Bunny Carlisle has no fear of flying — or living | Column
Bunny Carlisle has many stories to tell from her life. (Courtesy of David Treadwell)
When Bunny Carlisle was 22 years old she was an American Airlines stewardess based in Los Angeles. One day she spotted a man wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots sitting at a restaurant. She walked right up to him and said, “You’re Gene Autry.”
“Yes, I am, little lady,” said Gene Autry, the movie star known as the “Singing Cowboy.”
Bunny noticed that Autry’s tie pin had small baseball bats. “Why do you have baseball bats there rather than cowboy boots?” she asked.
“Because I own the California Angels,” the Singing Cowboy explained. He asked Bunny if she ever flew to Boston. When she said she did fly to Boston, he said he would take her and the rest of the flight crew to a game at Fenway Park when the Angels played the Red Sox.
As it happened, no one else on the crew wanted to go to the game, so Bunny went with Autry.
“We had these great seats in a box right above home plate. We then went to the Sherry Netherlands Hotel where they had a rotating bar. I sent him a nice thank-you note later, which seemed to impress him. We struck up a nice friendship which lasted for many years.
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“One time I asked Gene why he was so nice to me. He said he liked my initiative.”
After Autry’s wife died he wrote to Bunny, but she had just become engaged to Bob Carlisle. Her beloved husband died in 2019 when they were living in Colorado Springs.
Most people would be happy to have just one such story to share in their golden years. Eighty-seven-year old Bunny Carlisle is not “most people.” She has many stories to share, but back to the beginning.
Bunny had a happy childhood growing up in Media-Elwyn, Pennsylvania. She loved her parents (“Everyone thought they were the ‘cat’s pajamas’”) and her younger brother Rob and her aunts and uncles and her friends. She laughs when she adds, “Everyone thought I was just great.”
She went to Catholic Schools and then on to Marywood, a Catholic college in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She earned a degree in drama at Marywood, after starring in several plays. “I played St. Joan in ‘The Lark’ and Laura in ‘The Glass Menagerie.’ I liked playing St. Joan, but I didn’t like playing Laura, because she just had to sit there with everyone feeling sorry for her.”
Students at Marywood, an all-women’s college, often acted in plays with students at the University of Scranton, a men’s college. Bunny met Jason Miller (“my first real boyfriend”) while acting with him. Miller went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for writing the play “That Championship Season.” It gets better. Miller played the priest in the hit thriller “The Exorcist.”
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Because she was based in Los Angeles as a stewardess, Bunny often had encounters with famous people, such as Marlon Brando and Ray Bolger. Paul Newman was on her flight once. She went up to him and said, “You’re Paul Newman.”
Newman said, “Don’t make a fuss about me. Go see that lady up at the front; she’s going to be famous some day.”
“That lady” was Oprah Winfrey. Bunny says that most of the famous men she met were real gentlemen, but there were exceptions. Hoagy Carmichael, the famous composer who wrote “Stardust,” took a special shine to Bunny, but she resisted his advances. And then there was the time she met Stan Musial, the famous St. Louis Cardinals baseball player. One of her friends knew Musial and asked Bunny if she’d like to meet him and she said, “Sure.” The friend passed that on to Musial.
One night she was staying at a hotel and the phone rang at 2 a.m. It was Musial asking if she wanted to meet him. “I told him I wouldn’t meet him then but I agreed to come to his room in the morning. When I went to his room he was dressed in pajamas and a bathrobe. He smelled like a brewery.” When Musial made a suggestive remark, Bunny told him, “You’re going to dress up and I’m going to take you to church.” So Musial did just that, believe it or not. Let’s just say that was one of Stan Musial’s more notable strikeouts.
While Bunny Carlisle has amazing stories to tell, she’s most proud of the 40 years she spent training other stewardesses in Dallas. “I didn’t mind wearing a uniform or all the rules and regulations because I was used to them having been to Catholic schools.”
Bunny moved to Thornton Oaks because her brother Rob lived in Brunswick. They’re very close and often have lunch together.
Bunny gave a fascinating talk at Thornton Oaks about her years as a stewardess and a trainer of stewardesses. She also recited a beautiful Christmas poem at the first Thornton Oaks Talent Show last January and plans to do something for the next show.
All things considered, what most sets Bunny Carlisle apart is her positive outlook on life. As important, she’s genuinely interested in getting to know other people whether they’re famous or not. She spreads sunshine wherever she goes. I’m delighted to hear her stories and proud to call her my friend.
David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. [email protected].
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