Blog #13: Zeyna in Puerto Rico

I got off the plane and got slammed with humidity that I never knew could exist but in a steam room, the taxi took me to the Flamboyan Hotel. The first thing I noticed was the lobby was completely open, no doors! The next thing I noticed was Kazar, the man I first met with Eddy Kojak in front of the Britania was walking towards me smiling and then welcomed me to Puerto Rico. We rehearsed that afternoon and the next and then the following night I started working. Kazar was the drummer and manager of the group. Who knew! The main night club was lobby level with the biggest stars, then there were the lounge acts. We were on the second open floor level called The Casbah La Vista. It was more like a open veranda with a huge canvas for a roof. It was hotter then a witch’s tit dancing out there. I danced first and the famed dancer “AHMAD” Russell Jarjour and his dance partner at the time “Bahia” were the stars and what a star he was! We became very good friends over the years. He was a fantastic dancer and what I loved was, even though belly dancing was suppose to be feminine he was masculine in his movements.

After that Abramhim & Phaedra (Bobby Farrah & Phyllis) replaced them and they were also very nice people and easy to work with. Later on, Kazar was offered to take the show to the Puerto Rico Sheraton Hotel where I ended up working with Soraya, Shemsi, Fatosh and a number of others. Eddy took over at the Flamboyan and I bounced back and forth between the two hotels for 3 years. I learned a lot there working with these people and being surrounded with big stars and even met some. We were even hired to perform on the U.S.S. Guam, a war ship docked there. I performed for over three thousand sailors and then invited back for dinner with the Captain and his first officers. When I was getting dressed to perform I had four guards at the door. We also went to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
My highlight was being put on the front page and being billed over Bobby and Phaedra and
was featured on the front page. I was holding my own.