Antiques Roadshow Detours

Adam Monahan:

A great guest can really make an appraisal, can't they?

Marsha:

A hundred percent, it can be worth nothing with a great guest

Adam Monahan:

Marsha Bemko, my boss at GBH's Antiques Roadshow. In her years on the job, Marsha's seen her fair share of great guests.

Marsha:

We were just watching that show with that little boy who had a watch. He knows more than I'll ever know about watches. Now the watch is decent… but the kid is amazing.

Adam Monahan:

kid's good. Sometimes we get some sweet old ladies. But with all due respect to your nephews and grandmothers, kids and sweet old ladies are a dime a dozen. I'm thinking of an incredible guest who was considerably more... risque.

Adam Monahan:

I wanna ask you something that might sound a little strange,

Marsha:

From you? I don't know about that. (laughs) Okay. I’m ready.

Adam Monahan:

How many of our guests have you seen naked?

Marsha:

I think none. Um. (both laughing) Because I've been married since I started doing this show, so I haven't seen anybody naked like that…

Adam Monahan:

None?

Marsha:

I’ve been a loyal wife. Did I ever see a naked guest? I’m blushing at the thought.

Adam Monahan:

I think you're a liar. Cuz here’s why.

Marsha:

Who??

Adam Monahan:

I have seen one naked

Marsha:

The Playboy! Wait, the Playboy!

Adam Monahan:

You got it!

Adam Monahan:

On this episode: the inside scoop on life as a Playboy Bunny, and how an episode of Roadshow made Playboy history.

Adam Monahan:

I’m Adam Monahan, and this is Antiques Roadshow Detours... Today, "Bunny Business."

Archival Candace:

I have a long history with Playboy. I was a centerfold in ‘79 and lived in the mansion when Hef was in residence. I've done eight covers for Playboy.

Archival Laura:

Tell me about this Playboy costume.

Archival Candace:

Okay. Well, this Playboy costume was the 1976 Playboy Bunny of the Year costume from Chicago… (fades)

Adam Monahan:

We filmed Candace Jordan in Chicago back in 2014. And leading with this bio made her a pretty alluring guest.  I explain to Marsha how, when I heard it,  it's like the subconscious teenage boy in me bolted awake, put on a dirty shirt from the bedroom floor, and ran off to do some research.

Adam Monahan:

Did you ever Google our guest?

Marsha:

No, but apparently you have, you, you devil you!

Adam Monahan:

If you tell me that you were the Playboy Bunny of the year from 1976 when I was born, I'm gonna Google it. That’s just science.

Marsha:

Was her picture Googleable, like you could search it?

Adam Monahan:

Yeah! You can find anything on the internet.

Marsha:

Even naked pictures, I'm shocked.

(both laughing)

Adam Monahan:

There are naked people on the internet as we speak right now.

Adam Monahan:

And thus, the one Antiques Roadshow guest whom I have seen naked. But it wasn't just her historical nudity that made Candace so great on the show.

Adam Monahan:

Do you remember what she had that day? I know it's been a while, like 11 years

Laura:

I do, despite the passage of time, I remember because I remember it was so unique

Adam Monahan:  

This is the appraiser who filmed with Candace that day.

Laura:

My name is Laura Woolley. I'm with Julian's Auctions, and I am an appraiser on the collectibles table.

Adam Monahan:

Laura had worked on some auctions of Playboy memorabilia in the past. But seeing the actual bunny suits, as Candace had, was somewhat rare.

Archival Candace:

Well, they're supposed to belong to the clubs, but I absconded with mine, so.

Adam Monahan:

Then, there was the color.

Laura:

She had a silver lamé, which I had never seen.

Adam Monahan:

A silver lamé Playboy Bunny of the Year costume. Candace had the cufflinks, she had the ears…

Laura:

The, um, tail was on it.

Archival Laura:

My favorite part of the entire bunny.

Archival Candace:

Yeah. The tail.

Archival Laura:

Which I think is adorable.

Laura:

But then she also had the sash and the shoes. I've never seen the shoes. So she had all matching silver, you know, accoutrements.

Archival Laura:

I've never seen one in such complete condition. You have every piece of it.

Adam Monahan:

Candace also had her Bunny of the Year trophy, as well as…

Archival Candace:

This is the Bunny of the Year pageant program, and actually, it… There was all these celebrities that were in the audience, and the signatures are from OJ Simpson, who signed it “Peace.”

