CHICAGO- Have you seen a 39-year-old Playboy cover splashed with the scantily clad Phyllis Babila concealed only by what appears to be a red sheet?
The magazine, circa May 1970, was stolen last week from a glass frame in a bathroom at The Fifty/50, a Ukrainian Village sports bar, 2047 W. Division St. But whoever stole the magazine left behind two others in the same frame, from 1972 and 1973.
A jealous relative of Babila's maybe? "That's the only thing I would think of," said bar co-owner Scott Weiner, 28. "[She is] somebody's relative. They saw their mom up there and thought, 'I'm taking that down.' "
Not so, says Babila. Reached at her Los Angeles home, the former model, who once lived in Wicker Park, said she doesn't have any children or ex-husbands in Chicago.
"I'm impressed," Babila, 62, said of the thief's effort. And she doesn't think any of her ex-boyfriends here would yank her photo from a wall.
Weiner and co-owner Greg Mohr are offering a $100 gift certificate to their bar and an autographed copy of this May's issue featuring Crystal McCahill. They also promise not to press charges into the theft of part of Weiner's uncle's Playboy collection.
"The Playboys have always been kind of a sacred thing," Weiner said. "No one's really messed with them before."
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