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Porfirio Rubirosa: The Last Playboy

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ISBN: 0007170602

The Last Playboy is a biography of Porfirio Rubirosa, son of a Dominican general and arguably the most celebrated playboy to have ever lived.

In his youth he gradually built up enough status from his name, charm, and debonair looks to be hand-picked by dictator Trujillo to have a visible role in the army. This position enabled him to seduce Trujillo’s daughter, which almost got him killed. He successfully parlayed this marriage into scoring more women and money.

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Rubi with the dictator’s daughter

Not the most gifted politician, businessman, or soldier, Rubirosa got his money in three ways: leveraging friendships with the right people, getting paid from the wealthy women he seduced, and stealing expensive jewelry (one heist netted him nearly $200,000). When he worked in the Paris consulate, one of his business ventures involved selling visas to Jewish people trying to get out of Europe upon the onset of World War II.

Rubirosa’s connections in the Dominican Republic, a small Caribbean country, only partly explain his massive success in sleeping with seemingly all the famous women of his time. Essentially he banged famous women because he banged famous women. This is a catch-22 we sometimes see in modern times, such as Paris Hilton becoming famous for being famous. Rubirosa landed a couple high-profile women that enabled future monumental conquests that are hard to believe if they weren’t fact. It didn’t hurt that he had a gigantic penis. One of his lovers said that “it could have been a carnival attraction.” His tailors gave special care to the fitting of his pants to compensate for his enlarged member.

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His second wife Danielle Darrieux, a famous French actress

To live this kind of life, money is just one piece of the puzzle—you also require a pedigree. The reputation of your family name should precede you to get important invitations to the right social functions. If you don’t have the pedigree, you’ll either need to build a massive fortune or crack a new niche that gives you unquestionable fame, but the problem with fame is that it will be fleeting and you will only experience the high-life for a short amount of time.

It turns out that seducing famous women becomes not just a matter of money or fame, but also continuous access to them. This is what Rubirosa achieved. He would repeatedly run into famous women in his partying routine like it was no big deal, and the important fact is that these women already heard about him (and his dick). On the other hand, I’ve never meet famous women. Rubirosa had access to the top women in the world while I don’t even know how to get access to the top women in a Eastern European city with half a million people.

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His last wife Odile Rodin, also a French actress (note the massive age difference)

Halfway through the book, I didn’t have much respect for Rubirosa, as he wasn’t especially skilled in anything besides seducing women, but as I got read on, I became rather seduced by his lifestyle. Maybe I didn’t want to be exactly him, but I wanted to duplicate his success or at least get a taste of it. This man was truly a one-in-a-billion seducer of the likes that the world hasn’t seen again.

Rubirosa followed the footsteps of his playboy friends and died in a car accident. Surprisingly, a lot of people who knew him were almost thankful that he died in this fashion instead of slowly declining with age. There was no decline for Rubirosa—he was a playboy until the very end, leaving the world stage almost as quickly as he arrived on it.

My 9 Favorite Quotes From The Book

1.

He didn’t care if he was being used. Military life, contrary to expectations, appealed to him. As he would recall, “Physical efforts filled our days: calisthenics, various sports, arms training, target practice, horseback riding. For a young man like me, it was paradise.” It was made for him: the smart, elaborate uniforms, the camaraderie of fellow junior officers, the freedom from the responsibility to feed or house himself or define his days.

2.

“It has always been one of my chief principles,” he later confessed. “I will risk everything to avoid being bored.”

3.

I lived a swirling life, without cease, without the pauses that would have allowed me the chance to think and make me realize that giant steps aren’t the only strides that suit a man.”

4.

“Tonight,” [the maitre d’] crowed, “in my place are gathered the four most famous playboys in the world!” Everybody had a good laugh, but Rubi had the last. “Yes, that’s true,” he responded, “but there is a big difference between me and these other gentlemen: They all pay their women, and all my women pay me!”

5.

“You expect Rubi to be a very dangerous young man who personifies the wolf. Instead, you meet someone who is so unbelievably charming and thoughtful that you are put off-guard before you know it.”

6.

“When I was in Palm Beach, nothing seemed more beautiful to me than the fading light on the Ile St. Louis. When I encountered the gray light of autumn in a Paris that was still recovering from the bar, I wanted nothing more than the sun of California.”

7.

Rubi deeply impressed Sammy [Davis Jr.], who always sought to fashion a gentleman of himself, with his sartorial sense. “I have always cared about clothes, and I will go to any length to look good,” Sammy confessed. “But the way Rubirosa dressed made me feel as if I’d fallen off the garbage truck.”

8.

“Rubi used to like to go, as he would say, ‘todo líquido’—all liquid, all drinking, nothing to eat,” as Taki remembered: a good old-fashioned parranda. And the night of this unexpected victory would be one of those todo líquido nights.”

9.

