El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-07


! umph Of dazzling brilliancy.
Queen of Carnival.
All these distinctions, however, pale
before the honor of the queen of the
carnival" the occupant of Rex's throne
and the recipient of the homage Of all
New Orleans.
Generally. queen and maids are chos-
en- from the families of members or
the organization. This rule has been
occasionally violated, as, for instance
when Winnie Davis, "the Daughter OF
the COnfederacy," was chosen to pre-
side over one of the carnival balls
Miss Davis had no relatives in the
carnival organization which made her
| its queen but her case is not looked
upon as establishing a precedent
Carnival King.
The king is always some 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 mem
bers just before the pageants 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
I one in connection with the 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 property Of the wearers
the gift of the organizations
The Society Balls
In order to understand what the
carnival balls are, two points must be
borne in mind The first is, the es-
sentialIy private character Of these en-
tertainments- The societies Consider
that the parajes are for the public, bur
the balls are for themselves Invita-
lions are therefore hard to procure and
are highly valued
The other point is, that these carni-
val balls are the descendants of the
old king parties" popular in colonial
Louisiana. and etin enjoyed in the
rural parts of the states. In these
scattered communities, where the week
end dance is the main amusement, 1t Is
customary to crown some young man
king" who is thereby put under obli-
CATION at a similar ball within a speci-
fed time These continue until the
advent of Lent puts an end to such
gaities
The average carnivaI society has be-
tween $50 and 400 members, and the
dues range from s25 TO 800 There
are probably less than 5000 men whose
time. money and brains make and pay
for the New Orleans carnival They
represent the most exclusive circles
in the city. Who they are is a matter
ha of q
/ members are jealousy guarded In
fact, everything about the carnival is
kept a profound secret. partly be-
cause it is necessary TO make the pa
geants effective; but also because the
mystery whets the enjoyment of the
participants.
Maskers Are Prominent.
The maskers upon the cars in the
carnival professions are the rich, prom
inent and exclusive citizens of New
Orleans. It is sometimes hard for the
visitor to understand that elderly bust
ness men. bankers, brokers. noted law
years and judges should be willing 10
don the mask and costume and undergo
the fatigue of q carnival parade, but
such is the fact.
! On the carnival parades and the balls
| of the six or eight minor societies, New
Orleans spends from s150.000 to s175,-
| 000 The average pagent costs from
| $4,000 TO 10000. These sums are
drawn almost exclusively from the
pockets of the members.
In addition to the dues, every men,
her appearing in mask at the opera
house balls is expected to present flow
ers and souvenirs to the young wo-
men with whom he dances, which, to-
gether with the expense Of carriages
and suppers, seldom amount to less
than 500 for the evenings entertain
pnent.
Pageant Floats.
For many years the chief carnival
| pageants were designed by B. A Wiks
from. the New Orleans artist who died
in New York last year while at work
on the Hudson river pageant. The
finest floats are made by one firm, a
father and his sons. In their huge
workshops on the outskirts of New
Orleans the work goes on rapidly
throughout the year. two or three cars
being completed every week. so that
within eight months the Comus. Pro-
teus. Rex and Momus cars are all
completed.
1t is the fact that nowhere else
in the world can wOrkmen equally
ingenious be found TO undertake this
sort of labor. that makes the New Or
leans carnival unique. In fact, the
failure of attempt after attempt to
initiate these pageants has led to the
curious practice of other cities buying
the cars after they have been used in
New Orleans.
Rex gets back some of the money it
spends this way; but the other large
orga nizations do not sell their cars,
nor make any attempt 10 carry over
from year TO year anything of import
ance. Vast throngs flock to New Or
leans to see the carnival pageants. The
number is conservatively estimated at
100. 600. and the money left in the city
by this army Of sightseers aggregates
an Immense surn-prObabIy over e.