Maxine in Chicago

Publicity photo of Maxine.
Photo courtesy of "Sybian Dance of Chicago

Maxine followed Felix to America, to Chicago, where she started her own “Sybian Dance Troupe” in a spare classroom at a music school. Felix, who worked as a janitor at the school, would often improvise on the piano or accordion for her classes. Felix introduced Maxine to his new friend, Pedro. Lust instantly took over. Senor Yarez took her hand and said, “To what do I owe this pleasure?” And like the trained dancing Sybarite horses that, in the heat of battle, promptly danced over to the enemy’s side, the battle of charms was over.

Pedro Yarez was born and raised in Havana and won the trust of Castro who put him in charge of his covert harem and his cabana-sized cigar humidor. When doctors told Fidel he had to give up cigars, he tore down not only the humidor, but also the harem. (What good was sex without a cigar afterwards?) It was then that Castro discovered Pedro had been helping himself quite generously to the inventory of both places. Along with his brother, he escaped to Miami, where he worked as a cook, bouncer and bodyguard, before becoming involved in the drug and sex trade. He moved to Chicago, where on a summer evening in Humboldt Park, he met Felix S. Culpa.

In a street café, over beer and a game of dominoes, the two shared how cruel fate could be. Feeling a camaraderie with Felix, Pedro traded a night with two of his finest girls for some music and poetry. A true Cuban, he was a hopeless romantic. “Sentiment will kill me,” he said, and a while later, it did.

Even after she moved in with Pedro, she continued to act as a Felix’s muse and caretaker of his music. To supplement her income, Pedro got her a job at the Admiral Theater, where he worked part-time as a bouncer. “Exotic Dancing” came naturally to her.


Maxine at the Admiral theater, Chicago.
Photo courtesy of Pedro Yarez Estate