Monika: Before you started your movie and theatre career you were a female impersonator. How would you define this kind of vocation. Could it be regarded as a piece of art or just another form of entertainment or show business?
Aleshia: As I must always stress, Monika, the only assessments I can make on ANYTHING are based on personal experience. I cannot speak to the experience of others. No where would this be truer than when answering your question concerning female impersonation. There are many people, both straight and gay, who are devotees of impersonation as an art form. My experience ‘back-stage’, behind the façade at Finocchio’s in San Francisco, was limited and merely a respite during my gender journey. I was a neophyte, a “new Nanette”. I became a headliner at the prestigious night club in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s because of how I looked, not because of any professional expertise and/or show business acumen.
I was quite impressed, and at times awed by the long tradition of the art form and by the professionalism of the impressionist with whom I’d suddenly found myself working.
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| Publicity shot from Finocchio's in "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" costume, 1962. |
