The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Summary | Part 1 Summary

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is the story of Cesar and Nestor Castillo, two brothers who come to America from Cuba in 1949 in their quest for a better life and the chance to play their mambo music. As the story begins, it is early in the 1960's in New York City and Eugenio Castillo, Nestor Castillo's young son, is being called in from the street by the landlady because a rerun of I Love Lucy is about to come on the television. This particular episode is special because Nestor and his brother, Cesar, appear with Desi Arnaz on the show and play the parts of two Cuban brothers playing in the imaginary club of Ricky Ricardo, Arnaz' character on the show.

The Castillo brothers perform a song that has made them popular in New York City, "Beautiful Maria of My Soul," which Nestor has written about a girl he loved and lost. Eugenio runs to the apartment of his uncle Cesar to tell him about the TV show but Cesar is no longer a young man and has spent the day recovering from another long night of playing and singing in a club. Eventually Eugenio is able to rouse Cesar who watches the program through slits of eyes and sees his wonderful brother, Nestor, again standing with Desi Arnaz in all their youthful prowess.

The story switches to Cesar's perspective and he sits in the Hotel Splendour where he has checked himself in with several items including old phonograph records, song lyrics, photographs, cigarettes and liquor. It is Cesar's intention to drink himself to death in this room because he is tired of living with the body of an old man whose machismo is long gone. Cesar looks around the room and thinks that he may have stayed in this room before with one of his girlfriends, Vickie Vane, in the early days of his life in New York. Cesar is overcome with the thoughts of the voluptuous Vickie and his mind wanders to the early days of playing in the band he led called the Mambo Kings.

Cesar and Nestor had come from Cuba in 1949 to escape an abusive father and in the hopes of making a nice living playing their music. Arriving in New York from Havana, the Castillo brothers had been completely unprepared for the harsh realities of life in New York City beginning with the snow that greeted them and soaked through their island shoes and think overcoats. Cesar and Nestor live in an apartment with their cousin, Pablo, and his wife and children. By day the Castillo brothers work in a meat packing plant but by night they play their music in clubs and in every job they can find. Arriving home in the middle of the night, Pablo's wife cooks them huge meals of Cuban food and then they sleep a short while and get up to go to their day jobs.

Pablo warns the brothers that it is love and family which make a man happy, not just playing mambo music but Cesar and Nestor have dreams of being famous musicians which had no place to grow in Cuba so the brothers continue the frantic lifestyle for which only young men have enough energy and drive. The brothers had brought with them from Cuba stacks of music they had written while playing with a small band in Cuba, the most famous song being "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" written about a girl Nestor had once loved and lost. Nestor still mourns the loss of Maria and the night life of New York City does not really appeal to him and he goes out only at the repeated urgings of Cesar.

Maria is never far from Nestor's mind though and he carries her picture with him at all times and constantly hums the melody of the song which bears her name. Over his lifetime, Nestor will have rewritten the song forty-four times in an attempt at perfection he thinks befitting the beautiful girl. Back in the Castillo brothers' hometown of Santiago de Cuba, Cesar had met a mambo musician named Julian Garcia and soon became a musician in Julian's band. Cesar enjoyed the camaraderie of being part of this band where he first earned his reputation as the Mambo King for his musical and sexual prowess.

More than anything about the association with Julian, Cesar appreciates the sense of family within the band and with Julian's family. It is this sense of belonging and the hope of love which draws Cesar to Julian's niece, Luisa, who is not an exceptionally pretty girl but Cesar senses devotion and a feeling of peace with Luisa. Cesar and Luisa marry, move to Havana and have a daughter whom they name Mariela. Cesar's sense of family is dwarfed by his Latin masculinity and he soon strays claiming that his infidelity is the right of a Cuban man and that Luisa needs to accept this. For awhile Luisa looks the other way but when she learns that one of Cesar's girlfriends is pregnant, Luisa leaves Cesar and takes Mariela and the couple never reconciles.

The story now switches to Nestor's perspective as he recalls a day in 1950 in New York City when he sees a beautiful girl waiting for the same bus he is. Nestor rides the bus with the girl and learns that her name is Delores Fuentes who cleans house for a rich man in the city. Nestor is impressed that Delores is intelligent and beautiful and invites her to come to the Imperial Ballroom the following weekend to dance and hear the Mambo Kings play.

Delores has always been a studious and quiet girl having taken care of her father when just the two of them left Havana for America. Delores never understood the separation between her parents and is angry at her father who goes to the Cuban clubs at night and leaves her alone in the apartment. Finally one night Delores follows her father to one of the clubs and sees him smiling and dancing and knows that her father had sought joy in his life which is the reason for leaving her mother in Cuba.

Eventually Delores' sister, Ana Maria, joins her in New York and Ana Maria loves the nightlife while Delores is content to stay home and read books which transport her to places beyond the walls of the grimy apartment. But on this night, it is Delores who suggests that she and Ana Maria go out dancing because she has met a musician who plays at the Imperial Ballroom. Nestor and Delores connect again that night and soon become inseparable spending time together every moment they can.

