The Chicago Playboy Mansion, pictured here in 1992, served as home to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner until the mid 1970s, when he left for Los Angeles. (Tribune photo by Nancy Stone)
Now and then a rabbit is spotted scurrying about the grounds of the landmark Charles Gates Dawes House, home of the Evanston History Center. But next week, bunnies of the two-legged variety will arrive.
The iconic Evanston home has been cast in the role of another icon — Chicago’s Playboy Mansion — in an NBC television pilot about 1960s Playboy clubs.
History center Executive Director Eden Juron Pearlman confirmed that crews from Twentieth Century Fox TV would be at the Dawes House for two days next week filming scenes for the pilot. Executives are expected to announce in May whether the show has been picked up as a series.
Show producers contacted the center some time ago about the prospect of using the interior of the Dawes House as a substitute for the Chicago Playboy Mansion, which served as home to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner from 1959 until the mid 1970s, when he packed up the party and his pajamas and moved to Los Angeles.
Pearlman said that crews would be using some rooms on the first floor of the Dawes House, but primarily the library.
“The reason that we’re working with them is that they are using only a portion of the house that we are comfortable with,” she said, adding that history center staff is always careful about how the house is used.
“On a semi-regular basis, we get people calling us for various projects,” she said. “Very often, they don’t pan out because we are extremely careful about how we use the house. It’s our greatest treasure.”
Pearlman said producers have been “very conscientious” about using the house for the pilot. Staff from the history center will be on hand to supervise and ensure that the house, and its contents, are undisturbed.
According to a report in Variety magazine, the hour-long drama, entitled “Playboy,” will focus on a group of women who work as Playboy bunnies in the New York Playboy Club. The report states that Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo and Chad Hodge, who also wrote the script for “Playboy” and has written for the now-canceled Fox show “Tru Calling,” are producing it.
The Dawes House is no stranger to stardom. Its exterior was featured in the 2002 Tom Hanks and Paul Newman film “Road to Perdition.”
Pearlman declined to disclose the details of compensation for the filming, only to say that the history center considered the compensation generous.
