In the 1950's the Hamptons went by the name of Havana, it was also located 1,300 miles south on the beautiful country of Cuba.
There was a club called the Tropicana, it was all the rage in the US. They had a private airline that would take US citizens on a dance and cocktail full flight straight to the clubs back door.
Full bar as well as full bands played on the planes. That's how famous people, like Nat King Cole, would come back and forth from America to the club.
Famous people like, Marlon Brando (pictured above), would come to dance and drink the night away. No dance was too cheeky, no costume to over the top. This is was the hight of the social scene, where there was never enough champange and a celebrity at every table.
The Tropicana attracted socialites of the day as much as celebrities. The energy must have been electric and zintrickty (my word) as lights and libations were flug around the room.
The choreographer, Roderico Neyra, who was known as Rodney, was crazy, and they let him get away with whatever he wanted because he was brilliant and he drew in such huge crowds. For one show, he filled Arcos de Cristal with ice and created an ice-skating rink.
Another show would be live animals, lions and elephants, and a giant goblet of champagne girls would dance in. The Tropicana was the first venue to feature a showgirl entrance by zeppelin.
Above is a picture of the overall club with stage where the zeppelin entered, where he fit the first onstage ice rink is beyond me. The white noise much have been absolutey astounding, I could picture myself is a haltered fitted red velvet dress drinking a crushed ice daiquiri in the at the bar listening to the waves of laughter and banter like waves on a beach, or monkeys and birds calling out in a jungle of beautiful people enjoying the scene of dancing and music making.
