I'd Rather Be Blue

The show may have not been one of our best, but the customers loved seeing hot bartenders in drag. Being that show was impromptu Hank was determined to make the next one bigger and better. Paul, Dominick and Peter were rehearsing choreography that Sammy was putting together. Sammy had been on tour with those color guard/ band shows and had picked up a thing or two about dance steps and Hank didn’t have to pay him.
Hank’s idea was to have the feather men meet the La Plumes- a modern version of the Featherette’s. They were to perform disco girl trio group numbers. The La Plumes consisted of JC (a very good hearted heavy set African American customer), Casper and Terry. Terry didn’t mind doing group numbers in a group he was in charge of. They were dressed in Terry originals- I can still heard Casper bitching about wearing a dress made from Miss Shit material (Miss Shit was what Casper called Lorax material- it was a fake sequin effect) To top the it off Terry stuffed the on shoulder with newspaper. “I have ink stains on my shoulders!” Casper continued bitching.
Update on the bar appearance, by this time Hank had the employee’s come in twice a year for cleaning. He would buy pizza and the employee’s would wash the place down and scrub behind the bar. We would fix any small things that needed it- touch up any small paint jobs. On the corner of the big bar upstairs was Tiffany hanging lights, the bars were tile tops. The downstairs and around the upstairs bar on the floor was rug. The waiters had to vacuum before and after the bar closed. Smoking was allowed in the bar and everyone used the floor as an ashtray. When the vacuum broke Hank had us sweep the rug- my arms used to burn. Then Hank decided instead of paying the waiter the extra twenty dollars to sweep the rug, he would do it. The man made managers pay, owned the coatroom and took the tips and was sweeping the floors for twenty dollars. Karma
Marty DE GAYBAR was making the Feather men’s outfits and the guys wanted a real girl look so they hired Rodger to do their make-up. We couldn’t tell Hank.
I was told I had to do an intermission number so that the audience wasn’t seeing the one group on top of the other. Lucky me.
Hank asked me to meet him at the bar early one night to choose a song. I was kind of flattered that he invited me to pick my own song, and scared to meet with him alone. When I entered the bar and heard Barbra Striesand singing “Hello Dolly” my fears subsided-who can get it on listening to show tunes. We had settled on a number from “Funny Girl” “I’d Rather Be Blue”. Streisand did the number on roller skates and I had never roller skated. Hank thought it would be funny to have me do it on skates and have someone following me with a pillow for when I fell.
I chose to learn how to shake. Marty was to teach me, on top of make my dress to look like the one she wore in the movie. God Bless Marty! After an hour of trying he gave up and I was black and blue. “You have had me in more positions than my lovers!” He snapped as he left the dance floor rubbing his bruises. The next day I went to the roller rink in Bergenfield and paid a kid twenty dollar to teach me. I learned to skate in circles and actually do a kick.
The night of the show came and I made history performing the number. I was flawless and adlibbed the number to fit the club dimensions. I started it off nervous and acting like I was going to fall- the crowd gasped and felt relieved. I did small circles and then the kicks across the dance floor. The number was going terrific until the end when I realized that I never learned how to stop on the skates. There I was traveling into the crowd and they were backing up as they saw my fear. Then a cute customer came to tip me and I grabbed his sweater and stopped. Everyone went wild and I met my hero! Karl.
Everyone was amazed the first time I did the number that they stamped for five minutes for an encore and they got it, but this time all they did was tip me. I never moved-people just kept putting money in me. It was a high. Hank was supposed to have taped the show, but didn’t remember what he did with it. That was fine with me I lived it and I can remember the moment like it was yesterday.
Sometimes I think taping things takes away from the memory. I think human nature allows us to remember event’s the way we need to remember them. It helps us in the future when looking back. Film shows the unromantic, color reality. Think of the first time someone said “I love you” to you. Now imagine if it was taped. You would be more interested in the surroundings than the moment.
Till tomorrow, be kind