Come to the Mardi Gras
February 8, 2004 

  

Listen to Victor talk about the pictures in the 
Mardi Gras Museum at Midsummer Books

Somehow I know I just took down Christmas decorations and now we are getting ready for two weekends of Mardi Gras on the Island.  What I like best about Mardi Gras and the Dickens Festival on The Strand in Galveston is that for the most part you need not be part of either unless you wish to do so.  Granted, if you live in a loft on The Strand or Mechanic you will not have a choice.  Otherwise, you may avoid the crowds and still drive around Galveston quite without difficulty.  I like both and attend them but it’s nice to have a choice in the matter. 

On Saturday I encountered Mary Ann and Steve Salch at lunch.  Sonny’s at 19^th and Avenue L. was full of local talent as it is so often but especially on Saturdays.  Steve asked me when I was going to write something about Mardi Gras.  It occured to me that was an excellent suggestion for this essay.  Turns out Steve is President of Momus this year so I think he’ll be pleased to learn about this piece being on the internet.

There have been several distinct “eras” of Mardi Gras on the Island.  When reading some history of the Island, I remember the author mentioning the first Mardi Gras Ball in Texas was held in Galveston at the Menard House.  I don’t know the exact date but it would have been in the 1800s early on in that century.  Next would come what I call the “City Auditorium” period, followed by a time when both the auditorium and the Marine Room on the Pleasure Pier were used for celebrations and finally comes the Mardi Gras we know today that began in 1985, largely due to the efforts of George Mitchell as well as the Knights of Momus.

Those of you who are kind enough to read my scratchings regularly will know I don’t like to get involved in heavy historical research, though I try to be as accurate as I can when I write, especially about Galveston.  That’s because there are so many people around here who thoroughly enjoy pointing it out when someone errs in speaking or writing about our Island.  As usual, my purpose will be to achieve an “overview” of the subject and have rather more to say about people and personalities than dates. 

The oldest Mardi Gras group in Galveston---the Knights of Momus Krewe---was founded in 1871 and participated in Mardi Gras here until World War II began in 1941.  Momus is responsible for the largest parade held on Saturday night of the second weekend of Galveston’s Mardi Gras.  This year the date will be February 21^st.  Check for starting time.  If you like parades, you’ll certainly want to see this.

If you want to get a bit of the flavor of older days during Mardi Gras, take yourself down to Midsummer Book Store, 2309 Mechanic (just across from the Tremont Hotel).  There you will find the Galveston Mardi Gras Museum as part of the bookstore.  The store is now owned by my Godson, Tim Thompson, who recently purchased the store from my friend, Jay Clements, who started the business.  There is no admission charge to the Mardi Gras Museum portion of the store.  There are some interesting photographs.  Gowns and costumes have been donated and it’s well worth your while to have a look at the place.

I went to the Mardi Gras Museum to refresh my recollections about those festivals that took place in long ago times such as 1925 (Louis Dibrell was King and Mary Kate Crow was Queen).  Larry Wygant was working in the Midsummer Bookstore that day.  Larry is supposed to be retired but is far too erudite to sit idle and what better place to be than surrounded by books?  At any rate, Larry said that since “Rock and Roll” was the theme of this Galveston Mardi Gras he wanted to tell me a story about that theme.

Larry said that Elvis Presley had appeared in Galveston shortly before his famous or infamous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.  Remember?  Sullivan would not permit Presley to be on camera “below the hips” because of Presley’s suggestive wiggle.  I guess Presley would have been fine on the Super Bowl program this past weekend. 

When he appeared in Galveston, Presley was working with a country and western group and was apparently neither wiggling unduly nor the star of the show.  The performance was at the old Galveston City Auditorium.  

My first Mardi Gras recollections will go to just before the start of World War II.  I have photographs of myself in clown costumes and was taken downtown by my Mother and my Grandmother to see the Mardi Gras parade.  I don’t think I ever was actively in one but many who were not still wore costumes.

Though I was not present, the coronation and ball for Mardi Gras then were held at the old City Auditorium.  While tickets may have been available for sale to the general public for the coronation part of it, I think the ball was very private and very social.  That was not an uncommon state of affairs for Mardi Gras anywhere at the time.    

During  W. W. II  no one felt we should be celebrating something like Mardi Gras when our youth were dying in battles overseas.  Who would have had the stomach for it?

In August of 1945, just before Japan surrendered and W. W. II ended completely I was part of an “adventure.”  I was just ten years old.  My Grandparents had borrowed my parents’ automobile (1941 Oldsmobile and more reliable than their own car) for a weekend drive.  This required the use of gasoline rationing coupons.  We crossed the old “Orange Bridge” and my Grandfather just kept on driving.  We wound up in New Orleans at the old St. James Hotel.  My Grandparents were betting on the end of the war and the immediate end of gasoline rationing to get us back to Galveston.  They called my parents to let them know where we were.  My parents were furious at them.  We did what I thought were exciting things, such as going on the streetcar out to the zoo at Audobon Park.  We rode a ferry boat to an island called Algiers.  I got all excited because I thought we were in Africa when I heard the name “Algiers.”  I think it was no more than an industrial area at the time but the ferry ride was fun.  My Grandparents took me with them to a nightclub in the French Quarter and I remember there was a woman there who was singing in Cajun French as well as English.  I had never heard Cajun French before and was amazed at the performance.  Her name was Lizzie Miles and what she sang in Cajun was “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll.”  I suspect it was as well I could not understand the racier part of the lyrics. 

