Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-08
Some Things You Want to Know
The New Orleans Carnival.

90hS ObALANdds ]
Comus. proteus or Menus Is to score a tri-
umph OF dazzling brilliancy. All these dis
tinctions, however, pale before the honor
OF the queen of the carnival the occu-
pant of Rex's throne and the recipient OF
the homage of all New Orleans.
Generally, queens and maids are chosen
from the families Of members OF the or
ganizatiOn. This rule has been OCCASION
ally violated, as, for instance. when Win
ME Davis. The Daughter Of the Confed-
eracy.' was chosen to preside over one of
the carnival balls. Miss Davis had no rel
atives in the carnival organization which
made her its queen" but her case is not
looked upon as establishing a precedent.
The king" ia always somo member OF
the organization who has been long in
service. His Identity is made known to the
whole membership, In the case OF all the
organizations save Rex, only on the night
OF the entertainment. Rex, which gives two
pageants, one today and one tomorrow, has
two kings, whose identity is revealed to
the members just before the pageant start.
The king of the carnival is the monarch
who will preside over the Rex festivities
tomorrow. His name is eventually made
public by the New Orleans newspapers
and is the only one in connection with tn,
carnival which is thus revealed, all the
other kings" remaining unknown so far
as the public in general is concerned. The
beautiful Jewels worn by the carnival kings
and queens, made abroad and costing $500
or $500 per set, become the personal prop
erty Of the wearers, the gift OF the organ
izations.
In order to understand what the earn
Wal balls are, two points must be borne in
mind. The first is, the essentially private
character OF these Entertainments. The So
cietles consider that the parades are for
the public, but the balls are for themselves.
Invitations are therefore hard to procure
and are highly valued. The other point is,
that these carnival balls are the descend
ants of the old king parties popular in
colonial Louisiana, and still enjoyed in the
rural parts of the state. In these scattered
communities, where the weekend dance Is
the main amusement. it is customary to
crown some young man king" who is
thereby put under obligation to entertain
at a similar ball within a specified time.
These continue until the advent of Lent
puts an end to such g~aleties.
The average carnival society has between
$50 and 400 members, and the dues range
go " FlVVs AhCiS LIZ pIODdDly less
than 5000 men whose time, money and
brains max and pay for the New Orleans
carnival. They represent the most exclus.
i've circles in the city. Who they are is a
matter of speculation, as the names OF
the members are jealousy guarded. In
fact. everything about the carnival is kept
a profound secret, partly because 1t is
necessary to make the pageants effective.
but also because the mystery whets the
enjoyment of the participants. The mask.
ers upon the cars in the carnival process.
sions are the rich. prominent and exclusive
citizens Of New Orleans. 1t is sometimes
hard for the visitor to, understand thai
elderly business men, bankers, brokers
noted lawyers and judges should be willing
to don the mask and costume and undergo
the fatigue of a carnival parade, but sucf
is the fact.
On the carnival parades and the balls Of
the six or eight minor societies, New Or
leans spends from $3.50, 900 to S175, 900. TIL,
average pageant costs from $4,000 to $50, 900
These sums are drawn almost exclusively
from the pockets of the members. In ad
dition to the Aues, every member appear
ing in mask at the opera house balls II
expected to present flowers and souvenir.
to the young ladies with whom he dances
which, together with the expense of car
riages and suppers, seldom amount to les,
than 500 for the evenings entertainment
For many years the chief %carniva
pageants were designed by b. A. WIKI
strom, the New Orleans artist, who died II
New York last year while at work on tht
< Hudson river pageant. The finest floatt
are made by one firm, a father and hi
sons. In their huge workshops on the out
skirts Of New Orleans the work goes or
rapidly throughout the year, two or three
cars being completed every week, so tina.
within eight months the Comus, Proteus
Rex and Momus cars are all completed
1t is the fact that nowhere else in tho
world can workmen equally ingenious bC
found to undertake this sort Of labor, tina
makes the New Orleans carnival unique
In fact, the failure of attempt after at.
tempt to initiate these pageants has lee
to the curious practice of other cities, buy.
ing the cars after they have been used II
New Orleans. Rex gets back some of thu
money it spends this way; but the othel
large organizations do not sell their cars
nor make any attempt to carry over from
year to year anything of Importance. Vas
throngs flock to New Orleans to see tn,
carnival pageants. The number is con
servatively estimated at 100. 900, and tn,
money left in the city by this army o
sightseers aggregates an immense sum
probably over 1900, 900.
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.
Tomorrow-AHeeting Of Clay Workers.