Adam Monahan:

Keep in mind that it was 1976! OJ was just a football player. He could go around signing things "peace" if he wanted to. The program was also signed by Ringo Starr, Milton Berle…

Archival Candace:

...Jim Brown, Steve Martin, and Hefner. So I didn't even remember getting these signatures, but after I pulled it outta storage and looked at it, my husband said, my God, do you know the names that are on here? So. It was pretty exciting.

Adam Monahan:

And even more dazzling than that silver lamé… was Candace’s sparkling personality.

Laura:

She is like a ball of positive light and, and joy. I think it's the the most positive experience I've ever had in talking to someone. She was so excited and just pleased about everything.

Archival Laura:

The suit alone would sell at auction anywhere between six and $8,000.

Archival Candace:

Oh, you're kidding me. Oh my God.

Laura:

Sometimes we deliver really great news, and I'm always stunned by the guests who you tell them, your painting's worth a hundred thousand dollars, and you get stone-faced like, that's nice. And we never know what's going on in someone's head. But I know I'm just like every other viewer at home who's like, did they hear her?

Adam Monahan:

But Candace wasn't like that at all.

Laura:

She was just so happy to be there, just like oh, isn't that wonderful? And everything was great

Archival Laura:

So altogether here you have at least $8,200 to $11,300 worth of stuff.

Archival Candace:

Whoa! That's awesome!

Archival Laura:

And, and I actually think it's conservative. 'cause you're fabulous and your story's fabulous.

Archival Candace:

Oh my God. Thank you, Laura. That is thrilling.

Laura:

It was just such a joy to, uh, do a segment with her.

Laura:

In her own right as a Playboy bunny, she's a pretty famous bunny. Like I knew who she was, and I'm not even. Someone who really followed Playboy, so not just everybody kind of rose through the ranks of playmate-dom, um, like she did. And obviously it's because she was a beautiful woman, which you, you weren't really a playmate unless you were physically beautiful. But was she truly, and I know this sounds trite, but when they say someone's beautiful from the inside out. She is just as wonderful a human being on the inside, and it really just shows.

Adam Monahan:

And as for that outer beauty?

Laura:

She does a smokey eye so well, and I want a tutorial from Candace.

Adam Monahan:

It's one of those things, though. It's like asking Tom Brady, how do you play quarterback?

Laura:

Yeah, I know.

Adam Monahan:

We could create an army of monsters, of people who look like ghouls.

Laura:

Because at the end of the day, I just don't have her eyes. That’s the problem.

Adam Monahan:

Right. You look like, uh, someone from a Disney villain, like what happened with Laura? She looks evil today

Laura:

I look like Maleficent. She looks like a Playboy playmate. What's going on?

Adam Monahan:

Do you remember that day? Do you remember meeting Laura?

Candace:

I remember vividly. Oh, Adam Monahan. It was the most incredible experience in my life. I mean, God, it was like going to Disneyland

Adam Monahan:

This, of course, is Candace Jordan, as nice and enthusiastic and perfectly smokey-eyed as ever. Only someone with a true generosity of spirit would spend their youth on magazine covers and partying with celebrities… and then call Antiques Roadshow the most incredible experience of their life.

Adam Monahan:

Candace tells me how she first got involved with Playboy. She grew up in a small town in Southern Illinois.

Candace:

It's a railroad town on the banks of the Mississippi. And, um, it's a small school, but I was valedictorian in my high school class. I had a scholarship to go to St. Louis University and I was just so tired of school by that time that a girlfriend said, well, Candace, you know, they're hiring over at the new St. Louis Playboy Club. You should go and audition.

Adam Monahan:

So, there was Playboy Magazine, but then there were also the Playboy clubs. They were bustling venues that served refreshments and featured live music, and they were where the Playboy bunnies worked. Candace got this job at the St. Louis club. And not long after that, her picture was featured in a spread of "best bunnies." That picture made its way to headquarters.

Candace:

And they invited me to transfer to Chicago

Adam Monahan:

Now, a lot of people associate Playboy with California—that’s where Hugh Hefner moved later on. But Playboy started in Chicago, where Hefner grew up. He put the first issue of the magazine together at his kitchen table in Hyde Park. His mother gave him funds to help start the magazine.

