Mari Rodriguez Ichaso - Diario de Vida - Life's Diary
This blog is to share my life, and especially my memories of my life in Cuba, before and after the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. As well as my comments and thoughts. It will be written in either English or Spanish. But not in Spanglish. You will find thoughts and chapters of my books, etc. which I will post regularly.
Scroll down and look into the Blog Archive on the right side of the page, filed by month, and clic in the stories you might like.
The Princess of Broglie was painted by Ingres with a blue satin dress of the same shade & cloth -but different style as mine
Mannequin satin shoes were made in Italy for an American brand. They were very popular in the late 50's
El Vestido de Raso Azul
Living in communist Cuba, age 14 & wondering how our lives would turn out in that sad & cruel regime- my mother found a beautiful piece of blue satin -exactly this color!- and had the neighborhood dressmaker whip me up a short evening dress.
So young -yet so sophisticated. And it was gorgeous! Miraculously she found a pair of American (made in Italy) “Mannequin” white satin heels and had them dyed the exact hue! (The old store owner even wrapped them in blue tissue paper I remember!) --Thus, The Blue Satin dress -finished and beautiful- hung there, ready to be used one day. I rehearsed ,wearing it at home once in a while, walking around our living room, feeling so pretty & elegant -so grown up -and wondering when the invitation would come, or the occasion to wear it!
When we finally were allowed to leave Cuba for exile, 5 years had passed -and we were only permitted to take out of the country a suitcase with 3 dresses, 1 coat, 2 pairs of shoes and 1 nightgown. So I tried to “pass” my blue satin dress as a nightgown! We even took out the zipper of the “princess style” dress and put little bows to tie it! The Mannequin shoes were too extravagant (my mother said) since we were allowed only 2 of more 'practical' pairs -and had to stay in my soon to be confiscated (and full of all our possessions) apartment -inside of its blue tissued box. (I have always wondered what happened to them!)
But at least I was taking to Mexico my beautiful dress, which had become my symbol of hope for a new & happy life. I was 19 & had so many dreams to fulfill! But at Havana Airport the woman officer who checked our bags and counted one by one “the permitted items” was no fool. And she immediately got very upset & “confiscated” myoffending dress. “No soy idiota compañerita” -she spewed. Terrified of being denied our departure (as it was a common thing) my mother told her to please keep it, since my daughter “made a mistake”.
And my Vestido de Raso Azul stayed behind. And now I found this photo of the exact same material & color -and it felt just right to share with you this little story. This picture has brought back to my memory a zillion feelings. Both sad & happy! And the phrase “recuerda El Vestido de Raso Azul” would become part of our vocabulary between mami and I.
It was almost a symbol of so many things. Mainly Hope!
Looking back...This picture was taken in Havana when I was 2 - It reminds me that there was a piece of my very blonde hair that my mother had cut it -and pasted on my pink baby album. I used to look at it and loved it! And my mother also enjoyed looking at the album with me... But when we left Havana for exile in the late 60´s, the album was "confiscated" at the airport by the army militia people who were in charge, because "it is not part of the permitted items list Compañerita (Little Comrade)" ...so they removed it from my suitcase as they counted the "3 permitted changes of clothing"-- and I never saw it again. That same morning of March 18th my mother was carrying a scarf that belonged to her recently deceased mother (it still smelled like my grandmother!) and it was also "confiscated" by the airport army goons! She had to control herself because we had been told that if we protested or cried, "it would made things worse". And we had been waiting for this permit to leave Cuba for 3 years! And -even more important- my brother was about to turn 15 in just 3 months, thus making him enter into Cuba´s Obligatory Military Service --and being shipped out to the wars of Angola or Congo, where Castro sent Cuban soldiers to fight! So this was our one and only opportunity to leave, spare Leon from such a terrible future --and a baby album, or my grandmother´s scarf, could not put this in danger. So -terrified- we did not protest and flew to exile in Mexico City. Small cruelties -and a surreal situation of impotence and fear- that continues to exist to this day in Cuba's lawless & cruel regime.
Reflexionando en una mañana neoyorquina preciosa...Yo he vivido toda mi vida enamorada. Enamorada de unos hombres súper interesantes (la mayoría) igual que enamorada del amor y sus símbolos...¡Tenía que estar enamorada para ser feliz y tengo la suerte que tuve unos cuantos amores fabulosos (tampoco muchos!)- y me casé muy enamorada! Desde niña 'el amor' era tan importante para mí (¡Ay, Corín Tellado!) - y eso me llenaba de sueños y de alegría, además de tormentos y angustias. Un 'cachumbabé´ de emociones maravilloso. Pero -no sé por qué-... llegó el momento en que 'el amor' me ha llegado a parecer aburrido e innecesario --y aunque me encanta ver a gente enamorada, que me recuerda mi propia vida --ya estoy tan satisfecha de vivir sin esos amores, que no los hecho de menos. Por eso quiero compartir mis pensamientos. El tiempo que dedicaría al amor, pues se lo dedico a mi nieta, a mi familia, a mis libros, a mis intereses personales, al escribir, al placer de mis viajes...¡a tantas cosas!.. Algunas amigas de mi edad me comentan la mismo --y eso es muy interesante. ¿Podría enamorarme de nuevo? Ay, no lo creo. Y eso de hacerlo para "tener compañía" no es para mí. Y si me toca un señor con 'la bombita' creo que me mato de risa! (Foto de mi pelicula romantica favorita, que me sigue fascinando: Love in the Afternoon con Audrey Hepburn y Gary Cooper, filmada en el Hotel Ritz de Paris)
Los zapatos -de
los que siempre he vivido enamorada- cada dia me sorprenden más, porque la última tendencia
son los diseños complicados, con enorme originalidad --y algunos como si fueran
esculturas -- ¡puras obras de arte y también verdaderos 'ejercicios' de
valentía y voluntad para poder caminar con ellos con equilibrio!
Y algunos de última
moda me tienen un poco preocupada, porque no estoy segura si me gusta tan solo
miralos -o ponérmelos. ¡Los veo tan incómodos y raros! Y otros -como los 'sneakers´ (aunque sean de diseño) los detesto.
Por eso es que la
ropa que llevamos debe ser más sencilla, menos complicada, pues los zapatos muchas
veces son la 'estrella' del conjunto que llevamos. Y lo más divertido es que
desde las marcas más caras como Christian Louboutin, con sus suelas rojas, y
los propios "manolos" de Manolo Blahnik --¡hasta los más económicos! -- son definitivamente muy artísticos. ¿Y los tacones?
Como dicen en España ¡de vértigo!
