| Comus is the
oldest of the carnival krewes, but it is Rex who is "King of Carnival"
and rules the day. Until recently it was widely thought that Rex was
created to honor the visit of the Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff. The Grand
Duke was very fond of the burlesque star Lydia Thompson. He saw her
perform in Bluebeard in New York City. She sang the song, "If ever
I Cease to Love" and captured the rogue's heart. He was smitten
by her performance and extended his stay to include a trip to New Orleans
to see her perform again.
For 125 years, we have thought that the business leaders had planned the first daytime parade to honor the Grand Duke, but this was not true. They had planned the parade all along and took the opportunity to capitalize on his visit. Alexis had already seen Lydia again 6 weeks earlier in Saint Louis and the song, "If Ever..." was already extremely popular in New Orleans. The Rex promoter, as well as Lydia's, took advantage of the Duke's visit, not to promote the romance between the two, but to insure a full house at the theater and the parade. The Duke was a no-show at the performance (he was hanging out at the Jockey Club), however he did attend the parade. He declined to sit on the "throne" that had been constructed for him and instead reviewed Comus and Rex from an ordinary chair. "If Ever I Cease to Love" became the official song of Rex and they changed the lyrics to "May the Grand Duke Alexis ride a buffalo in Texas, if ever I cease to love. Interestingly enough, Alexis apparently had a great time in New Orleans as he went to see Lotta Crabtree (where did they get these names?) at the dance hall where she was performing. Lotta was considered Lydia's main competition. Not only did the Grand Duke attend the show, he also presented Miss Crabtree with a diamond bracelet! (Boy - those were the days!) Also making their first appearance were the "official" carnival colors of purple, green and gold. The Rex lieutenants are on horseback and dressed in any one of those colors, boots, cape and all. The Captain, who is in charge of the ball and parade, wears white and gold. Later, in 1892, Rex's theme was "Symbolism of Colors" where the crowd learned that purple was for justice, green was for faith and gold was for power. |
Membership
in the old line krewes was by invitation only and most have not accepted
new members for many generations. Sometimes if a gentleman gives up
his membership or dies, only one of his sons may take his place. In
1992 a city counsel woman named Dorothy Mae Taylor forced an ordinance
that all parading krewes must open their membership rolls. At one time,
membership may have been exclusionary, but now they were just full!
Women did not want to have men in their all female krewes and visa versa.
This became a very hot issue, dividing the city. No one was promoting
discrimination but no one wanted anything to change either. Three of
the oldest old line parading krewes, Momus, Comus and Proteus declined
to parade in protest of the city council's interference. Rex moved the
Queen's viewing stands to a hotel from the private Boston Club, where
she had been greeting her King for over 125 years.
This was an extremely unpopular decision in all circles. It took away business from floatmakers, costumers, dressers, caterers, bands and dress shops just to name a few. Through rescheduling and lots of innovation by people in the city, other krewes have been formed. The most popular one is Orpheus, a mixed gender krewe started by Harry Connick, Jr. Many paraded for only a year or so and then disbanded, usually because of a lack of funds. Proteus had decided to parade this year after a seven year absence and while the ordinance no longer requires women's krewes to include men (and visa versa), all membership rolls have been opened to a certain amount of new members. Comus still does not parade, but some members have taken to forming a procession from Antoine's restaurant, ringing cowbells, to the Municipal Auditorium for their ball. The cowbells are to honor the Cowbellion de Rankin Society of Mobile, AL the krewe that started it all. |
King Cake, Balls, Throws and Doubloons
