Patrick "Pat" Lux Interviews David De Alba

Pat: You came from such humble beginnings in Cuba, then to begin a new life in the US. Do you feel this was an incentive to become a performing artist?   Why?

David: Well, my beginnings were not very humble in Cuba.   We weren't rich, but were considered a high middle class income family.   My mom Tila worked as a teacher and principal in two day jobs and on one of those jobs she even owned a grammar school named "Enrique José de Varona" along with two other gentlemen partners.   My father, Heri, Sr. and grandfather Francisco worked for the big railroad company that was American owned.   My family had a lovely custom home made for us in the heart of the province of Camagüey, also a beach cottage at the Port of Santa Cruz del Sur.   My grandma Emilia (my father's mother) owned a big farm which my father helped take care of where we went from time to time on the weekends when we did not go to our beach home where my aunt Consuelo lived.

In Cuba I loved watching the great and famous singing husband and wife team of Olga Chorens and Tony Alvarez.   They influenced me a lot in becoming a performer later on.   In Camagüey I did perform for school productions in a theatre and in the famous San Juan Carnivals, but it was much later on when I was a teenager, (and yes I have been a teenager once or twice in my life), living in Chicago in the middle 1960's that my theatrical career started to bloom in many ways.   I performed all the way from TV shows to cabarets and theaters.   I started as a solo male dancer and later on landed up as a female impersonator, but always singing live and not pantomiming as most of the impersonators were doing at that time and even now.

Pat: You certainly enjoy people of all ilk, and performed in many venues, but have you enjoyed any particular audience more than the others?   Where?

David: I did enjoy working for the audiences at Finocchio's, since most of the time they were very appreciative of the performers in our revue, especially with my own act and that of Lavern Cummings, since we both carried the main singing in the show.   Then when Lavern retired I got to close the show and have his Star spot.   That was even more fun for me, since I performed many more songs during the night's four shows in order to fill some of his time slot.

But I must not forget to mention here that I have had other very successful shows outside of Finocchio's in which I performed alone in concert form, as in the case of my two special appearances as Judy Garland at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco.   The audiences were so marvelous to me they even gave me long standing ovations.   Also there were some unforgettable shows I did in my early days in Chicago, Illinois and later on in Miami and Miami Beach, Florida for the Olga y Tony Revue.

Pat: Finocchio's was certainly an "intimate" setting for a vocal artist like you.   Since you sing "live", do you enjoy a large house or a night-club setting?

David: I did enjoy playing to a large room like Finocchio’s, but I also have done more intimate shows that were lots of fun.   But there is no denying that when I appeared in big theaters it was a bigger rush theatrically speaking for a singer-impressionist like me because of the many people present in the audience.

Pat: You have a great vocal quality and much power behind your voice.   Have you performed on the stage as an actor?

David: Well technically speaking I am actor who portrays women singers on stage, but if you mean did I perform as a male actor on stage in legitimate theatre dressed in male attire, then my answer is no.

People don't realize how difficult is to try to become on stage, as in my case, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, not just trying to sing like they did, but looking as close as I can to the way these ladies looked on stage, so for that I consider I am an actor who can sing.

Pat: I enjoyed seeing you on television, on Channel 2 in Oakland.   You gave a memorable impersonation of "Norma Desmond" from Sunset Blvd. on that program, and it was superb.   It was quite a deviation from Judy Garland!   Are you mostly inspired to impersonate a female star due to her dramatic appearance or their voice?

David: Well, I don't look that masculine on stage (or what it is expected of a guy to look and act and sound like by many), so of course in order to fit the bill, becoming a lady on stage is my goal and it is achieved very well at least through an illusion that I create.   Since Mrs. Eve Finocchio always wanted more out of me, I added that Norma Desmond character, along with my Boy-Chic act.   To answer your question in a better way, yes, I find not all ladies, but women like Judy, Liza and Olga to be more inspiring for me to imitate than many male singers that I have admired, but did not penetrate my heart the way these ladies did.

