David de Alba at Finocchio’s in 1980
Fortunately for posterity home video cameras were around in 1980 and David de Alba’s partner Paul Ryner had one. He shot this video in 1980 which documents one of the finale productions featuring The Eve-ettes at Finocchio’s in San Francisco called, A Tribute to Cabaret Night 1980. There is a production number followed by David de Alba as his character Boy-Chic singing Come Rain or Come Shine. This is a real glimpse into the way female impersonation was presented in the the mid 20th century, with a live band and the performer’s own singing voice. The segment is introduced by MC Carroll Wallace. Many thanks to David’s cousin and dedicated fan Mario Jimenez for posting the video to YouTube.
[youtube]y6yGLGO1Rzs[/youtube]
Category: Impersonation, Transgender History
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Excellent video by a Female Impersonator Icon!!! David is/was one of the best ever. Too bad Finocchio’s closed so many years ago as the public could not longer see the most beautiful women in the world perform…not like today where most of the FI’s lip-sync their songs. I hope David can continue to perform in Las Vegas for years to come. Love, Carollyn
David, your talents are so vast! I have seen you perform at the Onyx theater in Las Vegas many times. Your impersonations are flawless, and your historical perspective tells us all how the celebrities of the past came to see you and your colleagues at the club. Such a number of famous people! Especially your favorite actress, Judy Garland.
Best wishes to you, David!
Love,
Michelle
Chantilly, VA
Hello:
I don’t know if anyone out there anymore is interested in me and my theatrical past at the world famous Finocchio Club, but for whatever it is worth, I would like to share with you an inside story that only I know about: Eve Finocchio the second wife of Joe Finocchio (both owners of that famous night club)well, Eve liked me wearing wigs in the shades of browns and auburn tones, because singer Lavern Cummings wore light blonde wigs and Emcee Carroll Wallace wore a platinum shade wig ….and that way my own International act called: “Boy-Chic” would be more appealing visually wise to the audience(or so she thought), anyway, but for that special finale production of “Cabaret Night 1980” I wore for the first time a short platinum wig in order to stand out more because most of the chorus like ‘The Eve-ettes’ had dark brown colors…also because Lavern Cummings was not there that night.
There are so many more backstage memories that I could share with you about some of these wonderful and most of them late performers that I had the honor to perform with…and many of them also were my friends off-stage too.
By the way, if anyone out there would like to reach me just to say hello, please e-mail me directly at: cubanlegend@cox.net
Sincerely,
David de Alba’La Leyenda Cubana’.