So, in 1985 the most famous revered Spainsh flamenco dancer of all time (1936-2004) so handsome was this guy but don't think he was gay, anyway.. Antonio Esteve Rodenas / Antonio Gades was in Marbella, Spain the Puerto Banus he was on vacation from his many touring company shows and was looking for some fun .. I met him at a party that Jean Negulesco gave and we hit it off. He showed me some dance moves and I gave him a dinner party.. I had six people at my glass top dinner table and two more on the chesterfield brown leather sofa and one more on the chesterfield chair. I cleared the coffee table of books etc. I set up my Wedgewood china all around for the nine people. I put Antonio at the head of the table, I sat on the sofa .. I had hired a female French chef/cook and she made a leg of lamb, sliced the meat and put in garlic and did a cauliflower with a lovely bechamel white sauce, chocolate mousse etc.. She did all the shopping. It took her all day to make this dinner for nine people did the serving and wash-up, the whole French bit, I made her a special apron to wear, I wanted it just right.. Gades was a big deal.. I had two kitchens, because it was two apartments front to back. I was the bartender in the back kitchen ... So, after dinner and more wine and after dinner drinks, the entertainment was a fortune teller from Belgium. She was a palm reader, that I had flown down and put up in a hotel and paid to be there and she was the female head of my dinner table, anyway, she was expensive, the best in Europe. She had a tape recorder that she turned on and asked people to contact a dead person, from beyond, another dimension type thing and she did a palm reading **** So, she went around and with the recorder on talked to everyone.. Anyway, after she asked everyone she played back the tape recorder and there was only one strange sounding voice on it. A mans voice loud and clear. From the kitchen with the door only half closed we heard a plate drop and crash and break. My female expensive 'French Chef' Marie was washing up the dishes. So, she comes out of the kitchen white as a sheet and said it was her late husbands unmistakable voice, as clear as a bell, something in French about 'Forgive Me' !! .. Now, the 'Fortune Teller' didn't even ask 'HER' to conjure up a dead person. She was the expensive help a celebrity/chef.. We were all a little freaked out about it, she, was so distraught she had to go home early in a taxi couldn't even drive her own car .. We all had another drink and then Jean Negulesco and Antonio Cades told us about the time they made the movie in 1964 called 'The Pleasure Seekers' for 20th Century Fox. Also, about the time Antonio was the lead dancer at La Scala in Milan, Italy, in the 1960's. Antonio Gades was very anti-fascist and made a big deal about that. He was huge in Cuba and very left wing but, so was I, and he knew that! It was the height of the social season and my balcony sliding door was open and you could hear all the people walking/talking going to bars etc., from my third floor apartment and a paparazzi that I knew and liked was down by his car waiting. I invited him up to take some pictures... So, here is a picture of Antonio Gades .. Antonio was I think around 50 at the time ... the pictures were in a couple of magazines around Europe and then I bought it from my paparazzi friend. He was a hurricane of glamour. I was so glad I had him up for dinner and spend time with him. I bought the 'French Chef a well-chosen gift' .. I didn't want her to think it was some kind of a cruel trick, but, she never worked for me again !! Antonio had class not really born rich but a natural born dancer with a heart the size of Chicago .. :) Jean said that he was a fine actor with a capital A as well on the movie, and not just a Flamenco dancer .........
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