It is better than it happened this way. A clean break with the life he loved. Neither he nor I could have endured the spectacle of him lingering on, a cripple, unable to dance, play polo or drive his car.

If Rubi could have chosen the way he died, this is the way he would have gone. In his car, in the dawn, going fast as he loved to do. He loved speed. But he loved life even more.

Read More: “The Last Playboy” on Amazon

45 thoughts on “Porfirio Rubirosa: The Last Playboy”

      1. The guy was the last of a certain kind yes, but is he literally the last playboy, ever? Come on mate.

  2. I doubt he was the last playboy but certainly he was one worth noting. I doubt chicks paid him but that bs enhances his story.
    But high profile skags to me don’t mean a thing. I would much prefer a run of the mill hottie then a hottie that has an entourage. And if you look closely at any skank that the mainstream media follow you will notice that her boyfriend, even if he is also famous, is nothing more than a pet poodle to her.
    But perhaps it is safe to assume women in latin america were different. There were no Kardasion bitches or disease ridden Paris Hiltons walking about

    1. HIs chicks paid him real well; he married several rich heiresses, received sizable settlements upon divorce. Most of his famous women were European and American; except for his first wife. He wasn’t born to much wealth, and probably never earned much, yet lived pretty darned well; so someone was paying him, and it wasn’t daddies or the girls’ exes.
      He did benefit from something similar to what black guys do today: Back then Europeans and Americans largely assumed that being a philanderer were pretty much genetically encoded in Latins. They weren’t really supposed to be able to keep their zippers shut, the way more “civilized” Anglos were. “White” guys back then, would have been punished severely socially, and in business, for acting the way he did; debonair ‘Latin Lovers” were given more leeway. A main differentiator from black guys today, was that, back then, Latin America was not such an economic basket case compared to the West; so the “Ghetto” label that hurts black guys today, did not apply to guys like Mr. Rubirosa.
      It also seems to me, pure semi educated speculation, that it was more excusable for a woman back then to be seduced by a “Latin Lover”, than by some guy next door. After all, these guys were supposed to have almost supernatural charm and prowess with women. Which may have lowered anti slut defenses more for him, than for contemporary “white” guys.

      1. Very interesting thoughts, and it almost makes me not enjoy bring white anymore. I could see the correlation you made between whites and non whites. Men of color became fashionable boyfriends for every white blond bitch after Heidi Klum married Seal. I’m not going to go off on some rant that it sucks being white, but it does make one wonder how much easier it is for latins than it is for caucasion men. But then again there were guys like Errol Flynn who had his glory during his life and he was a whitey. Of course he was an actor and once any man of any race becomes famous, to quote Eddie Murphy, he will get pussy thrown at him like frisbees

        1. I doubt non whites derive net benefit from their skin color these days. Non whites are simply too burdened by the stigma of lower class.
          But back in Porfirio’s days, Latin America were not seen as a basket case. In fact, Argentina was the richest country in the world for a period during the early 20th century. And later on, Rio was _the_ place for the suave and non stuffy. Not the Favela infested, crime ridden dump (still with hot chicks, though) that is known as today.
          So, Porfirio had the best of both worlds as far as womanizing goes; an excuse to pursue women harder than his Northern competition; AND no stigma about him being some sort of lower class creature from an unsophisticated place. Today, Italians and Frenchies are the only ones who may still enjoy some of the same privileges.

        2. Interesting Stuki. I’m going to pretend I’m Italian and see what happens. When I’m in Europe and if I don’t speak, people think I’m italian despite being lilly white (I’m actually born and raised in the States of english-german ethnicity) and there are plenty of white italians. This may be a temporary wave as we see Italy being one of the economically problematic countries in the EU. But all I can do is try to ride it.

  3. book for you – ‘the feast of the goat’ by Vargas Llosa. its about trujillo & you will be less impressed by the whole playboy/dictator chic thing when you are done, i guarantee

  4. A life defined by the fact that famous women in his day were still very feminine.
    As an above commenter noted: give me an equally hot nobody anyday.

    1. About 90% of Dominicans are either black or mulatto, so yeah I doubt he was amongst the white 10%.

      2. Its a little odder than that though, most dont consider themselves “black” they would be offended if you said so. Im not sure if it was because of the Conflict with the Haitians who are black as coal or their minor native ancestry. I’m not black, Im Dominican! Ive heard one say before.

      3. In reality, the actual statistics would point to around 70-mulatto+black and 30 white. Im dominican, been living here my whole life.

    2. You’re never one to miss an attention-whoring race comment. Interesting to know what’s always on your mind.

        1. Oddly enough, attention whoring gets attention? Who’d have thought it? Thanks for the link anyways.

        2. Recall from our last conversation that you took issue with my observation that white women who ape hip-hop moves look stupid. That is the theme of the recent essay and commentary here on Kesha. It’s less attention-whoring than group consensus. The comment about Rubirosa was interesting trivia given the social mores of the day with respect to inter-racial dating. Maybe I should change “Negroe” to “African-Dominican” so as not to offend.