Pat: Can you describe the feeling you get when you are on stage performing as Judy Garland?

David: The feeling I get as Judy Garland is quite a grand experience.   Let's break it down: First, to impersonate such a grand master performer and singer as she was is quite a challenge.   I met her three times in my life and let her know the last time I met her that I imitated her on stage and she answered me back in her inimitable Garland manner "Do you like me that much?" and "Oh, how I wish I could catch your act, but I have to leave Chicago tomorrow and continue with my tour".   That’s enough to give anyone a boost, especially then, since I was just an impressionable teenager.

Second, to do the complicated songs she did with my own voice and to hope to be liked by the Garland Cult isn't easy, since they know Judy inside out and I have to do her very well on stage if I want their respect and applause.   Thank God I got it through the years because the audiences felt the adoration I have for Judy and I do her with respect and in a loving tribute form always.

Pat: You're a master of make-up, hair and costuming.   Have you shared your expertise with other artists?   Whom?

David: Well, I learned a lot by watching wonderful entertainers at Finocchio's like René de Carlo, Lavern Cummings, and Carroll Wallace for example along with my own experience as a professional hairstylist and make-up artist for prior years in the cosmetologist business.   I also learned a lot from reading books about applying stage and TV make-up and I also learned by my own trial and error.   I try to help in the few occasions where I have been asked by a certain performer, but most of the times I wasn't asked, because everyone seems to think he is his own master at his craft and needs no advice.   In that case I do not interfere with the exception of once or twice, treading on thin ice, I had to tell an entertainer that a certain eye shadow or whatever did not look good on him on stage or in a certain photograph and thank God it was taken as constructive criticism and I was thanked.   I am not at liberty to say whom I helped along because it might put those entertainers on the spot now and perhaps they wouldn't appreciate my letting everyone know out there in the Web, since the advice was given on a confidential basis at the time I was asked.

Pat: Most large cities have "Drag Shows" at gay bars.   The locals always "pantomime" to recorded music.   Do you see these shows, and do you enjoy them?

David: I do know there is a certain talent to be a good pantomime artist on stage, and yes I have enjoyed such portrayals, but to me what we did 'singing live' on stage at Finocchio's or the work of great artists like Jim Bailey and the late wonderful Craig Russell, to me that is even more impressive, because the artist is producing that lovely sound with his own voice and needs only an instrumental backup.   I know a lot of entertainers that pantomime very well and do not like what I say here about their craft, but this is the way I feel about the subject of pantomime versus live singing and many people outside of Showbiz who have attended drag shows agree with me.

Pat: Do you consider yourself an impressionist, impersonator, or a specialty act?   Why?

David: I consider myself first of all an entertainer who happens to work on stage in drag.   I am not a ‘Drag Queen'.   I do not like that terminology at all for our Art Form.   I am of course, a singer who does impressions on stage, so that marks me a singer-impressionist.   Some of the agents in the theatrical agency business have considered me a specialty act when they have booked me because I am not the typical male singer or folk singer or rock act.....I am in a very distinctive class of entertainment and somewhat of a dying art.

Pat: Your vast knowledge of Judy Garland and your collection of her memorabilia is known well in America.   Can you share some secrets about her that are not already known?   What was her shoe size?   What was her dress size at a particular time?   What make-up did she prefer?   Please tell all you can for the Judy Garland fans out here!

David: Though I have never claimed to be a Judy Garland expert (as many people I have known that are Garland fans), let me say this: Since I only saw Judy ‘live’ in Chicago in concert twice, at which time I got to talk to her, and the first time I saw her was at the opening of her movie Gay Purr-ee, I did not spend enough time with her to tell you many personal anecdotes.

She was four feet, eleven inches in height and because her weight varied through the years I am sure she had different wardrobe to fit at each of those phases, however during her CBS television series she wore a size 2 according to her designer Ray Aghayan.   I know that her shoe size was 6B since I own a pair of shoes she wore during the filming of her last movie: “I Could Go On Singing”.

