This is all great information, Penny. It sounds as if you had a wonderful trip.
My brother-in-law was working in Biloxi in one of the riverboat gambling house/theaters on the coast before Katrina. He managed to get his wife and newborn daughter out of the state just in time. When he went back to see if they could salvage any of their things from their first floor apartment, he found his place of business in the middle of the freeway and a high water mark a few inches below the ceiling of his apartment. Very little was saveable. This certainly wasn't historic stuff. I hope Biloxi's museum can recover. LynnD On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 2:41 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > New Orleans: I am back from Mardi Gras! OMG!!! Wait until you see the > photos and video! Zulu's costumes were great! I am working on them now. > I > asked one of the Zulu paraders to stop so that I could photograph him. Got > the photo and he gave me the most treasured item of Mardi Gras...the golden > coconut! > > I also got to see Pete Fountain and the cast of HBO's series Treme...Steve > Zahn is as crazy as on the show. All the cast was on the float. I was so > excited to see Pete Fountain. I grew up hearing his music. I did get a > close-up view of the Comus Queen. I watched on TV the toast of Comus and > Rex and their trains were so plain in comparison to Mobile's MG royalty. > > Mobile: I got lots of photos of Joe Cain's Merry Widows. There is a lot > of > history behind the story. The Widows were so thrilled that someone from > Virginia came to photograph them. One of the widows, my favorite, was > wearing a bustle dress. After the funeral, a man went down on one knee and > she pulled up her skirt and he took off her garter. She also smoked a > large > cigar. What a ham! The Merry Widows wore large Edwardian, Merry Widows > style. Their prize throw was a cup with their signature trinkets, emblem > necklace, doubloons, and a garter. Guess who gave it to me...Mrs. Bustle. > They also give out black silk roses...I got a rose from each widow and wove > them into a wreath for my head.. The Widows were a true story! Nine widows > showed up at the real Joe Cain funeral. > > The Widows always started the Joe Cain Mardi Gras parade in their special > float. My sister noticed some ladies stationed in front of their > float--all > dressed in nice, some sexy red dresses. I flashed my press pass to > investigate who they were and photograph them. Six years ago these ladies > showed up at the parade all wearing red. They call themselves Joe Cain's > Mistresses. They saw my black rose wreath and said, "You need some red in > that!" They gave me some red roses for the wreath. I hand carried the > wreath everywhere, even on the airplane. > > While in Mobile, I took more photos at the Mobile Carnival Museum. After a > big search for the location of the local history archive library, we found > it with two hours to spare. I am researching descriptions of the kings > and > queens costumes back to the 1920s. So much thought was put into each train > to reflect their family history, personalities, hobbies, religions, etc. > We > did pull newspaper articles with the descriptions for two years. A BIG > bonus was an article about a designer who created 25 robes/trains for 25 > Kings & queens from 1909-1950s. She made all of the trains with a treadle > sewing machine. I will be back in Mobile late May through mid-June for my > son's wedding. I hope that I time to pull more research. > > I did find out that the museum's lower floor was flooded during Hurricane > Katrina. They lost some of their 1960s kings & queens regalia. I pray > that > we can find our master copy of the video were shot in 1999 with these > costumes. It has to be somewhere in our house. We have been tearing the > house apart to find it. I did photograph a 1961 Queen train & crown this > visit. > > Sadly, Biloxi's Mardi Gras Museum is still not open. They are working on > the historic mansion that housed the collection. The museum was under 20 > ft. of water during Hurricane Katrina. Their costumes were sent to > Jackson, > Mississippi to try to restore them. > > Penny Ladnier, owner > The Costume Gallery Websites > www.costumegallery.com > 15 websites of fashion, costume, and textile history > FaceBook: > http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Costume-Gallery-Websites/107498415961579 > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