    3. It would be pretty hard to find someone from DR that wasn’t a little black. And as you would say bitches loved him anyways 😉

  6. We definitely don’t have the pinoche of yesteryear.
    Now to be Latino one gets associated with low level drug dealers (New york Dominicans) who are only alpha for slutty tatted local hood rats, or border jumpers(California Mexicans, salvadorans, etc…) who on average are 5’4 and work for minimum wage.
    Very hard to over come that stereotype even to middle to apwardly mobile latinas.
    White guysbeing the generic race, never go out of style.

  7. i thought he was black…. cuz my dominican – black friend looks Exactly like that O_<

  8. “Essentially he banged famous women because he banged famous women. This is a catch-22 we sometimes see in modern times, such as Paris Hilton becoming famous for being famous. ”
    It sounds like you’re trying to pigeonhole an exceptional man to fit your preconceptions, in a way that’s at odds with reality. It’s like saying Bill Clinton is a popular speaker because he was president once – more like, he is popular because he is incredibly charismatic (whatever you think of his politics). Rubirosa was a man of peerless charm and style; his penis was famously large, and always erect – he was afflicted with priapism. He was an ambassador with access to the best women society had to offer, from young unknown girls to the famous sirens of Europe. Above all, he was a tireless seducer. As your quote #4 attests, Rubirosa was in a class all his own – his success cannot be attributed to merely being there.

    1. Your comment reminds me of something someone said once of the Gabor sisters from around the same time period, that they were famous for being famous.

  9. so much talk about latins dominating, I still see White guys date the finest girls of all races where I am at today. For all the stuff about Latinos, I see all of these guys usually dating their own race.
    Don’t sleep on Middle Eastern, Asian, and mixed race guys though, these races are the future.
    Roosh may have paved the way for some turkish guy out there to kill it in the future.

  10. To get a better clue about the guy search Google for
    Porfirio Rubirosa, then click on images. The pictures Roosh posted were representative, but when you see the variety of images about the guy over the span of his life, action poses like in a race care, on a polo horse, with quite an assortment of women, some posed, some just paparazzi shots, and the sheer quantity of them just are amazing. Just 10 photos of situations like this would be crowning moments in the lives of even the highest status of men. And these photos just went on and on and on, him in great exotic places, in polo boots, with political figures, with debs, starlets, famous actresses, and almost none were repeated except for the two or three Roosh Posted.
    Here is a link to portfolio by Edward Quinn, who was the big deal photographer of the time on the Riveria. They were taken with Zsa Zsa Gabor and are sort of sepia toned to make them appear more arty and are quite the glamor shots of time.
    http://edwardquinn.com/page255/Rubirosa.html
    Click on “Celebrities” on the Edward Quinn page and you get a clue of the league this guy ran in,
    Also read this gossip column from someone like the PerezHilton of the day
    Dominican Playboy Porfirio Rubirosa moseyed into Bogotá, Colombia to make preparations for a genuine treasure hunt. Bracing himself for his safari’s plunge into the Choco wilds on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, Rubi,
    out to make the jungle give up some platinum and gold, first tested his luck at a race track, won a cool 9,600 pesos on a 100-to-1 shot. He alsotook his ease in Bogotá’s elegantly stuffy Jockey Club, where he
    complained about the absence of vodka (he thirsted in vain for a Bloody Mary). Colombia’s press hailed his expedition with gleeful gibes. Item: a caricature of Rubirosa whiling away his safari time by pinching a
    beautiful nude Indian maiden. Asked for his slant on honest labor, the Ding Dong Daddy from Santo Domingo yawned languidly: “It’s impossible for me to work. I just don’t have time.”
    The “Ding Dong Daddy”. Wish I had that nick name.
    Thanks Roosh.

  13. The more I read about this guy the more I see his imprint on pop culture. The man was an assassin at one point. He was almost caught with his cousin after killing a former Dominican politician in exile in NYC. Ian Fleming based the James Bond character on Rubirosa. He also must be the inspiration for those hilarious Dos Equis commercials.

  14. “Not the most gifted politician, businessman, or soldier,……” Actually Rooosh, it seems your quite wrong there. The Wikipedia article on him states Trujillo (a scumbag Saddam-type dictator known for massacres & rapes) said Rubirosa was a very “effective liar”, which made him an effective envoy & diplomat/Foreign Service Officer during the Cold War for a Latin American country. A fancy degree from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs or Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service is useless if you can’t accomplish what your Head of State wants. And obviously, the D.R’s president found this “playa” quite useful.

  15. He exited properly, as opposed to becoming a caricature of himself in old age like Hugh Hefner.

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