About three years ago I received an e-mail from a very sweet Garland fan that mentioned the type of make-up that make-up artist Doug Kelley created for her for her Carnegie Hall concert, thru her CBS TV Show period until 1969.   Here is the rundown:

Greasepaint: Max Factor: “Serene”

Concealer for under eyes: Max Factor (Note: No shade was given)

Powder: Ben Nye, translucent, fair

Rouge: Redwood color

Lipstick: Max Factor, “Chinaberry Frost #32”

Pencil Lip Liner: “Cascade”

Eye Brow Pencil: Medium #54

Darkeye Co., Chicago, for blackening

Number #7 brush for tooth blackening (For Hobo Act)

A pair of false ‘upper’ lashes.

I am sure Judy’s make-up changed from time to time, since many times she did her own street make-up, but I wanted to share this with you all, since Judy is no longer with us on this Earth and I am sure Mr. Kelley won’t mind that the devoted Garland fans will love to hear about his make-up creations for her.

As far as something unique about Judy that all of us hard-core fans know, but many of the young people out there may not who read this interview, Judy was known for her very unique sense of humour and for her infectious laughter, that I especially miss so much.

Pat: You can sing "New York, New York" and belt it out like Liza could.   Is that tough on your voice?   What songs of Judy Garland and Liza's give you the most challenge?

David:  Certain Garland songs like: "Come Rain or Come Shine", "What Now My Love", "Never Will I Marry", "The Man that Got Away" and "By Myself" for example are quite hard to project vocally, just as Liza's "New York, New York" and "Cabaret", especially because I don't take short cuts and I do them the way they were written for Judy and Liza.

I have never claimed I sounded like Judy or Liza, because to me one can never challenge the master copy, but with my own talent and projection I have done a very good job at my attempt.   I know because the audiences always applauded me for it.   I never forget what the wonderful emcee and FI friend of mine from Finocchio's, Carroll Wallace told me more than once: "David you are a very good act and I never had to beg the audience for applause for you!" (as unfortunately, Carroll had to do on stage many times after some of The Eve-ettes, the chorus line at Finocchio's, left the stage).

Pat: Your home in (near) Laughlin, Nevada is so spectacular yet comfortable.   You've entertained many greats of the FI (Female Impersonator) world and me too.   It's a bit removed from the entertainment capital of Las Vegas.   Why did you choose to live there?

David:  After my partner of many years and Webmaster Paul retired from his own career as a mechanical engineer and project manager we wanted to find a less expensive place to live other than the very elegant Scottsdale, (a long story to tell you how we landed up there), so that is why we came here.   I thought that being near Laughlin, Nevada on the Arizona side where we live would be fun since the lovely Colorado River is near our home, etc. and also because having 11 casinos nearby perhaps there would be some chances to perform.   I did not know then the "squareness" of this area, so after living here for five years, we decided to put our home for sale and try Las Vegas, a place I feel I fit the bill better and where there are more things to do and all sorts of life styles and all sorts of different people.   We will never duplicate what we had during our golden San Francisco days in the early 1970's to the mid 1980's, but it will be the best we can do for nowadays.

Pat: Your choice of music for your character "Boy-Chic" is lovely.   How did you decide on these songs?

David: Boy-Chic was born since Mrs. Eve Finocchio insisted that I not do just impersonations at first of Judy and Liza, but be my own self on stage.   Paul and I came up with that name and concept.   In that International Act I sing the famous Spanish hit songs of Olga y Tony, especially Olga's, some of the French songs that Edith Piaf made famous, and many Broadway show tunes as well.

By the way, also if I sing any of the songs of Judy and Liza in my Boy-Chic act, I get to put more of David de Alba's own personality in the way I interpret those songs and I do not have to be made-up, wigged and costumed as these ladies are known with their famous trade mark looks for years by their loyal fans.   Only when I do my act as Judy and Liza do I try to look as close as possible to them and my Boy-Chic act is put away in a drawer.

Pat: What do you do (emotionally) to prepare for a show? Do you "get into character"?