Y esto ocurre en
todas las facetas de la Moda...La ropa, los bolsos, los diseños de muebles, de
objetos para la cocina, para la casa, ...¡y hasta las cosas más tontas!...todas
tienen un giro original, un toque de 'arte' popular, de belleza, de impacto y
hasta de surrealismo.
Y eso me encanta porque es emocionante que en el siglo
XXI haya un mayor respeto al diseño --y este pueda ser llevado a lo cotidiano
con naturalidad y que nadie se sorprenda, ni haya un 'salon desrefusés'.
¿Lo peor de todo?
Que muchos de estos zapatos son tan espantosamente incómodos que voy a tener
que hacer como hacía la millonaria árabe Mouna Al-Ayoub, quien tenía sus trajes
de Chanel colocados en maniquíes y los colocaba como adornos en los salones de
su mansión parisina.
Y yo quizás pueda colocar esos zapatos 'de vértigo' junto
a mis libros y mi colección de botellas de perfumes antiguas, en una esquinita
del mínimo librero de mi minúsculo apartamento neoyorquino, donde compartián
'atagère' con muchas otras partes y seres de mi vida.
Lo tengo que confesar: las mujeres y los hombres de Corín Tellado moldearon profundamente mi adolescencia --y la visión de lo que era -¡o debía ser!- el amor.
Y aunque muchas personas adoran burlarse de aquellas novelitas románticas tan típicas de los años 50 y 60, en que las historias siempre terminan bien y el amor triunfa a toda costa --¡pienso que muchos de los que se burlan NUNCA leyeron a Corín Tellado!
Porque ella escribía de mujeres modernas, que no se dejaban dominar por los hombres, que tenían gran personalidad y que a la vez sentían una gran atracción por hombres que aunque fueran feos, siempre tenían ingenio, una irreverencia muy sexy -- y eran atractivos y sensuales con apenas un gesto o una mirada de sus "ojos acerados".
Corín Tellado nos familiarizó con las 'salas de fiestas', los 'descapotables', el cigarrillo 'colgando de la comisura de los labios', la americana abierta, el pelo todavía mojado por el agua del mar, los dedos 'cuadrados' y las manos bronceadas que encendían cigarrillos siempre a tiempo --y cierta truculencia que no llegaba más allá de unos besos de infarto y de un bailar con los cuerpos muy pegados, y de una mano fuerte y muy viril que nos agarraba del talle 'posesivamente'.
En aquellas relaciones 'inocentes' (mientras yo las leía, las parejas nunca llegaban a hacer el amor, lo que quizá ocurrió más tarde, cuando ya yo no leía las novelas)--había más voluptuosidad y más sensualidad que en mil novelas más 'fuertes' y atrevidas juntas. Las novelitas eran de una sensualidad-romántica increíble -y los hombres arquetipos de la virilidad más absoluta, los que -aunque a veces se portaban un poco mal- siempre caían rendidos ante el amor y ‘entraban todos por el aro’. ¿Y por qué la vida no siempre resulta así? Ah, porque el amor es cuestión de suerte y nada más. Pura suerte y a veces hasta esos hombres divinos todavía se encuentran por ahí.
¿Y por qué dejé de leer a Corín Tellado la que esperaba ansiosamente cada dos semanas cuando siendo una niña atrevida corría en La Habana a comprar la nueva Vanidades, donde aparecia su novela, al quiosco de la esquina?
Porque la llegada de Francoise Sagan -más cínica y modernísima- y de las divertidas películas de Brigitte Bardot (a quien yo imitaba en peinado y en todo lo que podía) me hizo dejar atrás las novelas y serle infiel a Corín Tellado. También porque comenzó la Revolución Cubana y mi adolescencia sufrió un terremoto de raíz. Y un buen dia no había nuevas novelitas que leer --y nos conformábamos con releer las viejas una y otra vez, lo que en medio de las carencias y las injusticias que nos rodeaban eran un gran escape y un gran consuelo.
Me gusta recordar todo esto --- y comprendo que los cientos de novelas que leí de ella --y el mundo tan maravilloso al que me llevaban- dejaron una fuerte marca en el idealismo que le puse toda mi vida al amor. Y recuerdo novelas que reflejaban gente interesante, lugares que me daban ganas de viajar y conocerlos todos, hombres 'como deben ser' -- y dejarme tantos, tantísimos, buenos recuerdos.
¡El mundo de los
viajes está de fiesta porque el hotel Ritz de Paris, toda una leyenda extraordinaria, reabre sus puertas! Una leyenda donde
se practica el muy francés ‘art de vivre’
– y un histórico hotel palacio, donde los personajes más famosos del mundo
han vivido y se han hospedado desde el siglo 19. Y por eso su reapertura es un
verdadero ‘happening’del que todos hablan, y después de 2 años
cerrado, abre más bello y elegante que nunca, después de una restauración de
200 millones de dólares.
Cocó Chanel estaría
celebrando la ocasión, porque allí vivió allí 34 años, igual que lo hicieran Ernest
Hemingway, los duques de Windsor, el rey Eduardo VII, la reina María de Rumania, y muchos más reyes
y reinas del mundo entero, además de Salvador Dali, Maria Callas, Oscar de la
Renta, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson y hasta Madonna. El Ritz ha sido el
hotel donde todos deseaban quedarse en Paris –y aunque fuera tan solo para
visitarlo, pocos son los viajeros que no conocen sus salones, restaurantes,
bares y su Escuela de Cocina Escoffier.
¡Y es el hotel que
más ha aparecido en el mundo de la literatura y el cine, en libros como Tender Is The Night de
Scott Fitzgerald, The Sun Also Rises de Hemingway, el play Semi Monde de Noël
Coward y películas como Amor en la Tarde con Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face y How
to Steal a Million! Una anécdota cuenta
que cuando la esposa de Hemingway le pidió el divorcio el enfurecido escritor
tiró al toilette de su habitación su foto ¡y le entró a tiros a la foto y a
medio baño! Otra cuenta que en una ocasión el alto y grueso rey Eduardo VII se
quedó trabado en la bañera del hotel con una amante -y 4 empleados del hotel
tuvieron que rescatarlo- y de ese momento en adelante se instalaron bañeras mucho
más grandes en el Ritz!
Comenzado en 1705 -y
terminado en 1898- con diseño del arquitecto de Mansart, el arquitecto de los
‘royals’ franceses, fue fundado por el famoso ‘hotelier’ César Ritz -en
colaboración con el chef Auguste Escoffier, padre de la alta gastronomía -fue
el primer hotel europeo en ofrecer habitaciones con electricidad, baños
privados, y teléfono. ¡Y pronto se llenaba de huéspedes famosos, royals,
políticos, escritores, cantantes y estrellas de teatro y cine! Durante la
Segunda Guerra Mundial fue ocupado por los nazis, que lo hicieron centro de
operaciones de su fuerza aérea Luftwaffe. Y en 1976 al morir el ultimo heredero
Ritz lo compró Mohamed Al-Fayed –padre de Dodi, quien como recordamos cenó allí
en el Imperial Suite con la princesa Diana el 31 de Agosto de 1997, poco antes
de partir del hotel (por la puerta de servicio de la rue Cambon, en el fondo
del hotel)en el auto que les causó la
muerte a ambos.
