Evening star., 1936-02-23
By Kathleen Read
C0Onfz.

KARDI GRAS time and a
M bewitching old Creole grande
Vt dame glorying in the high
4 ' i spot of her social calendar
the carnival which is not alone New
Orleans institution. but an American
one as well.
With business and civic cares laid
aside with the closing of all Offices,
with the green, gold and purple of
Rex festooning wrought iron balus-
trades that have flown five flags, with
the bands playing everywhere Mardi
Gras' national anthenl-that lifting,
laughing tune from Bluebear, IF Ever
I Cease to Love"-with huge grotesque
papier-mache figures carried aloft,
throngs of colorful maskers with con-
fetti and colored streamers binding
the 200 miles of the city together with
color and smiles, the Queen City of
the South will present a veritable pag-
cant itself next week, irrespective of
the glamorous daylight and torch
light scenic parades that sweep down
old Canal street in almost continuous
procession.
Conceived in the spirit of play, fos-
tered upon the spirit of play, and
drawing play-loving guests from the
world over, Mardi Gras has no rival
in the festival institutions OF the
country.
A century and a half has passed
since small band of eXuberant young
Creoles of old New Orleans, just back
from their studies in Paris, donned
fantastic costumes and masks on
Shrove Tuesday morning and startled
the Colonial guard with secret pro-
cession.
There were probably not more than
q dozen of them, sons and grandsonS
of the companions of Jean Baptiste
Lemoyne de Bienville, who came to
the Mississippi shore in 17l8 to found
New Orleans; or perhaps sons of
French mobiles sent by the King of
France to give "tone" to his American
colony. At any rate, in their mirth
and masks, they brought back new
touch of Paris to the little village.
Could these gay young blades return
today, they would see their thoughtless
frolic of a dull pre-lenten morning
blossomed into the world famous
carnival of Mardi Gras.
TN THE place of the gumbo mud,
the open bitches, the kerosene street
lanterns, plank sidewalks and impene-
trable swamps surrounding the French
town where their irrepressible spirits
awoke new echoes, they would look
upon the Queen City stretching her
miles of palm and oleander lined
boulevards in every direction under
the fair Southern skies. Modernity
In the place where modernity should
be, the past undisturbed elsewhere.
Yet they would find her heart much
the same-when it comes to the play
spirit.
PLAY? Why to be sure" says this
grand old lady Of magnolias, memories
and magic, play should never be
brushed aside for any long faced, dole
full state Of affairs. It is the one thing
in the world that relaxes tired minds
and bodies, and sends the freshened
spirit soaring above the drab routine Of
everyday existence"
And SO every year, just before Lent,
New Orleans puts on the maddest,
merriest carnival there is A carnival
that lasts almost week and ends in a
blaze Of glory at midnight on Shrove
Tuesday! A carnival to which the
activities of the entire social fabric
Of the city leads up!
Mardi Gras is not festival carefully
planned by business interests to bring
notice to the city nor is it commem-
orative celebration. It had its birth in
the mirthful hesrts Of youth and re-
mains to this day spontaneous ex-
preston of people who know how to
play It is an institution as is the
old Cabildo. the Pontalba Buildings,
St. Louis Cathedral and the Vieux
Carre-an important motif in the New
Orleanian design for living.
ORGANIZED on purely social
" footing, four major organizations
are responsible for the management
of this famous celebration. They are:
The Mystick Krewe of Conus, Rex,
Proteus and Momus-closed corpora
tions, 50 to speak, working secretly,
with q membership of about 400 each,
composed entirely Of men. They vie
with one another to present to the
public the most artistic and breath
taking public productions and, to
privileged list Of guests, the most
sumptuous balls. Admission to these
balls Is by invitation only--a fact not
generally understood, some times, and
cannot be passed on. A member OF
the Pickwick Club, the club responsible
for the Mystick Krewe Of Comus
organization. tells how two tickets to
the Comus ball were stolen one year
and the Krewe published an offer OF
$1,000 for their return. The reward
was not claimed ard the tickets not
used.
In addition to Mardi Gras' main
organizations there are literally dozens
of marching and mirth clubs which
help to make the n1erriment little
merrier-all social s 3ups working to.