***** SUSANNA SAYS *****

69.

well my darlings, it's finally happened. The dream of a lifetime has become a reality. More than 35 years of longing have suddenly burst into the dazzling radiance of achievement. I am sure all of us have secretly wished we could be in a real professional female impersonator show... there's something in those performances that attracts us like a magnet...an enjoyment which is almost bliss...divine gowns...jewelry that is blinding under the spotlights... exquisite footwear...and above all, an audience...people who'll applaud you for looking so much like a female... people who, after the show, will invite you over to their tables just to praise you...to tell you that you look won- derful...that your gowns were exquisite...that your hairdo was fabulous...and you sit bathed in an aura of admiring glances. This is a dream that usually ends in a sigh of resignation...that couln't possibly happen to us. And now Susanna is in ecstasy...she is now performing on the stage as a bona fide member of the Chevalier Revue, one of 5 fe- male impersonators who entertain the vacationists in the Catskill area every week-end.

Remember how blue and despondent I was a few weeks ago? Business is still horrible and the season will end in a terrible financial mess which will necessitate my working through the entire winter just to pay part of the debts---I should be feeling disgusted with everything--- but the Chevalier Revue keeps me going. The cast of im- personators which I described in the last issue of TVia is a thing of the past. Business was so bad that the "girls" quit in search of greener pastures. It was a painful blow since the Chevalier Revue was the only attraction whicch kept people coming to our resort at least on week-ends. We lived a two week-end hiatus. No show. But I wouldn't give up and in those two weeks I organized a new Revue of imper- sonators, 3 professional ones plus Susanna. I rehearsed like mad...drove my dressmaker crasy and made my debut on Friday July 29th as a professional impersonator...a dancer.