El ‘nuevo’ Ritz (¡por
suerte!) no ha cambiado en su estilo, sino en la modernización de sus
servicios.Su famoso diseñador Thierry
W Despont no ha permitido que el hotel cambie, sino que reabra más elegante que
nunca. Con 71 habitaciones y 71 suites, sigue ofreciendo sus famosas suites de
prestigio –como las que honran a Marcel Proust, F. Scott Fitzgerald y al Duque
of Windsor (decorada en un gris-azul llamado "Wallis blue", favorito
de Wallis Simpson, duquesa de Windsor) - además de la legendaria Suite Imperial
(Patrimonio Nacional de Francia) ---y la Suite Coco Chanel-que permanece con su
vista única a la columna de la Place Vendôme --igual que sigue el divino
restaurante L’Espadon (además de otros 2), a cargo del chef Nicolas Sale (4
estrellas Michelin), la
terraza-restaurante (¡donde almorcé en varias ocasiones con Oscar de la Renta!)
y que ahora, con un techo movible de cristal, permite comer ‘al fresco’ todo el año –igual
que el famoso Bar Hemingway (¡toda una experiencia, con su famoso ‘barman’
Colin Peter Field y donde se creó el Bloody Mary en honor de Hemingway y su
esposa Mary )- además del nuevo The Ritz Bar, un bistró casual donde degustar
vinos por copas y del Salon Proust, donde tomar el té –o la ampliada zona de la
escuela de alta cocina École Ritz Escoffier, donde es posible tomar clases tan
solo por 1 dia –o todo un curso diplomado si así lo deseamos.Por supuesto, su famosa Galerie seguirá
teniendo a la venta las joyas y los objetos más lujosos de Paris, además de
productos del hotel y de L’Ecole Escoffier, donde siempre he comprado los
delantales de la famosa escuela para regalos muy especiales.
Una de las adiciones
que tienen a todos hablando es la apertura del primer Club ‘Spa’ de Chanel en
el mundo, (¡con una entrada privadísima por un túnel, desde el parqueo
adyacente, para las celebridades que lo frecuenten!) el que tiene la famosa
piscina neoclásica del Ritz, saunas, baños turcos, las facilidades más modernas
¡y los tratamientos exclusivos de Chanel para la piel! ¿Y la enorme Suite Cocó
Chanel? Pues mantiene su elegancia con 2 grandes dormitorios, vestidor, salones
con los famosos ‘paravents’ de laca Coromandel de la diseñadora, y el colorido
blanco y negro que era su favorito –además de balcón a la Place Vendôme. ¡Una
divinidad!
This will be a fascinating documentary! When I started as a journalist in the 70´s I interviewed Gloria Vanderbilt, who was designing jeans --and remember she was so nice and friendly. She invited me to lunch at her showroom on Seventh Ave, where she had a personal chef & 2 waiters serving us! I was barely around 20 and she treated me like a mom! -Another socialite I interviewed at the same time was Charlotte Ford, who was also designing clothes. She also tried to be nice --but was so 'sin gracia' & dry - and her plastic surgery made her mouth go sideways when she spoke. This was sad to see, since I remember her being so beautiful & glamorous in the late 60´s. Yes, she also had a private chef & dining room in her showroom! (I must look for those pictures taken in black and white by my brother) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3389797/Anderson-Cooper-helps-tell-story-mother-HBO-film.html
Una vez Carolina Herrera me dijo que no entendia que las mujeres tuvieran 'ropa para andar por casa', refiriendose a esa ropa a la que no le damos demasiada importancia y usamos para ir al supermercado, o cuando tenemos que caminar por el barrio a comprar algo o llevar la ropa a la tintorería.
Segun ella "toda la ropa es importante y todos los momentos merecen ir bien vestidas, lo mejor posible"-.Carolina es una mujer tan perfecta y tan pulida que comprendo lo que dice y de esto hemos conversado mucho...Aunque yo realmente no sigo ese consejo porque soy muy haragana, y SÍ tengo 'ropa para andar', que en NYC es ir a la esquina a comprar algo, llegarme al CVS o darme una vuelta al Whole Foods. No lo puedo remediar...¿O es una costumbre cubana eso de tener ´ropa de andar'?
Siempre pienso que NYC es perfecta para ser anonimos y ponernos esos leggings viejitos, o esa blusa tan suavecita que hemos lavado tres mil veces. Bianca Jagger me dijo en una ocasion --mientras la entrevistaba sentada sobre la tapa del inodoro del baño de un hotel mientras ella envuelta en un albornoz blanco se maquillaba en el espejo del lavamanos-- que ella comprobaba si un hombre realmente la queria "cuando aceptaba mis viejitos ropones de dormir,esos casi raidos"..Y recuerdo que aquello me gusto!
En aquellos dias Bianca estaba quedandose en aquel hotel neoyorquino con el millonario Olivier Chandon, que murio en un accidente de coche poco despues -- y esa mañana andaba por el cuarto -¡terminando de vestirse!- mientras aquella rara entrevista tenia lugar.
After reading so many articles on Cuba´s future great wealth (famous real estate entrepreneurs are already buying half of Havana!) -and foreigners ready to travel & invest their many $$$ -- I will find very difficult & expensive to even visit Cuba one time! Probably will find myself saying "Please, can you spare a hotel room for 3 days...I am Cuban!" --and be looked at with a ´eye-rolling expression´ by a new hotel manager, who will say... "Oh, she is one of those older exiles, retired, not wealthy nor relevant.Tell her we are fully booked". Yes....I am positive it will be cruel and we -the older and uber 'dignified' and proud exiles- will be at the end of the line! Even now many non-Cubans (inc. journalists) -or very 'casual' Cubans, who never thought twice about the island -think they know about Cuba more than this dedicated & patriotic 'cubanita'. Yes, it will be SURREAL! Sad, cruel and very surreal.
