Tradition Reigns on Mardi Gras Day

Video courtesy of THNOC, 1978.24.2

This home movie of the 1937 Rex parade was shot by The Historic New Orleans Collection’s founder, Gen. Lewis Kemper Williams.

The parade theme that year was “Nature, The First Inventor,” and this segment shows Rex (Albert Barnett Paterson) toasting the crowd. THNOC catalogers believe it was recorded near 2525 St. Charles Ave. On Tuesday, Feb. 28th — 80 years after this film was recorded — crowds will gather at the same spot to see 2017’s King of Carnival.

THNOC’s archive includes thousands of films on subjects as varied as Mardi Gras Indians, the Sugar Bowl and the 1963 March on Washington.

— The Historic New Orleans Collection Staff