Candace:

And he was so unsure of its success that he did not even put a date on the first issue. That's, of course, the famous issue with Marilyn Monroe and, um, he just had an instinct, and I, quite frankly, I think that all he did for this magazine was to put photos. Articles, people, and that he personally liked. I mean, it was truly was his lifestyle in print. He came from a Puritan background, and so I think that he was slightly, uh, suppressed. Him and his, his siblings, they couldn't play cards. I mean, they were very strict in the household. And so I think that with this, it was like his, his unleashing of his real self.

Adam Monahan:

The magazine took off, and in 1960, the first club opened in Chicago, with an opening night act by a 17-year-old Aretha Franklin. And the clubs, too, proved extremely popular.

Candace:

I mean, every celebrity wanted to perform there or come there.

Adam Monahan:

From the time they opened, the clubs were always integrated. And no one seemed to mind that the drink prices were triple what they might pay elsewhere--it helped that those drinks were all served by beautiful women. The Playboy Bunnies actually had to learn a special maneuver called the "bunny dip," a way of setting down an order without bending forward. But Candace, for her part, mostly stuck to door duty.

Candace:

So I was able to greet people, and I also played bumper pool. I’m a mean bumper pool player.  I, you know, I actually never served alcohol or food, I always greeted people worked the door, which may be why I did so many Playboy promotions. I mean, there's life-size posters of me and all the clubs, and I think that's because mainly I met all the art directors as they came through the door. So I was like the first and last stop.

Adam Monahan:

Which is perhaps how she ended up in that Best Bunnies pictorial that got her transferred to the Chicago club. And not only that: Candace was invited to move into the original Playboy mansion with Hugh Hefner.

Candace:

I moved into the mansion. I was welcomed, like a long gone hero. And, uh, a couple nights later, there's this little note slipped under the door, and it says, Mr. Hefner would like to invite you down for cake and ice cream for his birthday. And I thought, here you are in this fabulous Playboy mansion, you know, you're thinking champagne and caviar, and you know, blah, blah, blah. And it's as simple and quaint and charming as cake and ice cream. That sold me. And then once I met him, he was every bit that man.

Adam Monahan:

Over the years, there's been a fair amount of controversy around Playboy. For example, in 1963, Gloria Steinem went undercover in one of the clubs and wrote a big expose about the sexist treatment there. But Candace’s experience, she says, was nothing but positive. She found it empowering to be a Playboy bunny. She loved Hefner and loved the other women she worked with.

Candace:

All the girls were fabulous. I had no, we, there was no jealousy, no petty stuff like that. We were all sisters

Adam Monahan:

It was like living in a big sorority house. If, you know, your sorority house happened to have 24-hour-room service, a firepole down to an underground swimming pool, and celebrities constantly stopping by--including the Rolling Stones, who trashed the place and were not invited back.

Candace:

I still look back and pinch myself because, you know, when you're young, you don't pay much attention. You know, you think, well, this is my due, and and then now, now that I am older and I look back, I think, wow, what a time that was. I mean, it was just surreal.

Adam Monahan:

Do you think you could keep up with your younger self now, or does it make you exhausted just thinking about it?

Candace:

Well, I got a lot of energy. I'm not done yet, Adam Monahan. You know, I'm an only child, and my mother and my father were always the last to ever leave a party. So it's definitely in my DNA.

Adam Monahan:

What was it thought of, like back at home? Was there any stigma to this?

Candace:

Yeah, well, you know, I'm from a small town, and things like that are; just aren’t done. And my mom and dad, you know, they, they would've backed me if I wanted to become a serial killer, frankly. I mean, I, I was very lucky with my parents. Uh, but they trusted my judgment. And as a matter of fact, uh, one of the news stations came over to interview my mom and my dad, they asked my dad, they said, you know, do you think about your daughter doing the centerfold? And he said, if they paid me what they paid her, I'd have done it myself. So that's how they felt about me being in the magazine.

Adam Monahan:

Yeah, my mom, like I grew up, I was, uh, born in the seventies and, and I remember my mom as a younger person being like, she didn't mind Playboy 'cause it was done like tastefully. But I also remember she bought my dad a, a subscription and then would get mad whenever he'd read it.

(both laughing)

Candace:

That's adorable!

