Carol Ostrow – Playboy Bunny
by Carol Ostrow
I was twenty years old when I travelled from Reno, Nevada to New York leaving Barry Ashton’s revue behind. After all, I had trained as an actress and very much wanted to see my parents again. I had already divorced the magician and dreamed of auditioning for a Broadway show. Unfortunately, my resume had too few credits to satisfy the casting directors. I got nothing, with the exception of $35.00 a week on unemployment for 2 months.
Since I couldn’t get a job right away, I auditioned at the Playboy Club as a Bunny. Got that, hated it. In fact, the photographer thought I’d be the June Centerfold. But I said “not this Jewish girl from Brooklyn. My mother will kill me!
I called Barry Ashton and asked if there was room for me in his show in Miami. He said “yes” and off I went, back to be in one of his gorgeous revues. The Barry Sisters, absolutely lovely and talented entertainers, were the headliners in that production. By the way, they glorified women in those shows. Barry made us feel and look like goddesses.
Carol Ostrow – Barry Ashton Revue – Miami
Goddesses or not, the Mafia loved the girls. They were everywhere, trying to wine and dine us. Miami was the place and they ruled the world. You cannot imagine how they tried to tempt us to spend time with them. Flowers, diamond bracelets, plane tickets to escape to an island with a new wardrobe thrown in. Very frightening, exciting and dangerous.
I happened to be introduced to a handsome, tall, well mannered man while having lunch on my day off, sitting around the pool in the courtyard of my apartment building. I thought he was so intelligent, well educated and found him fun to be around. He had an air of mystery. We went out to dinner on the 79th Street Causeway that evening to a restaurant he owned with his mother. Best Italian food I ever had.
We dated a little, I liked him a lot. Then, out of nowhere, there was a knock on my door, early in the morning when I was about to leave to attend classes. It was the FBI. They wanted to know about this man I was seen with. Did I know he was married with 4 kids and was the head of the Mafia in Miami? I nearly fainted.
The next week, in between shows, I was invited to meet a bachelor from Washington, DC. I sat down at the table, he introduced himself and 2 weeks later, I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii with my 2nd husband, Alvin Ostrow.
To Be Continued……….However:
Gems from The Pandemic Pen
Life is not a bowl of cherries, so sweet,
With easy answers tied up and neat.
It is filled with such silly mistakes,
Where we need, perhaps, a few retakes.
Never mind, just part of the breaks
The stove is hot, you touch, you burn.
Mistakes, old blue eyes sang, with heart,
I’ve made a few,
You are supposed to, that’s how you learn.
*
You could have knocked me over with a Feather,
I did not have my act together,
Is this really Memorial Day Weekend?
I can barely get out of bed,
not sickly,
Just, slightly depressed, perhaps prickly.
This is our strange new world,
Where unkempt dress and hair uncurled,
Is definitely, the new norm.
I am completely out of form.
However, to frankly inform,
I am talking and calling and writing more.
This gives me interests, I did not have before.
New things I’m enjoying, had no time to Explore.
Therefore,
Good lesson: instead of looking for a quick Evacuation,
Let’s make the best of a bad situation!
Is it a deal? How do you feel?