What a surprise to find this article in The New York Times about The Whitby! When we moved to NYC in 1969 we lived in this historical building 7 years, thru the crazy NYC's 70's. By chance. not knowing its History nor the kind of 'show biz' wild neighborhood it was in -mami found this large furnished apartment walking distance to our jobs (papi and Leon 2 blocks away) and 4 blocks to my job as Ticket Agent for Iberia Airlines. It was only $300 a month -and she took it instantly! And it was quite an esperience! Prostitutes in hot pants and super-pimps & flashy pimp-mobiles shared the streets with dancers from the Rockettes and artists! Mami would go to work skipping drunkards sleeping next to the Broadway theatres & in her naive way asked them "please dont drink so much". It was such a surreal time, but we always felt safe. And now I realize we were in the midst of an amazing time in New York. Since I was single my 'dates' would always be surprised that such a nice family lived in such a 'hot' area of NYC. And in that apt 114, sitting on a black sofa while visiitng my father, I met my future husband Orlando Jimenez Leal!..Many friends & family used that living-room sofa bed when visiting NYC -and my brother even brought his French girlfriend Francoise (and her 9 months old son Papoose!) to live with us. When she left to Paris for good we all cried at the baby´s departure! What a grand NYC beginning for all of us! This is the NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/30/nyregion/for-90-years-the-whitby-has-been-a-bastion-for-broadway-performers.html?smid=fb-share
At 90, Still a Haven for Broadway Performers
Photo
The Whitby, on West 45th Street in Manhattan, before the year-end Christmas party for residents.CreditNicole Craine for The New York Times
On a ceaselessly rainy day this month, the residents of the Whitby gathered inside the lobby of the grand old building in Manhattan for its annual Christmas party. Children crawled and darted around the legs of clustered parents. Plastic folding tables were laden with nuts, cold cuts and pizza. Soda and wine sloshed in disposable cups while the lights and ornaments twinkled on a small artificial Christmas tree.
Conversation turned predictably to children and work, as well as to the shows people had seen. More often than not, these were one and the same.
“I’ll be out on a job and see someone I think I recognize from a past gig,” said Paul Ford, a rehearsal pianist and frequent Stephen Sondheim collaborator who has lived at the Whitby since 1983. “We’ll get to talking, and it turns out I know them from the elevator.”
Since it opened in 1924, the Whitby, a stout beige building with 217 units on 45th Street just west of Eighth Avenue, has attracted artists, performers, writers and stagehands. In fact, it was the first residential building in the city created especially for them, not least because performers were often shunned for their odd hours, odd lifestyles and, most of all, odd bank accounts. A “No Theatricals” sign from the era hangs in the management office as a joke.
Paul Ford, a rehearsal pianist, in his apartment at the Whitby, where he has lived since 1983.CreditNicole Craine for The New York Times
“Most actors were considered deadbeats in those days,” said Austin Colyer, who has spent most of his life at the Whitby since moving there in the 1950s. A frequent presence on Broadway until the past decade, this lean 85-year-old was also active in its union, Actors’ Equity, and founded the Whitby’s tenants association to combat a string of nasty landlords in the 1970s and ’80s. His apartment is stuffed with 130 bound collections of Playbills from all the shows he has seen over the years.
“People used to stop me all the time in the hallways and ask if I could get them into Equity,” Mr. Colyer said, sitting in the lobby where he regularly holds court. “And I’d always say, ‘Sure — just tell me what you’ve been in.’ ”
Mr. Colyer may be among the last of his generation at the Whitby, but he is not the last of his breed.
Photo
An item left behind in the sink of a newly vacated apartment at the Whitby attests to its residents' passions.CreditNicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
For all the changes that have come to Broadway, where the only thing more drastic than the astronomical ticket prices are the astronomical rents for apartments in the area, the Whitby has largely remained a bastion for performers and their patrons. But rather than being a haven for struggling artists, the building is now much more a home for successful ones.
“Like any New Yorker, I guess I was worried about the changes,” said Micki Frein, president of the co-op board (the building converted from a residential hotel in 1986). “But in spite of everything, the building still attracts artists and creative types. They just love the character of it, since most things in the neighborhood are shiny and new or totally rundown.”
The property, at 325 West 45th Street, was built by one of the most successful development partnerships of the prewar era, the builders Bing & Bing and the architect Emery Roth. They are responsible for such standouts as 1000 Park Avenue, at 84th Street, and the Southgate, on East 52nd Street. The Whitby was less distinguished though still impressive, with its three sturdy bays and rippling brick cornice. What the actors especially valued, though, was the telephone service, a rarity in the day that kept them apprised of all their callbacks.
Photo
Michael Apuzzo, a dancer, in his living room-bedroom. He has a Murphy bed that tucks into a cabinet so he can clear enough floor space to practice.CreditNicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Among the stars who came to reside at the Whitby were Doris Day, Betty Grable, Clarence Derwent, Diane Ladd and Wallace Shawn, as well as Al Capone, though legend says it was the showgirls, not the amenities, that drew him there.
Michael Apuzzo came two years ago for proximity to both Broadway and Lincoln Center, where he regularly performs as a dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. It helps that Broadway Dance Center is across the street.
Like many units in the building, his first-floor studio is small and spacious, a testament to Roth’s keen use of space. The walls are decorated with mementos from tours with the company to such places as Istanbul (decorative tapestries), San Francisco (photos on the beach) and Spoleto, Italy (a festival poster). Mr. Apuzzo has a Murphy bed precisely so he can keep the center of the room clear to practice.
Photo
Hayden Wall, an 11-year-old actor, and Austin Colyer, 85, until the past decade a frequent presence on Broadway, are neighbors.CreditNicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
“It’s so nice to walk through the building and hear people singing or playing the piano,” he said. “It’s inspiring, and you know you won’t bother anyone when you’re rehearsing.”
One of the youngest thespians in residence, Hayden Wall, 11, feels a connection with the building, as though the spirits of past performers are inspiring him as he makes his Off Broadway debut in “The Soul Doctor.” His parents started renting a one-bedroom apartment from its owner, leaving behind their suburban home in Syracuse, and now the family spends most of its nights in two beds at the Whitby, so their son can chase his dreams.
“I feel honored to have the torch passed to me,” he said.
Even those who do not work in the theater tend to have some connection. Ms. Frein, the board president, used to be a theater manager and wanted to stay close to her friends, even though she went into finance decades ago. Emilio Casarez and his partner both work at JPMorgan Chase, but rather than a downtown loft or uptown sprawl, they chose the cozy Whitby so they can visit the theater on the nights they are not working late.
Douglas Bellitto, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens who once aspired to the stage, handles many sales in the building these days. He is just as likely to sell an apartment — like a recent one-bedroom for $485,000 — to a pediatrician from Philadelphia as he is to a successful playwright.