Adam Monahan:

After the break... a strange Roadshow coincidence… makes Playboy history.

Jessica:

So my name is Jessica Pushor. I am the collections manager of costume and textiles here at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago, Illinois.

Adam Monahan:

And Jessica, are you an Antiques Roadshow fan?

Jessica:

I am, but an even bigger fan is my husband, who has been watching Antiques Roadshow back when he was in his young twenties. So for over 20 years, he introduced me to it.

Adam Monahan:

Is that why you married him?

Jessica:

(laughing) I married in spite of that.

Adam Monahan:

Did he wear overalls and like smoke a pipe?

Jessica:

He wore bow ties and suspenders, so pretty close.

Adam Monahan:

And it's the refined taste of Jessica's husband... that makes this next part of our story possible.

Jessica:

So my husband was watching Antiques Roadshow like you do, and I was in the other room doing something, and I was passing through.

Adam Monahan:

And what should come onscreen but Laura's appraisal with Candace Jordan.

Jessica:

And I was like, wait a minute! I know her! I know her!

Adam Monahan:

Jessica knew Candace as a newspaper correspondent, with a regular column called Candid Candace. She'd met Candace over the years at various fundraising events.

Jessica:

And I had no idea that she had been a Playboy Bunny and who worked at the club here in Chicago

Adam Monahan:

But now, Jessica thought Candace's collection seemed like a pretty important piece of Chicago history.

Jessica:

The original Playboy Mansion is just a few blocks away from the Chicago History Museum. We can walk there from here. And we do have some Playboy objects in our collection. But finding Playboy bunny uniforms that are complete and having the background information of knowing who wore it and you know, where they wore it and how they, you know, all of those kind of, is few and far between. When you get further away from history, you realize how special certain times were. We need to collect those artifacts now before those people who lived through those generations, you know, pass away. We no longer can collect those stories from them.

Adam Monahan:

Jessica says that most of the time, that's the case. Items usually come to the museum after someone has died, when their family is sorting through their things.

But now, here was Candace on TV, with not only the objects themselves, but all the stories and memories to go along with them. It’s that personal attachment that caused those delighted reactions that appraiser Laura Woolley remembered.

Laura:

To her, it's been like a memory in a closet. And it was a part of her life. And so to, to find out that there, you know, other people value this thing that she knows she put a lot of emotional value into, but to find out it actually has real-life monetary value. I think she was genuinely kind of gleeful about.

Adam Monahan:

It's a rare thing for the items we attach sentimental value to to be valued by strangers as well. And Candace's case was the most extreme version of that: While we often say on Roadshow that certain items are museum-worthy, in this case, Candace's collection really was, literally, museum-worthy. Jessica reached out to Candace to say that she wanted to acquire her collection for the Chicago History Museum—that Candace’s memories were valuable to the whole city.

Jessica:

So, she had collected not just costume material like the Playboy Bunny, um, uniform. There's many different ears, but also, um, a great amount of ephemera that you can, can't really find anywhere else. So, things about being in the union, uh, when she worked at the clubs…

Adam Monahan:

Yes, info on the Playboy union! Bunny solidarity! Candace told me that she'd also kept…

Candace:

The Mansion manual for rules for living at the Playboy Mansion. And some the things are so, it's like, well, we have to cut back now, you know, because times are getting hard. So we're gonna take the goldfish bowls away. So, you know, that was their idea of cutting back, you know, getting some of the snacks out of the way.

Adam Monahan: Once Candace agreed to a potential sale, Jessica approached the museum's fundraising arm, the costume council.

Jessica:

And asked them if they would provide me with the funds in order to purchase this material.

Adam Monahan:

Most of what Jessica acquires for the museum comes in through donations--it's rare for her to get funds to go purchase anything. But in this case, the costume council saw what a rare opportunity this was. Plus, Jessica had… a helpful audio-visual aid.

Jessica: Obviously, being on the Roadshow, you know, it was very easy to send people the video of her on there.

Adam Monahan:

And of course, the Roadshow video also offered a price tag.

A price tag, Laura tells me, which has actually gone up since her first appraisal. Laura’s seen other Playboy memorabilia sell in the meantime, and that’s given her more information.

Laura:

In 2021, we did a vintage update show, and I updated everything totals to 18,500 to 25,700. So quite a bit of a jump. Based on what's happened in the marketplace.

