Letter to the Editor From David de Alba
David at Finocchio’s.
When I was a teenager living in Chicago during the mid-1960s I got to perform every Sunday at a well-known and liked gay show bar named The Chesterfield Club. In those days I went by the theatrical name of Heri Del Valle.
I started there performing every Sunday evening as a male dancer doing solos (all kinds of ‘solo’ dances from Latin to Jazz) then later on I became the only guy who did Judy Garland at that particular show and at other drag shows, too. I was then labeled The Male Judy Garland.”
Vicki Marlane in her youth.
During that period at that club I got to see Vicki Marlane perform. I don’t mean this harshly, however, he was not considered a beauty as far as a female impersonator, especially next to Jackie Knight who was gorgeous. But Vicki’s performances were always extremely dramatic especially when he lip-synched to: “Who Can I Turn To” and his performances got a lot of applause. (Ed. Note: In those days female impersonators were always referred to with male pronouns and honorifics.)
Vicki wore a long, lovely platinum human hair wig and that I remember vividly. Another thing that came to mind was that in the performances Vicki gave while at The Chesterfield Club in Chicago he moved as a contortionist.
I never became a close friend to any of those impersonators. I was treated more like an outsider. Who knows, because I was Cuban or whatever, but strangely enough many years later when two different books concerning Chicago and its past drag performers were published I was featured in them with glowing reviews. To me it means a lot that my performances as a teenager were not lost in vane, but that historians writing books saw something in me.
Later on when I moved to San Francisco, and was performing as David de Alba, I was doing a one afternoon gig outside Finocchio’s at a well known show bar on Market Street called The Orpheum Circus and lo’ and behold, Vicki was in the audience. After the show I told Vicki that I had met him originally at The Chesterfield Club in Chicago and how much I enjoyed seeing him on stage.
I am sorry I don’t have a more embellished story about Vicki Marlane to share with the TGF folks as I would if I were to speak about any of my dear old friends and show co-workers from Finocchio’s.
I am glad Vicki is getting this new recognition in San Francisco.
Thank you,
David de Alba
Here is a video of David performing If Love Were All.
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Category: Transgender History, Transgender Opinion
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
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