“Her daughter is a ballerina, though,” Mr. Belitto said of the pediatrician, “and they come here at least once a month for the shows
I am already anxious! Xmas and (especially) New Year's produce these emotions. Ever since we left Cuba in the late 60's nothing can 'calm down' feeling overwhelmed at this time of the year. I am so lucky & grateful for everything- but cant shake this feeling of 'unease'! 'Scars' of the trauma of leaving my home & everything I owned (my books, my Diary!) -since at the time all that was permitted to take with us was "a suitcase with 5 changes of clothing, 2 pairs of shoes and an umbrella" No books, no little memories, no jewelry, not even an old scarf from my deceased grandmother! To this departure -were added very hard & painful initial years in exile. Thus, every year these scars come back to 'haunt' my usual happy self. And on January 1 a sense of newness makes it all OK -and happiness starts again.
El anuncio de que los Estados Unidos -de pronto, de un plumazo y sin ningún cambio en la situación en la isla- ha decidido normalizar relaciones con Cuba -me ha dejado enormemente confundida y con un profundo dolor. Lo que puede llamarse ´dolor en el alma'.
Siento que se ha ´bendecido´ y se ha dado una recompensa, a los Castro por haberse mantenido 'fuertes' durante 55 años, luchando contra los Estados Unidos y en el camino pisoteando los 'derechos humanos' de los cubanos dentro de la isla. Y el "Premio a la Dictadura más Vieja del Mundo" es reanudar relaciones con ella y comenzar a darle todo tipo de facilidades. No lo entiendo. Buenio, si...realmente si lo entiendo.
No soy vengativa en lo absoluto, ni 'anticuada', ni intransigente, ni radical, ni nada de eso...pero el dolor de lo que ha sido la tragedia de Cuba -y lo que hemos sufrido los que vimos nuestras vidas cambiadas radicalmente, y a lo largo de 55 años hemos sufrido tantos horrores y tanto dolor, desde que comenzó la Revolución Cubana, no podemos aceptar sin dolor -y estupor- lo que ha anunciado el presidente Obama.
Por supuesto que nunca he estado a favor del embargo (¡que en realidad solo existe en cuestiones de bancos y finanzas porque con Cuba comercian cientos de países, incluyendo los Estados Unidos, aunque tienen que ser pagados en cash!) --pero pensaba que la concesion de ciertas libertades tenian que ser parte del 'deal' para que los Estados Unidos abrieran esa puerta. Pero no, no ha sido así. No hay promesa alguna de libertad de expresión, ni de prensa, ni el permitir el Internet, ni nada de nada....
Y ayer Raul Castro dijo en un discurso al parlamento cubano que seguirían siendo un país comunista y que nada iban a cambiar. Y alli mismo se ovacionó y se recibió como si fueran ´rock stars´, a los espías convictos para dañar a los Estados Unidos, que fueron devueltos a Cuba. ¡Increíble! Un día que se llamó una Celebración del Triunfo Contra la Agresión Americana.
Todo me parece tan indigno porque basicamente se trata de ´money, money, money´' --y la cantidad de nuevos millonarios que aparecerán en Cuba dentro del propio gobierno, donde ya muchos lo son, al estilo de los oligarcas rusos que han surgido -y en los miles de personas (incluyendo muchos cubanos exilados que ya están salivando pensando en los McDonald´s y los Home Depot que van a abrir en Cuba) que también se harán millonarios .- o más millonarios aún- pensando en lo maravillosa que será esta 'apertura' --aunque el gobierno de Cuba les pida 'participar´ en estos negocios.
Sí, el puro dinero será lo más importante de esta nueva política....La verdadera razón. Y algo que ni siquiera se ha tratado de 'envolver´ en otras explicaciones. Además de todo esto coincide con una gran conveniencia politica ¡porque este verano ya Vladimir Putin demostró con muchos gestos su enorme interés de que Rusia fuera de nuevo un 'player' importante en la escena política cubana! Y los Estados Unidos no querían que Rusia -¡de nuevo!- les acaparase Cuba, y todas sus riquezas, a solo 90 millas de sus costas. Asi de sencillo. Dinero, política y poder.
Por lo que el dolor de los que a lo largo de 55 años perdieron familiares en el paredón de fusilamiento, o pudriéndose en las cárceles, o ahogados en el mar --no tiene ya la menor importancia. Es un ´non-issue'. Como lo es el dolor de los que -como me sucedió a mi, a mi madre, a mi familia- vieron sus vidas cortadas, rotas, interrrumpidas, desviadas, convirtiéndonos en exilados en una época en que huir de Cuba -y evitar en muchos casos la cárcel- era la única escapatoria. Ese dolor -¡que fue horrible porque cuando nos fuimos de Cuba me dormi llorando de tristeza muchas noches!- de nada ha valido -- y eso me hace sentir muy impotente y me da mucha rabia. ¡Una posición anti-castrista digna y decente no ha servido de nada! ¡Que estúpido idealismo y decencia política!
Me imagino que eso ocurre todos los días en este mundo tan corrupto --y mi dolor lo comparten millones de personas que han sido tan solo 'fichas' o 'chivos expiatorios' de un momento político. Y ahora veo que el haber sufrido por Cuba desde los 14 años ha sido una pérdida de tiempo y ´un peso muerto´ que he llevado colgado del cuello, inutilmente, día a día. Y la verdad es que hubiera hecho mucho más facil y feliz mi vida, sino hubiera existido --y mi adolescencia y juventud hubieran sido mucho más ligeras de equipaje, más 'light' y más 'normales' -- como me correspondía como cualquier niña que tenía planes e ilusiones ---¡como me las había imaginado cuando crecía en una Cuba libre! ---sin la guadaña de la Revolución cortándome los sueños.
Ahora empieza otra etapa. Y aunque me duela el alma, ojalá que traiga -algún día- la libertad que los cubanos de la isla se merecen. Veremos a ver qué puedo añadir a estas reflexiones cuando pase 1 año y en las próximas Navidades tengamos nuevas realidades.
Miren my grandaughter is almost 3 and already a 'little person' that fascinates all of us. She is becoming a little girl -not a baby at all!- and this transformation is absolutely enchanting!
I love to see how her mind works, the spontaneous reactions to all that surrounds her, the train-of-thoughts, and her intelligence. Also is wonderful to observe how she talks. In Spanish to her mom, to Yazmin and to me...and switching automatically to English when she talks to her father or anyone that she 'feels' dont speak Spanish!
I enjoy so much her love and seeing her scream my name "Ita" when I arrive at her house ir when she sees me. It is heaven!
Yes, there is a new member of the family and a new 'person' created by God's magnificence that has arrived in our lives. So beautiful and healing!
I have been reading again some of these posts and looking at pictures --and feel truly happy that even the sad memories get better as time goes by, and they stop hurting --and suddenly you see the good side of things and can even laugh at so many funny things that came hand in hand with tears and a deep melancholia.
Thus, since I love my wedding pictures --and have never looked better!- I want to share them with you. I was so young and so in love!