Nestor feels very strongly about Delores but cannot get the thought of Maria out of his mind and he thinks about the day he first met her. Nestor had been walking down the street and heard the sounds of a man and woman fighting and Nestor intervenes so that the woman will not be physically harmed. The woman is Maria and she devotes herself to Nestor and the two fall passionately in love.

This love affair lasts many weeks and Nestor proposes marriage and Maria continually evades the question. Nestor asks Cesar's advice on the situation and Cesar counsels Nestor that he needs to abuse Maria so that she knows that the man in the relationship is the one in charge. Nestor follows Cesar's advice and one day Maria does not show up for a date and Nestor cannot find her at home, at work, or at any of the clubs they had frequented. Finally Maria's landlord tells Nestor that Maria has moved away and Nestor finds her in a little house with the man who had been beating her on the night Nestor came to her rescue. Apparently that man is Maria's husband and there is no hope of reconciliation between Nestor and Maria.

Nestor's thoughts now return to present day and his relationship with Delores who is now pregnant. Nestor is still consumed with passion for Maria but marries Delores out of duty and the hope that a family life will erase any traces of Maria from his mind. Delores has a baby boy who the couple names Eugenio, followed by the birth of a daughter, Leticia, three years later.

It is now 1954 and Nestor is traveling with the Mambo Kings as they perform in cities all across America and he diligently sends letters and gifts to his family but the thought of Maria never leaves him. Back to Cesar's memories, the year is 1955 and the Mambo Kings are hugely popular in New York City clubs and have even had some minor success with some recordings. Cesar basks in the glory and the celebrity but Nestor is plagued by depression and extensive bouts of anxiety which never seem to completely go away. Cesar takes his brother for massages and herbal cleansings but these are only temporary solutions for the tormented Nestor.

Cesar is plagued by his own sort of melancholy in the loss of his daughter who still lives with his ex-wife in Havana. Cesar sends cards and gifts regularly and flies to Havana as much as he can, but the guilt and the loneliness eat at Cesar and no one knows the pain that hides behind the vigorous musician as he beats the conga drums and sings for the patrons of the Latin music clubs.

One night as the Mambo Kings are performing at the Mambo Nine Club, they are pleased to be greeted by Desi Arnaz and his wife, Lucille Ball, who have heard their act and are so impressed that Desi would like Cesar and Nestor to perform the song "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" on the I Love Lucy show in Hollywood.

During a conversation over drinks it is revealed that Arnaz comes from the same area as the Castillo brothers and an immediate friendship is struck. Arnaz had also played with Julian Garcia, just like Cesar did, and the men find many things to share. Cesar asks Arnaz and Miss Ball to dinner at Nestor's house where Delores will have prepared huge plates of Cuban food. Arnaz is quick to accept the invitation and the party moves to Nestor's home and Delores is pleased and surprised to host the celebrities in her humble apartment.

A few months later Cesar and Nestor find themselves in Los Angeles for their appearance on the I Love Lucy show. Cesar revels in the luxuries and dining made possible by the studio's expense account but Nestor cannot fully relax in anticipation of the appearance on the show. The brothers perform wonderfully on the show and a lifetime friendship is forged with the Castillo brothers and Desi Arnaz. Cesar takes the opportunity to bed as many California girls as possible in their brief stay in Hollywood but Nestor's sense of duty to Delores will not allow him to stray outside the marriage vows.

As the result of their appearance on the Lucy show, Cesar and Nestor achieve instant fame and their monetary fortunes change for the better with a national tour and recording royalties from the performance of "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" by other artists. The song is so popular that royalty payments would continue to arrive for the rest of the brothers' lives. With his new fortune, Cesar purchases a brand new DeSoto and feels as if he has finally arrived to be able to drive such a wonderful vehicle around the streets of New York and impress the women with his new tool of seduction.

One night soon after the purchase of the DeSoto, the Mambo Kings drive to New Jersey to play at a private party. The band plays their normal set of songs with Nestor playing especially brilliantly during his solo of "Beautiful Maria of My Soul." Vicki Vane, Cesar's girlfriend had come along this evening and she and Cesar are anxious to get back to the city for an intimate encounter.

At the end of the evening Nestor slips into the driver's seat of the DeSoto while Cesar and Vicki embrace amorously in the back seat. Before long the car hits a patch of ice and the DeSoto careens off the road and hits a tree and Nestor dies at the site. It is the winter of 1957 and Nestor was only thirty-years-old. Cesar is destroyed at the death of his younger brother and it is dawn before he arrives back in the city to deliver the sad news to Delores, Eugenio and Leticia.

Cesar helps to make the funeral arrangements and meets Vicki for a sexual encounter the day before the funeral because he cannot stand the stress and pain of Nestor's death. Cesar remains living in the same apartment with Delores and the children but finds that he has strong amorous feelings for his brother's widow. Once when Cesar comes home especially drunk he makes a pass at Delores and makes his feelings known but Delores deflects Cesar and soon begins to date an accountant named Pedro.

