Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-10


~ HSAl ended Tuesday night, is the
M 49, oldest institution of the kind
- &% in the United States. That
tA4s&2Ag of Havana is probably older,
and similar celebrations in
other parts of Latin America may claim
still greater priority, but they are all
of different character. They share the
popular, spontaneous, unorganized
bent of the Italian festivities on the
day preceding Lent, whereas New Or
leans carnival is French by origin,
and resmebles-if it resembles any
thing-that of Paris. The observance
of Mardi Gras was introduced into the
Crescent City in 1927, by some young
Louisianians on their return from the
French capital, where they had been
sent to complete their education
They organized street procession
of maskers, somewhat primitive no
doubt, but sufficient of a novelty in
those early days of the city to prove
q great success. Every year thereafter
the experiment was repeated, and each
time grew in popularity. But the Gel
ebra tion was then quite different from
what it is now. The maskers proVid-
ed their own costumes. there was no
preliminary organization, the partici-
pants were, for the most part, on foot,
and the music, if there were such, was
hired by private subscription on the
part of each little coterie of paraders.
Generally, the festivities came to an
end with a ball at the st. Louis hotel
or the Sale d'Orleans. at which only
the elite of the aristocratic old city
was present.
From these beginnings the evolution
of the New Orleans carnival may be
traced along two well-defined lines,
quite distinct one from the other,
though related in their common OBJ
ject. The first is the development of
the open-air pageantry, which is the
chief attraction of the carnival for Wis
itors to the city; and the other is the
perfecting of the unique system of
masked balls which is the main fea-
ture of the carnival for the people of
New Orleans. The idea of the parades
was first worked out in Mobile, Ala
bama, in 1881, and was thence trans
planted to New Orleans in 1889. In
the latter year an immense cock, over
six feet high, rode in carriage at
the head of the maskers, and delight
ed the crowd with stentorian growing.
Nothing more ambitious seems to
have been attempted till 1857. when
the carnival, as New Orleans knows
it today, came into existence with
the organization of the Mystic Krewe
of Comus.
Comus, which still exists, the oldest
and probably the most important, So
cially, of the New Orleans carnival.
societies, selected as the subject of
its first pageant Milton's Paradise
Lost" After the parade the organi-
zation gave ball at the Varieties the
ater, in conjunction with which a Sc
ries of tableauX was presented illus
trating such subjects as 1.-THE Diabolic
Powers" and THE Expulsion from
Paradise" The second of the car
nival organizations was the Twelfth
Night Revelers. which came into eX-
istence in 1870 1t gives an annual
ball at the French opera house. Two
other important carnival organiza-
tions are the knights of Momus and
the Krewe of Proteus, the former or
ganized in 1872, the latter in 1882.
They, with the Krewe of Comus, al
ways appear on the streets of New
Orleans by night. and after the par
ade entertain on a lavish scale at the
inevitable ball at the French opera
house.
The day time pageant of the New
Orleans carnival is provided by the
Rex organization. This society is es-
sentially the popular" carnival organi-
zation. 1t has the largest membership,
spends the most money and claims a
certain pre- -eminence in carnival af-
fairs. It's king is king of the car
nival; its queen" is the queen of the
carnival. Rex was organized in 1872.
The maskers who had filled the streets
at Mardi Gras with their gaudy cos
tunes, were in that year assembled in
one organization for the entertainm lent
of the Russian grand duke Alexis then
a visitor to New Orleans; and the bond
of union thus formed was sufficiently
strong to hold the members in the
federation which came eventually to be
the most picturesque of the whole
carnival.
In addition to these societies there are
some six or eight important organiza-
tions which make no street display, but
limit their efforts to giving an annual
ball at the French opera house. OF
these, allusion has been made to the
oldest, the Twelfth Night Revelers
The others, listed in order of seniority,
are Atlanteaus, Oberon, Nereus, Myth
ras, Falsta1Ians and Olympians. At
these balls the members of the organi-
cations appear in mask, and the first
four dances are reserved for them and
for their partners exclusively; after
which the floor is open to the other
guests. To be asked to share in the
maskers' dance is one of the proudest
honors of the society women in New
Orleans
At these balls one member of the or
ganization is always selected to preside
as king" The throne is shared by
some young woman, usually a debu-
tante, called the queen" To wear the
tinsel crown of the Atlanteans or of
Mythras or some other of the minor