03/12/2019
Henry “Adrian” Arango recalling a problem he had at immigration on his way from Cuba to New York City for an audition with Anna Genovese at the Club 82 in 1956:
I came to Key West, Florida and I had this steamer trunk with all these drag costumes with plumes and brassieres and high heels. So immigration opened it up.
They said, “Who does this belong to?” So my brain starts working.
“This belongs to a dancer in a hotel in Miami called the Eden Roc,” which was very famous. “And she knew that I was coming to the United States so she had me bring her wardrobe.”
“Well she has to come and claim it.”
Now, the mother of my dance teacher, Maria Teresa, she was a slender woman in her late 40's. I told her the story and said they want the person, the female dancer, to claim the trunk.
So we went together to immigration and I said, “This is the person who owns that trunk.”
They opened the trunk again and they start pulling out brassieres and bikinis. And this poor lady, she started to turn from pink to beet red. But she said, “Yes, this is all my wardrobe.” They closed it down. I got on the next Greyhound. Arrived in New York on a Thursday. The audition was for Friday. And they hired me. Sixty dollars a week in 1956, my dear!
From the writer of , Jessica Bendinger and RuPaul’s Drag Race Michael Seligman comes your new favorite podcast. Meet Anna. Available 8/19. Mobqueens.com
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