Adam Monahan:

And in the intervening years, Laura’s also learned some fun facts.

Laura:

The cuff links that feature the rabbits, I was told by a playmate who's responsible for helping dress other playmates, that you put them facing out so that when you cross your wrists, the bunnies are kissing.

Adam Monahan:

Oh, wow. Who knew!

Laura:

So that's a little hot, hot tip

Adam Monahan:

Hot indeed! I ask a cagey Candace how close the appraisal was to the final sale price.

Adam Monahan:

Was Laura's assessment correct, or like how did it go?

Candace:

Yep, yep. Yep. Her assessment was really correct.

Adam Monahan:

Okay, we'll leave it at that.

Candace:

(laughing) We'll leave it at that. Let's just say I was very happy and they were very happy.

Adam Monahan:

But for Candace, it's also bittersweet

Adam Monahan:

How hard is it to actually let it go?

Candace:

Oh, you can't imagine how hard, I mean, I'm still cringing over a lot of the things that's not here anymore, believe it or not. So, it was part of me forever

Adam Monahan:

It's not just stuff--it's her life. From the note welcoming her to the mansion, all the way up to the COVID masks Playboy sent out when the pandemic hit. Decades and decades of things.

Adam Monahan:

Where did you keep all this? Do you live in your own Playboy mansion?

(both laugh)

Candace:

Well, well, you know, I am bit of a hoarder. Uh, uh, my husband teases me. He says that I have so many collections that all he can afford to collect are toothpicks.

Adam Monahan:

Was he psyched that you're like, oh yes, donate this, too?

(both laugh)

Candace:

Well, yeah, true. He's the, he's not exactly a saver, let's just put it that way.

Adam Monahan:

But a lot of what Candace saved was thin and didn't take up much room:

photographs, for example, or her old paystubs.

Candace:

And I had my trophies on my trophy desk, and I had my Playboy costume, know, hanging up behind a door. And so, really it wasn’t being appreciated except by me, and I'm thrilled that other people are gonna have a chance to see it. I really am.

Adam Monahan:

Did you ever think about going the auction route, or did you want this kept as a historically preserved archive?

Candace:

Oh no, hadn't even thought it. I mean, I, I don't wanna go to somebody that's gonna put it where I it, you know, a door. And then he's gonna look at it. Nobody else is gonna see it. So when they came along, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. And yeah, initially, I really missed it because it had been with me for so long. But now I'm really glad the situation happened the way it did. I mean, Playboy was born here, Hefner was born here, it's absolutely the right place for this collection to be, and I think that Chicago will get something very special. So that's a real big honor. And, you know, it, uh, makes me feel real tingly inside.

Adam Monahan:

And you can literally visit it.Candace:

Yeah. Now I have to make an appointment (laughs)

Marsha:

I love that a textile person had to have a naked lady's clothes.

(both laugh)

Adam Monahan:

When I relay the whole saga to my boss, Marsha, she finds it inspiring.

Marsha:

I like that Candace Jordan doesn't hide this part of her past. It's like, pay attention to me. You've been paying attention to me. You've seen a lot of me. She's out there with it. I love it. That’s literally very cool.

Adam Monahan:

And it's not just Candace's cool factor... Marsha's also inspired by... the money.

Marsha:

Between selling it and whatever she got for doing it, she made out.

Adam Monahan:

I'm not gonna lie. It sounds like you're trying to get a call from Playboy.

Marsha:

…I’m too old.

(both laughing)

Adam Monahan:

A million dollars! No.

Marsha: A grandma centerfold!

(both laughing)

Adam Monahan:

Hey, never say never, Marsh... Candace did her last Playboy cover at age 65.

Adam Monahan:

Antiques Roadshow Detours is a production of GBH in Boston and distributed by PRX. This episode was written and produced by Kalila Holt; edited and mixed by Tyler Morrisette; our Assistant Producer is Sarah Roach. Our senior producer is Ian Coss, and Devin Maverick Robbins is the managing producer of podcasts for GBH. Marsha Bemko is the Executive Producer of Antiques Roadshow Detours, and I’m your host and co-executive producer, Adam Monahan. Our Theme music is “Once In A Century Storm” by Will Dailey from the album National Throat. Thank you all for listening. Have a good one.