One memory I have of us together is when we watched the bus boycotts in the South, and we were both very nervous. Eddie Mambo’s skin is a little lighter than most to the characters on the show and that was done on purpose, too, because my real cousin had lighter skin than me- as you know, Latinos come in all shades and shapes even if we are in the same family. I never forgot this kid, and when this opportunity came up, I thought I would make a character that had the elements and was a combination of this kid and my own cousin, Eddie. Now, the kid who had polio would lock his braces and then mambo- I mean, the girls were just lining up to dance with him.
For example, Eddie Mambo, who is the little boy with cerebral palsy and is Alma’s cousin on the show, is based on my real cousin, Eddie ‘Guagua’ Rivera, who was the bass player with salsa legend Larry Harlow, and a kid that I knew in my neighborhood they had polio. I just looked at my own family and friends from when I was a kid and created the characters out of that. How did you come up with these characters? Were any inspired by people in your own life?
