wasn’t going to be easy; I had a hard time not talking about things that bothered me. Confessing to Father Francis was a prime example.

Chapter 3 Graduate School

The food Nana prepared was the heal-your-soul, clog-your-artery type that is as treacherous as it is satisfying. She deposited an enormous chunk of butter in a heavy iron skillet and then slathered one side of a slice of Wonder Bread with more butter. This was placed face down in the pan and topped with several slices of Old English sharp cheddar cheese and then topped with another piece of bread that had been buttered on the outside to facilitate browning. Accompanied by potato salad and Manhattan sweet pickles, this was followed by a healthy slice of frosted Sara Lee chocolate cake, all washed down with a tumbler of ice cold whole milk. In retrospect, it was amazing that I could push myself up from the table and make my way back to class.

Chapter Five Rabbit Trail

My adolescent dreams of being Miss Rheingold (or even Miss America!) were revived annually when the Bunny of the Year contest took place. My superiors, who trusted my judgment when dealing with the media and, therefore, so gave me all those plum promotions, were always hopeful that I would win and continue to prove myself a good spokesperson for Playboy Enterprises. Modeled after the Miss America Pageant, there were evening gown competitions and Bunny outfit competitions, integrated with question and answer sessions.
On March 3, 1973, the emcee was Jackie Vernon. For the first, puff, question, Jackie asked me what my pet peeve was. “It drives me crazy when people take ice cubes out of a tray and don’t fill it back up with water,” I responded, beaming at the audience. Okay, so it wasn’t an answer that would shake the world’s foundation, but then neither was the question.

Chapter Nine Play of Consciousness

A personable young man welcomed us, and explained that we would be learning some of the teachings of Swami Muktananda, an eminent Hindu who had helped many thousands of converts to develop their spiritual lives. Central to the teaching was the study of kundalini energy. Monks apparently meditate for years in an attempt to awaken this mysterious force, the “serpent” that lies dormant in the lower part of the spine. We, however, could have instant gratification!