After Nestor's death, Cesar loses all heart and feeling for the music yet keeps the Mambo Kings together out of habit if nothing else. Cesar hires a trumpet player to replace Nestor and winces in pain every time the new man plays Nestor's solo during "Beautiful Maria of My Soul." Cesar's grief is so great he wishes he could trade places with Nestor so he could be relieved of this unending pain.

Soon the other band members suggest that Cesar take a small vacation and he returns to Cuba for a few weeks to visit his family. Cesar's mother is overjoyed to see her son especially with the death of Nestor still so fresh on her mind. Cesar's other three brothers are also happy to see Cesar but their father is still reserved at showing any affection and cannot help but taunt Cesar about his failure to be a famous musician that the old man had predicted at the time that Cesar and Nestor left Cuba.

Cesar has only unhappy memories of his father, which more often than not involved some sort of violence ending with Cesar cowering in a corner or under a table to avoid his father's wrath. Cesar even remembers a time when the old man chased Cesar across a field with a machete for some unexplained offense on Cesar's part. As father and son run through the field the old man yells for Cesar to help him because he has impaled his foot on a stake which had been hidden in the weeds. The old man appears to be in severe pain but Cesar hesitates to come closer to his father for fear it is a trick and the old man will surely cut him in half as soon as Cesar is close enough. Eventually Cesar realizes that this is no ruse and he sees the wooden stake protruding through his father's foot. Cesar releases his father and practically carries him home and Cesar thinks that perhaps the argument is over but later that night the old man resumes his attack on Cesar now limited to words instead of a machete due to his wounded condition.

Seeing his mother on this visit is like a balm for the broken Cesar and he asks his mother to wash his hair in the courtyard like she used to do when he was a young boy. This simple act of caring and nurturing so close to his beloved mother does so much to heal Cesar's broken heart. Cesar is also happy to see the other women in the household who were a part of his raising with their household and kitchen duties.

While he is in Havana, Cesar has the opportunity to also visit his daughter, Mariela, who is now thirteen-years-old. Cesar's ex-wife, Luisa, has remarried and is happily pregnant. Luisa tells Cesar of Mariela's intelligence and gift for the ballet which she practices with much passion. Mariela is happy to see Cesar who treats her to meals and pretty dresses during his brief stay. Cesar tries to reassure Mariela that the divorce of her parents had nothing to do with her and that Cesar loves her and always will. Father and daughter part once more with Cesar promising to visit again as soon as he can. Cesar returns to New York and resumes his work but never returns to leading the Mambo Kings.

A short while later Cesar joins the Merchant Marines at the urging of Ana Maria's boyfriend and travels the world for a couple of years. Cesar embraces the opportunity to see different cities and he is particularly fond of the Mediterranean countries because they remind him of his native Cuba. Everywhere he goes during his travels, Cesar finds women for intimate encounters and continues to drown his depression in alcohol. Nevertheless Cesar never forgets his brother's children, Eugenio and Leticia, and sends them picturesque postcards from all his travels so that the children will always know they are loved.

When Cesar returns from his time in the Merchant Marines, he moves back into the apartment with Delores and the children even though Delores is now married to the accountant Pedro. Although it is Cesar's apartment and his name is on the lease, Delores will not allow Cesar and his friends to drink and play music into the wee hours of the morning like they did when Delores was married to Nestor. Delores asks Cesar to find his own place and move out and he promises that he will but Cesar's sense of hopelessness and aimlessness stretch on into days, weeks and soon months of wandering and depression. As usual, Cesar drowns his sorrows in voluptuous women and alcohol. During this time, Eugenio takes special care to look out for his uncle and even Leticia cannot resist playing with Cesar as if they know their uncle mourns Nestor as much as they do and they need him for the connection to their dead father.

In boredom, Cesar takes a little of his savings and purchases an ice cream cart but ends up giving away most of the product because he always has a soft heart for children. Eventually Cesar sells the ice cream business and buys some new suits, a sign that maybe he is returning to his old self again. One day Cesar sees a "Help Wanted" sign in one of the windows of his apartment building and finds out that the owner, Mrs. Shannon, is looking for a new maintenance man. Cesar approaches Mrs. Shannon about the position and the old woman is pleased to know of Cesar's interest because she has always been enamored with the dashing Cesar.

Mrs. Shannon gives Cesar the job on a trial basis and he moves into one of the vacant apartments which pleases Delores and Pedro. Cesar maintains a close relationship with Nestor's children and has dinner with the family several times a week. Surprisingly Cesar adapts to the janitorial position quite well and becomes comfortable in his basement office surrounded by tools and his Mambo Kings recordings. Cesar makes friends with the tenants and calls begin to come in for Cesar to revive the Mambo Kings and to begin playing music again.