My brother Leon took these pictures one very early morning of April 1972 up in a park in Westchester County. The 'hippy' white eyelet dress, so 70's and so romantic cost me $19.99 at Alexander's on Lexington Avenue and it was perfect for the times. Mami made the ribbons with tiny flowers and bows for my hair --and the flowers were purchased in a flower shop in the 42 St subway station. And I looked so modern and great!
Fourteen people attended the 6pm wedding on April 29th 1972 because Orlando did not want a 'big' wedding, so we had a almost non/existent crowd of guests at the chapel at the Holy Cross Church on 42 St. which had suffered a devastating fire days befor the wedding --and it was in shambles!
But I was very happy and loved my brother logging his reel to reel professional tape recorder to the church so I could get married as the Beatles played "She loves you...yeah...yeah...yeah" and "All you need is love...all you need is love"...It was soooo wonderful!
At the end my father seemed so serious....he later said -as 9 of the 14 guests had dinner at Pier 52, a seafood restaurant on 52 St - "Ah...and I always wanted her to be a nun!"- which was such a melodramaticliethat the tragic remark was laughed at and ignored...The wedding never had printed invitations, no wedding list at stores, no preparations --and a lot of my friends were never told I was getting married....Crazy!....But on the other hand there was no stress whatsoever...Not an ounce of stress!!...And it was such a cheap albeit cute and slightly 'hippiesh' wedding....And at the end of all it was a pretty wedding of 2 people who were very much in love.
The next day we went on an amazing honeymoon to Rome, Capri, Athens, the Greek Islands, Istambul and Madrid...All First Class, a gift from TWA!!
After a difficult marriage and a divorce ---the truth is that I only can remember good things...especially how cute my wedding was...how happy love made me feel... and how pretty I looked!
I wore that wedding dress about 4 years later, when Mari-Claudia was born!
I love having a personal blog!...Is a fun experience and almost a ' liberation' ! Like having my very own newspaper, where to talk freely about what impacts me, worries me, kicks my curiosity, surprises me --and about the many, many things that give me infinite pleasures. And -above all- about growing up and later having to leave Cuba! I am writing a book with many of the small chapters I will be posting --and this is a good way to show them to you.
Living in New York City I am also surrounded by so many things that grab my attention -- from very small and subtle ones, to enormous and grandiose moments or things.
This is a city that holds me tight and embraces me with a very warm feeling. I have never felt like a 'foreigner' here. It's like my Havana in the North!
And every time I fly into New York, coming from one of my many trips, seeing the gray buidings of the city makes me feel that I have returned to my home --where I have belonged for over 40 years. And I immediately feel happy to know that soon I will be inside of my apartment, my daily life, my routine, my 'refuge' on the 20th floor of a grayish building --where I have lived more years than I lived in Cuba!
And what will I post in this blog?....What am I to talk about? There are so many things I would like to comment! Politics. Movies, People....And above all my memories of a Cuba that does not exist anymore --nor will it ever exist again. A place that had many more good things than bad ones -- and it was mainly a gentle and decent place where to be born and raised, Thus I invite you to share my memories and the adventures of my life.
Papi took these artistic photos! He had converted our garage into a photo studio to develop and experiment, like printing photos in blue, sepia, etc. Leon and I were his assistants.
Mami and me. I was 1 year old.
Marta Larraz dice que mami tenia una belleza ´sensual´ que a la vez era muy ´'virginal'. Era preciosa y nunca de dio cuenta de lo bella que era, como lo muestra esta foto de ella en los anos 30 y tantos, cuando tenia su programa-revista de radio y era una mujer adelantada a su tiempo. La echo de menos cada minuto de mi vida
My beloved aunt Fela Ichaso with my cousin Johnny Turro. Their smiles show the love they shared.
My father called this "your artistic close up". He took these beautiful pictures of us and turned into sepia or blue prints. My friend Rolo Sainz de la Pena called my haircut "very Prince Valiant"
Here I am in Istanbul. Great city!
Tita Pura my aunt will be 100 in just 5 months! This photo with my cousins Purita & Julio was taken in August 2010
With Picasso's Guernica when it was at MOMA in New York in the 70's
mc and i in our recent trip to Paris. I dont have any make-up, so please forgive my wrinkles....
My brother Leon at age 2 or 3 "a-la-Tarzan". Mami loved this picture taken by our father. Leon was blond and so cute. Everybody adored him, including big sister here!
This is when I first interviewed Karl Lagerfeld in the late 70's. That day he showed me his made to order Goyard suitcases. First time I heard the now-very-trendy brand!
Opening of Xenon, which was very famous in the 80's. These guns were laser guns, which were part of the fun. How absurd was this? Xenon opened to compete with Studio 54 but it never achieved its goal.
Here I am in Versailles famous Hall of Mirrors in the 80's. I love visiting all these historical places
MC con Mila Cardoso la nueva miembro de nuestra familia.
Mami and Leon. He was six or so. This was at Woolworth photo booth in Havana.
Mami and papi at MC´s Williams College graduation. Such a great day. They were SO proud of their grandaughter!
Love this picture of MC in our recent trip to London -April 2010
my aunt Martha was very beauriful and so glamorous
My grandfather Justo, in his grand Havana home, surrounded by my grandmother Isabel, my great/grandmother Jesusa, his sister Lola, etc. sent this picture to his relatives in Asturias and called it The Sacred Family. My father is seating in the far ledt next to his sister Graciella.
Mami as photographed by my father at El Laguito in the mid 50's dressed with the retro prints we now lve. She was so stylish in a soft and organic way. We miss her every day of our lives!
Mami and I with Leon who was 1 year old. I still remember that dress made of wool with a plaid taffeta to match my hair bow!
My father in one of the CMQ sets of his programs. Notice the image of the palms and the landscape that he loved to use and superimpose on his live shots.
With Placido Domingo. He was a good friend for some years. Such a talented artist.
My friend Eva Andino and me shopping in New York in the 80's We used to walk for hours with 'killer' heels!
Crossing from Asia to Europe in Istambul.
With my friend Fernando Botero in his studio Paris in the late 80's, A very nice man who is very sure of himself,
MC and Steve at Frida Kahlo's Blue House in Mexico DF- Jan 2010
My cousins Purita and Julio Carrillo with their great-grandaughter Mila
mami y Leon en la Iglesia de St Paul March 2007
Leon at age 6
My good friends Nora Hartmann Abitbol, Luis Molina del Sol and I in O´Faia, a fado restaurant in Lisbon during a trip we all took together and had a great time. The unknown man approaching the table and his tablemate were annoying me and Nora all night long and poor Luis was very upset and almost had to defend our ´honor´!
MC y yo en el Parque del Retiro en Madrid en 1986
MC, Orlando and I at the gardens of the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia
Con esta carita de niño triste siempre le cogia pena a mi hermano León y asi todos lo consentimos y malcriamos ¡hasta el día de hoy!
