There was one they called Beauty, Beauty Cendoya. I was there every night when I was in Cuba.
His name was Bola de Nieve, meaning Snowball, and I recall him sitting at the piano like a little king singing, “Yo soy negro social, soy intelectual y chic. He was a bit rotund, and always dapper in a dinner jacket. I remember this little black piano player at Tropicana. Cuba was wonderful because it was sexy, especially when you’re young and you’re a girl and you have friends who will take you to clubs with music all night long. It was the acme every night, the height of glamour, up there with the Ziegfeld Follies. Everything was yayaya: smoking and drinking champagne and laughing, having fun. ”Īileen Mehle, society columnist: Tropicana was heaven. I gave them cards with lyrics, and I got them to sing along with me-old boleros like “Quiéreme mucho, dulce amor mío. I was such a happy little thing, pretty, and so young, in my pullover, little sneakers, and bobby socks. I pranced down the aisles, pulling the Americans up from their seats to dance with me. The passengers started off with pink daiquiris, and then, as soon as the plane took off, Rolando and I bounded out and started our show. Who knows how they got that piano on the plane? The front seats had been taken out so the musicians could all fit in with their instruments. We even had a band from Tropicana with us-a pianist, a bongo player, a drummer, and a trumpet player. My dance partner Rolando and I were set to put on a live floor show in the front of the cabin. In 1956, the Tropicana nightclub premiered its first promotional flight from Miami to Havana on Cubana de Aviación-it was billed as the “Cabaret in the Sky.”Ī_na Gloria Varona, showgirl: We hid behind a gold curtain when the passengers came on board, like we were backstage at a real cabaret.