Read Online The Prince of Paradise by John Glatt - Free Book Online Page B

teaching the Americanos how to dance cha-cha, mambo, tango, and the beginnings of bossa nova.”
    Hechavarria told the Miami New Times that he was just one of several Latin band leaders seduced by the beautiful Bernice Novack. “Let me tell you,” he recalled, “she was a beautiful woman. She was hard to say no to.”
    Bernice also had a fling with the handsome Cuban bandleader Pupi Campo. When Ben Novack found out, he had the musician savagely beaten up and thrown out of the hotel.
    “Pupi Campo,” Fontainebleau manager Lenore Toby said, sighing. “That’s the one that created the big scandal. That’s when they split.”
    When Novack accused Bernice of cheating on him, a huge argument ensued. She then threw him out of their suite, saying she was getting an attorney and wanted a divorce. It was soon the talk of the hotel, as staff wondered what would happen next.
    “I do remember the scandal,” said Dixie Evans. “Obviously something happened, because why would the rumor go round that Mr. Novack had [Campo] beaten up? Why would he just go out and beat up the head musician? The show was great. Everybody liked him.”
    On Friday, August 14, 1964, Miami News columnist Herb Rau ran a cryptic blind item in his widely read “Miami Confidential” column: “Rumors are flying that a prominent Miami Beach hotelier and his wife are on the verge of extremism in the pursuit of individual liberty.”
    A month later, on September 7, Rau led off with another blind item: “It’s a serious matter between a Miami Beach hotel owner and his wife,” his column began. “She’s been talking to her attorneys, and she’s bantering around a figure in the millions as a divorce settlement.”
    On Tuesday, October 6, Bernice Novack sued Ben in circuit court, charging him with cruelty. She also asked for custody of their eight-year-old son, Ben Jr. The suit stated that besides being “a good wife,” she had always offered her husband “industry and services” to help him run the Fontainebleau hotel. She also asked the judge to award her temporary alimony until the divorce could be heard in court, and that Ben Sr. pay all her court costs.
    That morning, the Miami News carried the story with the headline “Novack Sued for Divorce.” The following day, Herb Rau gloated in his column that Ben and Bernice Novack had “made the headlines” bearing out his previous two items.
    After filing for divorce, Bernice moved out of the Fontainebleau, leaving Benji with his father. Then father and son moved out of the Governor’s Suite and into a two-bedroom suite in another part of the hotel.
    During the Novacks’ acrimonious split, Dixie Evans, who by then was the chief night switchboard operator, fielded many dramatic telephone calls between them.
    “We used to listen in and pull our key back,” she recalled. “No, we didn’t really eavesdrop … but as an employee you do kind of follow the trend. And when a phone call comes in, you know who to plug up and ring.”
    Maxine Fiel said that soon after they split Ben Novack desperately tried to win her sister back. “When she broke off with him, he would send cases of liquor … the best steaks.”
    Eventually, Bernice gave in, and in July 1965, just days before circuit judge E. Schultz was due to make his final ruling, she dropped the divorce suit and moved back into the Fontainebleau.
    But the couple appeared less than optimistic that things would work out, stipulating that if the divorce suit were revived within two years, Bernice would receive alimony of $17,500 a year ($120,600 in today’s money), and $7,500 ($51,600) in child support for Ben Jr.
    Soon afterward, Bernice embarked on a passionate affair with Latin drummer George Rodriguez, whom she had met at the Boom Boom Room. “He played drums at the Fontainebleau,” said Estelle Fernandez. “She went with him when she was having a hard time with Ben.”
    Once again Novack discovered Bernice’s cheating, but this time he took