Alice, The Playboy Club

Alice (Leah Renee)

The Playboy Club was a short lived drama series that centered around the employees (known as bunnies) of the original Playboy Club operating in Chicago during the ‘60s. Alice was introduced in the pilot as one of the bunnies, who also had a big secret. It is later revealed that she was in a lavender marriage (a marriage of convenience between two gay people) with Sean, to hide the fact that she was a lesbian.

They were both members of the Mattachine Society, which was one of the earliest gay rights organizations in the US. When Alice arrived at a meeting for the Mattachine Society she was first greeted by Sean and his boyfriend, and was then seen flirting with another member named Sally.

In the second episode Alice and Sean were worried over an awkward dinner with Sean’s parents, and getting annoyed at the unavoidable baby-making questions. In the next episode Sean introduced Alice to a new lesbian bunny Frances, and the two were seen complementing each other and flirting.

The Playboy Club was then cancelled after 3 episodes and even though there were 7 episodes produced, the last 4 episodes were never made available. Cassidy Freeman (who played Frances) revealed in an interview with AfterEllen.com that the unseen episodes would have shown more of Alice and Frances developing a relationship.

Appearances:

• 3 episodes. (+ 4 episodes never aired)

Female love interests:

• Sally (Erin Breen, lesbian, guest, 1 episode)
• Frances Dunhill (Cassidy Freeman, lesbian, recurring, 1 episode + 3 unaired)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Sean Beasley (Sean Maher, recurring)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Male (Recurring)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.