The war did end while we were in New Orleans.  We were standing on Canal Street when the news broke.  It came around on one of those revolving marquees.  All hell broke loose in the Big Easy.  I remember seeing a sailor, wildly drunk, driving what turned out to be a purloined Army Jeep.  Driving it right into a store window on Canal.  No one hurt.  And the police just gently lifted the sailor from the jeep and stood him on his feet.

Out came Mardi Gras floats that had been up on blocks in warehouses in New Orleans since 1941.  And, a few of the old metal noisemakers that had not been donated during scrap metal drives in the course of the war.  They were immediately put on sale and snapped up by revelers.  My Grandparents bought me one of the kind that you held and twirled to make noise.  I sat in the St. James Hotel lobby twirling that until the woman behind the front desk offered to kill me if I did not take the noise outside.  What an experience it was to be in New Orleans at the end of that terrible war.

In 1949, I had my first summer job at the old National Hotel Company.  I remember one day Mrs. Bryan Williams (Willie Dean Williams) who was the Mother of my friend, Robert Harris, appeared in the National Hotel Company offices to see Mr. Alfred Wayne who was the President.  When I went over to speak to her, it turned out she was there to get an ad for the Mardi Gras program which would take place in 1950.  By this time, I think the coronation was held at the old City Auditorium as well as a ball following that.  The Dukes’ Ball was held in the Marine Room of the Pleasure Pier.

A few years later, the Korean War was on.  Though it was referred to as the “Korean Conflict” I don’t think anyone thought it was anything other than a war.  Our armed forces were once more in deadly peril.  Mardi Gras on the Island ceased once more.

After the end of the Korean War Mardi Gras was revived in Galveston  again  but lasted only a brief while.  I think, though I cannot be sure, there was simply not enough general interest to get it cranked up once more.  There was quite a hiatus until George Mitchell and a few others decided it would be a good idea to have Mardi Gras in Galveston once more.

In 1985 I came down from Philadelphia for the first “Mitchell-Momus” Mardi Gras.  The evening began in the lobby of the Tremont Hotel with cocktails and the coronation.  I remember that Libbie Walker was Queen.  This young lady is the grand-daughter of Mrs. Clark W. Thompson (Libbie Moody) whose husband, Congressman Clark W. Thompson took me on his staff and to Washington for the first time.  It was a very pretty and cosy kind of coronation as there were not that many people in attendance.  There were a good many from Houston, mostly close friends of the George Mitchells who were probably coming because of friendship and had a far better time than they thought they would.  The crowds have been getting bigger every year since 1985 for all the events on both weekends.

Following the coronation and in black tie, we strolled across Mechanic Street to a large tent that covered the parking lot at 23^rd and Mechanic Streets.  There was a very elegant dinner dance with a wonderful Dixieland bank playing as well as a foxtrot orchestra.  Then we were called outside for the “parade.”  It was great fun and we thought it quite something.  However, to those who watch Momus Grand Night parades today it would have seemed very small beer indeed.  It lasted about fifteen minutes tops and I think just a few beads were tossed by those riding on the floats.  Then we adjourned back into the Tremont Hotel and a marvelous breakfast was served to end the evening.  I’ve always been glad I came home for that evening as it was very special, to my way of thinking.  As I get older I am less inclined to want to be in big crowds and that evening seemed just about the right size and shape for me.

There are now many Krewes for Galveston’s Mardi Gras and I think this is just wonderful.  There is a Krewe for just about anyone who wants to join one and I think there are plenty of them that are “affordable.”  The parades are great fun, the Momus is of course, very spectacular.  However, the last parade that ends the festivities is growing increasingly popular with locals since it’s less crowded.  The first parade on the Boulevard is also very popular with family groups.

For many years there has been the “Treasure Ball” which now holds coronation at the Grand 1894 Opera House.  This group was started by those of the Catholic faith in Galveston. It features absolutely breath-taking costumes on which many labor for months.  The emphasis is entirely on young people and it’s a delightful spectacle.  I believe tickets can be purchased by the general public for this event and you might find it one of the “quieter” and enjoyable evenings during Mardi Gras.

There are a number of events the night of the big parade in which you can participate but they do cost a fair price.  There is a beautiful black tie party at the Tremont Hotel.  Just across Mechanic, there is a party at the Strand Street Theatre and one at Fitzpatrick’s Pub.  The Tremont party is quite expensive, the Strand and Fitzpatrick’s less so and less dressier.  These are all wonderful locations to view the parade as it “stops” in front of the Tremont hotel and the participants do their “acts.”  This tradition started to honor Cynthia and George Mitchell and still holds, or at least it did last year.  I know the Mummers group from Philadelphia will be back again this year thanks to the generosity of several people in Galveston and they are a sight to behold with their incredibly tall Captain leading them. They are a “string band” and I used to watch the Mummer’s Parade every New years day for twenty-five years when I lived in Philadelphia.  Don’t miss those Mummers!

Mardi Gras on the Island can get somewhat wild and “wet.”  It can also be great fun.  Lent is not the grim affair that it was when I was growing up so I don’t see as much need to “party down” prior to Ash Wednesday as I did once.  I hope you may find one of the affairs I have described to your liking and decide to take part in the festivities.  Just be careful while you are having fun and don’t end your evening in our local “hoosegow.”  Our law enforcement officers are very tolerant and polite but jail is jail.  (This advice is especially included for my students at Texas A & M on Pelican Island!!)