Mami con sus sobrinos Purita y Julio Carrillo en mi casa en NYC. Fijense en lo elegante que mami iba a todas partes.
My aunt Fela with my cousin Johnny Turro Ichaso, who is also my beloved godfather. I inherited my dimples from her.
Mi tia Pura el dia de sus 99 cumpleaños con sus hijos mis primos Purita y Roger Fernandez Ichaso
My wedding picture on April 29 1972. I was so young and so in love. Leon took this picture early in the morning in Westchester County near Manhattan.
My beloved aunt Alicia 'Tati' Ichaso de Moreno -my mother;s eldest sister- on a trip to Mexico in trhe 50's. She was so enthusiastic and full of life. She had cancer and died in her 40's, a little after this picture was taken. We have always missed her 'joie de vivre' and the love she had for all her nieces and nephews.
Mami, en los años 70, descansa junto a la Fuente de Trevi en Roma, En realidad no le gustaba viajar, pero me acompañó en varios viajes a Europa y la pasamos muy bien las dos juntas. Era tan joven y tan llena de inocencia a pesar de to lo que habia sufrido en la vida.
MC at the Paris fashion collections with my friend Paloma Picasso and Marta Larraz. She used to go with me to the Paris collections since she was about 6 and all the models and designers were so nice to her! This was at the YSL show.
During my honeymoon at the Dyonissos Theatre ruins in Athens
My cousin Cristina Alfonso Ichaso-King and her daughter Natalie King. Her mother was my adored aunt Fela Ichaso de Alfonso, my darling 'Tafela', one of my mother's sisters, who was a role model for me.
Leon y Leo en Times Square
Mami y Mariano Ros, a quien queria tanto.
With mami age 3
Marta Larraz, una de mis mejores amigas de toda la vida y su hija Lizette
Papi era nadador del Miramar Yacht Club y mami siempre me contaba -aun cuando era mayor, al hablarme de cuando ella y papi se conocieron en el club- "el buen cuerpo que tenia, con una cintura tan pequena que ella tenia que mandarle a arreglar los pantalones cuando se casaron". Como ven, es verdad.
Con mis amigas Evangelina Leivas y Rosita Sori Marin en La Habana en 1958. Poco despues de esta foto triunfo la Revolucion y nuestras vida cambiaron 180 grados.
PETER PAUL & MARY AKA LEON, MARIANO Y MARI
My darling Tito Rogelio and Purita on her graduation day.
Mi abuelo paterno Justo Rodriguez, su hermana Lola y su cunado Ramon en la preciosa casa que lleguo a tener en La Habana despues de haber llegado de Grado, Asturias siendo un joven ambicioso y trabajador. Asi eran las cosas en Cuba!
Mami and papi in one of their many drives around New York, in Tuxedo Park in the 70´s
MC with papi in the Staten Island Ferry. Notice the World Trade Center Twin Towers behind them!
This is when I met Carolina Herrera -1974
I love Oscar de la Renta. He has always been so nice and good to me.
At age 13 during a costume party in Havana. This dress had belonged to Purita and I think it was a costume from a region of Greece.
Mami´s wedding announcement in Cuba's papers...The 2 hearts with their initials were a gift from a friend. How cute!
Mami, papi and I in Havana's Central Park
My friend Eva Leivas-Andino. We know each other since we were teenagers
The day before my wedding Leon took my favorite picture
Leon dressed as a basque boy during Carnival, It was mami's idea and she painted a little moustache on him!
Mari in 1950 in el Vedado on my dad's car
MC and her grandfather Justo. I love this picture
Mami con mis tias Alicia y Fela y los pequenos Johhny y Purita
Leon and our cousin Luis Alberto in Miami during MC´s wedding celebrations. He is one the sons of our cousins Marilyn and Alberto
My grandfather Justo Rodriguez in his birthplace: Grado, Asturias in northern Spain. MC and I were there and we met one of my dad's cousins who still lives there.
This is my favorite picture with mami, There is such love in the way we are holding our hands and the serenity of 'love' is all around us. Papi took the picture in 'el Laguito' in Havana
Alberto y Chuchu en los años 90
Henry Kissinger was funny and a big flirt. This was taken at a a Superman The Movie party in NYC and we were seatmates at dinner.
First time I saw snow - New York
With my friend Gladys Obelleiro at the roof og Madrid´s very trendy ME Madrid Hotel -Oct 2008
Here I am with Cary Grant in Studio 54 in the 80´s. He was amazing and so very charming. I loved meeting him.
Papi a la izq con sus padres y tios en Asturias
Mari con Elizabeth Taylor y mi amiga Perla. Fue una noche increible y me dio lastima ver a Liz tan mal.
Mari en el Museo Guggenheim de Bilbao Oct 2008
Papi and I are in a beach we called "las uvas caletas" near Miramar. I was 4
Mami, so beautiful!
Leon and papi on Leon´s motorcycle in Cuba
Me and my dad at the beach in Cuba
My cousi Purita with the Picasso dress (my father´s description) made by Zula
Havana Grand Prix. The French racing champion Jean Behra, Leon, papi and I, circa 1956.
My uncle Francisco Ichaso in his library in Havana where he ketp the airconditioning blasting and freezing cold.
Papi directing TV in CMQ
MC at Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, age 3
Papi during his swimming champion days
Mi buen amigo Tomas Milian en el 'ashram' de Gurumai y la botella magica
Mari age 4
My grandfather Leon Ichaso
MC in our country house. Always so chic!
Traveling is favorite thing. This was in Athens 1980's
Tafela, Johnny and mami in Havana
Leon y Marc Anthony en El Cantante
With my brother Leon
MC in Florence in the 90´s
My father's favorite self-portrait
Mami's 93rd birthday at Cafe Espanol
My brother Leon at age 3. He was blond and so cute!
My Aunt Pura Ichaso at age 96. This year she turned 99. She is here with her daughter my cousin Purita and my cousin Julio Carrillo
Mami and MC 1991
Mami, Johnny Turro my uncle, my aunt Fela and my aunt Alicia at the horse races in La Habana
Mari at Jardins de Luxembourg Paris 1980
MC and her uncle Leon 1979
Here I am with Placido Domingo in 1982, one of the many celebrities I have interviewed
With my nanny Julia at 5 months on Mother's Day
I was 2 and holding my dad's pipe!
Mami and Leon in 1952 in Havana
With my cousin Purita on a boat in Cienfuegos
With my good friend Julio Iglesias
My grandmother's brother Genaro Macias, he looks like Daniel Day-Lewis!
