Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of The Legendary Cuban Nightclub

Description

TROPICANA is to Cuba what the Bolshoi is to Russia, the Moulin Rouge to Paris, or the Blue Note to New York: an enduring cultural mecca. Part casino and part cabaret, it was all Cuban—the only nightclub owned and run by Cubans rather than by the American mob. Nat “King” Cole, Liberace, Josephine Baker, and Carmen Miranda performed there before audiences that included Ernest Hemingway, Marlon Brando, and Joan Crawford. Tropicana Nights not only brings back the days and nights of the club’s greatest glory, when it was the brightest jewel in 1950s Havana nightlife, but also vividly portrays the cultural richness and roiling social problems of pre-Revolutionary Cuba. ROSA LOWINGER was born in Havana and grew up in Miami. A writer and art conservator, she first visited Tropicana in 1998 and, as she put it, was “struck dumb” by its beauty. She lives with her family in Los Angeles. OFELIA FOX (1924-2006) married Tropicana owner Martin Fox in 1952. They moved to Miami in 1962. After her husband's death, she became a teacher and playwright and was twice awarded the Carlos Felipe Award. Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of The Legendary Cuban Nightclub Contents PROLOGUE: The Flight PART I 1 Introductions 2 A Nickel on the Butterfly 3 The Boulevard of the New World 4 The Peanut Vendor 5 Valentín 6 Waiting Things Out 7 Covering Your Bets 8 Arcos de Cristal PART II 9 The Santos and the Song-and-Dance Man 10 The Two Loves of Martín Fox 11 The Coup 12 Mambo a la Tropicana 13 The Leap Illustrations Entrance to Villa Mina, with Tropicana sign Ofelia Fox in Bajo las Estrellas, September 1955 Martin and Ofelia Fox, February 13, 1958 Liberace onstage in Bajo las Estrellas with Ana Gloria Varona, August 1956 Liberace with Ofelia and Martin Fox in August 1956 at the piano table designed in Liberace’s honor Inset: An aerial view of the table Santo Trafficante with Martín's sister, Angela (Lita) Fox; Martín and Ofelia Fox; and Ofelia’s mother, Cuca González. Martín Fox and Lefty Clark in front of the Fountain of the Muses, 1956. Valentín Jodra at his post at the roulette wheel Rodney and Alberto Ardura signing a contract on October 17, 1954 At Martin and Ofelia’s house on 1st Street in Miramar Lilia Lazo, Maria Félix, Olga Guillot, Carmen Miranda, Nica Fox, and Ofelia Fox. Two unidentified journalists, Martin Fox, and Pedro Fox, July 1955. Olga Guillot and Carmen Miranda in the finale of Bahiondo, July 1955 Ofelia and Martin Fox with Joan Crawford and Crawford’s husband, Pepsi-Cola Chairman Alfred Steele Tropicana makeup artist Carlos Gomery with Celia Cruz Tropicana’s choreographer, Rodney (Roderico Neyra) with two modelos Diosas de Carne (Goddesses of the Flesh) performed April 28, 1958 Chiquita and Johnson Chiquita and Johnson perform in Orguideas Para Usted in Arcos de Cristal, October 1952. Musica del Alma, a show with a rock 'n' roll theme. performed in Bajo las Estrellas in June 1957 and starring Leonela González and Henry Boyer Ana Gloria Varona on the cover of Show magazine, February 1958 Alicia Figueroa Fulgencio Batista at the 1954 Anti-Cancer League Dinner at Tropicana Emilia “La China” Villamil An ad in the June 1, 1957, issue of Diario de la Marina. Includes the Cuarteto Llopis Jenny León in Show magazine, September 1957 Steve Allen, Ofelia Fox, Martin Fox, and Jayne Meadows Nat “King” Cole and Maria Cole at Tropicana's bar Nat “King” Cole performing at Tropicana, February 1958 Sunan. Ofelia's pet lion Rumbo al Waldorf. November 1958 14 The Circus 15 On Diamonds, Razzle, and Goddesses of the Flesh PART III 16 “The Guajiro has gone crazy!” 17 Cabaret in the Sky 18 Esta es mi Cuba, Mister PART IV 19 Shattered Slots 20 Rumba at the Presidential Palace 21 Bongo Congo PART V 22 The House on Beacom Boulevard 23 Noche de Ronda Acknowledgments APPENDIX A List of Rodney's Tropicana Shows Authors Note on Sources Dates of Interviews Bibliography Index