By Staff
Leada Gore, Editor
We were sitting around watching television recently when a commercial came on featuring the 1970s star Charo. “How old is she?” Greg asked. “Seems like she’s been around forever.”
And it does. Charo and her tagline “Cuchi! Cuchi!” are sort of like Cher – they’ve both been entertaining for as long as I’ve been alive.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, I learned a lot about Charo, way more than I ever wanted to know, in fact.
I learned she speaks Japanese and is an excellent Flamenco guitarist. I learned she’d been on the “Love Boat” at least 10 times and has a son who’s a drummer in a heavy metal band. And, I learned how old Charo is – sort of.
It seems Charo has two birthdays. When she first came to the United States, she listed her year of birth as 1941. This would make her 65 today.
However, in the 1970s, Charo decided the 1941 birthdate was wrong and said she was born in 1951. This would make her 55 today.
Charo detractors said they question her birthdate change, as it would mean she married her first husband when she was 15, as opposed to 25. He happened to be 66 at the time, so either way you look at it he came out pretty good.
Then I explained Charo’s situation.
I don’t know, but I think it sounds like a great idea. I think I will go and have my birthdate changed from 1970 to 1980, effectively making me 26 as opposed to 36. Or, maybe I should just go all the way and move it to 1990, which would make me 16. This would work out well since I would technically be a new driver and since I own a car, this would make me way ahead of the game of where I was when I was actually 16.
Or maybe I would be 22. That was a pretty good age. Or 25. I always liked ages that ended with five. Or even 30, which, at this point, seems further away than I would like.
My mother has always said she is shocked to have a daughter who’s in her 30s given that she herself is still in her 20s. I’m sure mom will be excited to know her daughter is now in her teens and since we’ve learned we can choose our own ages, my guess is she will opt for about 28.
I think Charo is on to something here. It seems she has indeed found the Fountain of Youth, at least as far as one’s birth certificate is concerned.
My cuchi cuchis to her.