I was about 4 and this was at Enriqueta Sierra's home where papi used to take me to when he attended her literary afternoons
My cousin Purita in her French Salon wedding dress Nov 1956
The day of my Baptism in Havana. My face shows that I was dying to get rid of that dress and the big bow!
Mami, Leon and I in El Laguito, Havana
My cousin Purita in our house in Miramar -among my mother's beloved plants!
Mari and MC at La Casa de los Pescados. She was 6
Mami and I on December 2004
My uncle Paco Ichaso one of Cuba's leading writers and one of the authors of the very advanced "1940 Constitution" with his wife my aunt Mary Caballero in Spain
Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Nydia Rios y Rene Jordan en una cena en mi casa en NYC en los años 80
My father playing chess by himself, in one of his Cuban outings, next to his dog Chocolongo
All the Ichaso cousins in Cuba. Mari, Purita, Leon (1 year old), Roger and Johnny holding Cristy who was 4 months old.
Our witty and great cousins Marilyn and Alberto in one of their many visits to NYC with mami, papi, Leon and MC
Mami and my aunt Alicia when they wrote and produced their pioneer magazine-style radio program "The Hour for Women" in Cuba
Leon with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony at Toronto Movie Festival with El Cantante
My uncle Paco and his grandson Luis Alberto in exile in Mexico
For many years Mariano Ros has been a loyal and beloved family member
My mother and father with MC, age 6 at La Casita, our weekend beach house in Long Island
I always dreamt being here! Since I was 7
Mami the day of her 92nd birthday
My aunt Martha Rodriguez Santos with my cousins Jimmy and Ruli Toraño
My cousin Johnny and MC age 3.
Always protecting my little brother Leon!
Mami and Leon with Tafela (in the middle) -the day we arrived in Miami on the Greyhound bus all the way from Mexico City!
Mami and Leon at Cafe Español in New Jersey, in March 2007
Leon, Cristy our cousin and I look like a bunch of 'mataperros' (see Leon´s open shirt, which he loved to do), We had been playing when papi wanted to take this 'automatic' picture and ran to be in it. My grandmother Rafaela is with mami, her sisters Alicia and Fela, and my uncle Gustavo Alfonso
Papi y sus amigos los escritores Leopoldo de Luis y Gaston Baquero en el homenaje que le hicieron en Madrid
Mami con Johnny Turró Ichaso, su sobrino querido quien siempre la visitaba en NYC.
Con Eva Leivas-Andino, Martha Larraz y Rosita Sorí Marín mis amigas de Cuba
Leon en Miami ¡Qué bueno es estar reunidos con la familia!
Petición de mi prima Purita Fernández Ichaso - Mi inolvidable tio Rogelio Fdez. Llorens; mi divina y todavia bella Tita Pura Ichaso; Purita (con un vestido-toga griego blanco y dorado); Maria Angulo de Carrillo (Granny, la abuela de Julio), Julio de dril 100; mi querida Olga Silva y Edgar Carrillo (estos dos delante del cuadro de Mijares de una china tejiendo que Dios sabe quién lo tiene!)
I love the 'raptured' expression of my cousin Cristy Alfonso Ichaso, who -with her inseparable 'compinche', my brother Leon (wearing a suit and tie!) -snuck into the altar area during our cousin Marylin´s wedding. In the center is our aunt Mary Caballero de Ichaso, while Nena Garcia de Morató kisses her son, the groom Alberto Morató. This was on Dec 21 1958, the last time in our lives that the entire family was together. Ten days later the Revolution had started, mayhem took place -and we all ended up living in different parts of the world,
My darling Alberto. So handsome and such a good friend.
With my cousins Marylin Ichaso de Morató and Purita Fdez. Ichaso de Carrillo in NYC. Marylin loved the theatre, as well as eating 'escargots' --and on this trip she thoroughly enjoyed both!
My last picture in Cuba. I was 18
My Aunt Fela Ichaso, my basque grandfather León Ichaso and my grandmother Rafaela Macías
Papi con Jose Lezama Lima...Fijense en el pelo de papi. Era competamente 'wild' y no le importaba para nada lo que pensara la gente
My cousin Marylin Ichaso and Alberto Morató -Dec 21 1958 -Havana - They were both wonderful and so witty. We loved them very much.
My aunt Fela Ichaso de Alfonso was my role model in many matters. She loved beautiful things and always left a trail of Miss Dior as she walked. Her bedroom also smelled of Miss Dior and her house at Havana's Country Club neighborhood had murals painted by Portocarrero and one of the first huge paintings Mijares ever did. She was very bright and rebellious, like all the Ichaso sisters. She would buy me copies of her favorite books and tell me great stories about her life, etc. --so ever since I was a little girl we were very close. She died in Miami, still very young --so I could not share with her so many important things that later happened in my life!
My brother Leon took this picture before my wedding. It was a 'hippy style' one, with Beatles music, flowers on my hair and only 14 people present.
My grandfather Justo, my aunt Graciela and papi at age 3 with a Prince Valiant haircut
My father in the Great Wall of China, 1967, with Cuban novelist Onelio Jorge Cardoso. The day he returned from this trip -his plane was diverted to Algiers instead of Gander, Newfounland, where he was going to defect- he applied for a permit to leave Cuba for good. He was sent to a 'work camp' for a year before he was allowed to leave for México.
Leon explains to Papi a camera shot while filming in Santo Domingo
Mari with Nefertiti in Berlin museum. Orlando took this photo with his new Leica
My grandmother Rafaela Macias with my cousins Marilyn Ichaso, Johnny Turro and Purita Fernandez Ichaso
Leon and papi in Cuba. Notice my father's khaki pants tucked into boots. He was probably on his way to some excursion to the countryside, although Leon was very elegant, but probably wearing what he called his 'producer´s shoes' that he insisted in wearing. Just like some papi owned, with a thick sole with ridges.
Mami, MC (1 year old) and myself
MC surprises Mami with one of her delicious home made birthday cakes. Mariano is standing behind her.
Beautiful mami- She died in her sleep on Dec 17th 2007- Try to read her recent obituary, which is part of the Blog Archive. We miss her every minute of our lives, but she left such wonderful memories that they more than fill the void she has left us with,
Papi con Leon y conmigo en el zoologico
Leon, blond and cute at age 2
With mami and Tati (my aunt Alicia) at age 4 --wearing the Mexican skirt, albeit with a blouse under it. - (the blog 'Semi Desnuda a los 4 años' explains this better) I loved her enthusiasm for everything in life. A youthful ´joie de vivre´ I inherited from her, since I am curious about absolutely everything in life and always want to know more!
My grandfather Justo and my aunt Martha Rodriguez Santos. She was beautiful and had a passion for cats! I was in awe of her --and all the men who met her fell madly in love! She was alluring and very Maria-Felix-style.
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