David: To prepare for a show, at least at one time earlier in my career, it did help hearing or watching the videos of the songs that belong to Judy, Liza and Olga in order to portray them well, but as more experience came in into my act as the years passed, all I had to do was just to be excited in the dressing room wherever I was performing at the time knowing that there was an eager audience waiting for me out there.   That alone gave me a rush before hitting the stage.   Also just thinking how many great performers I knew and worked with on stage during my career gave me a special responsibility to out-do myself and to not let down what they stood for theatrically in their eyes if they could see me.

Pat: What if your wig is missing and what do you do if your make-up is smeared by a co-performer?   A costume stolen?   Have you had this happen?   The "House of Hate" must have produced some unhappy events!

David:  That only happened to me once in a show I was hired to do for Mr. Bea's Club in Indianapolis, Indiana when I was a teenager and I wasn't able to go on because everything that I owned was stolen at the hotel I was staying in with most of the members of the new cast hired to work for that club's engagement...an awful experience.   At Finocchio's, even though there was a lot of intrigue and instigation, no one stole from anyone else, at least during my long run, so for that part, the show life was bliss then.

Pat: What were your happiest moments on stage?   The applause?   A rose?   The celebrity who smiled from the rows close-by?

David: So many...well, for example, at Finocchio's singing once for my American male idol, the actor Richard Chamberlain, and another time for the Colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken, for Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Murray and other celebrities.   In my own concert, as I replied earlier to one of your questions, the wonderful ovations and applause and even flowers given to me during my two night appearance at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco and on many shows in The Bay Area where loyal fans brought me flowers and moral support, as in the case of my number one fan, the late Dee Dee Jeziorski.

But even greater was the feeling I got when my singing idols and friends from Cuba, Olga y Tony asked me to perform in their Florida show revue and actually sat in the audience to hear me sing.   To me it does not get any better than that, especially when they applauded me after my performance and then they were bragging to their fans in the show room that that little boy from Cuba who used to see them on TV and radio, David de Alba, had become an entertainer in his own right and was performing as a guest Star in their revue.

Pat: How do you keep so slim at 39?

David: Thank you for the 39 my dear Patrick!   Well, I walk at least an hour and a half every day with my mom, try to eat good foods, and take a lot of vitamins.   I also use the steam room at home every day.   Hopefully my genes help a lot to look as good as I do for that 39 number you said.

Pat: If you could be anywhere on earth right now, where would you like to be?

David:  If I could bring back my Cuban days as a child (stolen by the Fidel Castro Regime) and also my golden days in San Francisco and some of my Chicago teenage years that would be grand, but I know that is impossible and they are only wonderful memories for me now to have and hold.   So if I have become 'The Cuban Legend' as I am called nowadays by many critics and fans, I certainly have earned it, because I carry with me not just David de Alba, the human being, but the influence of so many wonderful people that includes family, friends and entertainers, and while I am alive on this Earth they are part of me always.

Pat: Describe your idea of the best female impersonator you could imagine; either a real person or in your thoughts. (No name needed.)

David: Yes, I can name many excellent impersonators that I got to see and even be with some of them on stage, each with a unique and outstanding talent: the superb singing of Jim Bailey, the comedic talents of Charles Pierce, the wonderful singing impressions of Craig Russell, the artful dancing of René de Carlo and the singing style and voice of Lavern Cummings.   To me they stand for the best in our profession of drag entertainment.

Pat: After a great performance what is the first thing you want to do? (After the make-up is off and you are back in street clothing.)

David:  To get home quickly and try to relax and recollect in my mind that particular evening’s theatrical experience.   Also with the help of listening to an audio cassette recorded at the wings or even watch a video that Paul took of me on stage makes the whole show experience last a bit longer...to the extent that even years later I can listen or watch myself on stage and it is almost as good as being there all over again, (and I don't mean to sound like a 'Norma Desmond'!).

NOTE:  Autumn Leaves Midi File courtesy of Luciano Piano Bar, Puerto Rico.