Another Sunday, another video. Grab your snacks, put your cell phones on vibrate and dim the house lights.
This week, we've got another selection from the "Dark Matters" album, synced up with period pix from the Library of Congress and other collections, plus photos of my own from travels in Louisiana and elsewhere.
The result is a celebration of our state's best governor (if you're talking about real results for real people). He may have grabbed a few bucks for himself, but he understood that, if you want to stay in power in a democracy, you've got to let some of the loose change slip through to the folks below.
Without further ado, here's "Thank God and Huey Long."
(The audio's pretty hot, so mind your speakers and ears.)
Notes:
A couple of years back, the Times-Picayune ran a guest editorial by a great-granddaughter of Huey Long, setting the record straight on a number of the more outlandish legends of the "Kingfish." I wrote to her, adding my voice to the many who count Huey as a true hero to the people of Louisiana, including a link to the mp3 of this song.
Much to my surprise, she wrote back saying the Long family was pleased with the song and asking if they could post it on the Long Legacy Project web site. Needless to say, I was honored to have the song posted on the site, where it can be heard today.
In a sad bit of Huey-related news, the T-P reported this week on the passing of man-about-New Orleans Henry G. Schmidt, centenarian and father of George Schmidt, founder of the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra*. Among the elder Mr. Schmidt's noted accomplishments: he duded up Huey:
After Mr. Schmidt graduated from Jesuit High School, he worked at Stevens Men's Wear. One day in the early 1930s, U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long walked into the store with his entourage, and, George Schmidt said, his father took it upon himself to tell the Kingfish how to sharpen up his image to make a better impression in Washington.
For instance, he advised Long to wear double-breasted suits, and he told him to get a better set of neckties and a hat with a narrower, more fashionable brim than the one Long had been sporting.
And then one day, Mr. Schmidt sold his most notable client a pair of green silk pajamas with a paisley pattern and a cinch belt. The cost: $12.50, the equivalent of nearly $200 today.
That outfit became infamous because Long wore the pajamas to receive the captain of a visiting German ship when he paid a courtesy call on Long in his Roosevelt Hotel suite. International tut-tutting ensued, George Schmidt said, and anti-Long forces even re-enacted the scene for a newsreel to show off what they felt was Long's boorishness.
Rest in peace, Mr. S, and thanks for making Huey not only a great governor and senator, but a snappy dresser as well.
*If you are unfamiliar with the New Leviathan, do check them out. Their repertoire recreates the "society orchestra" sound of white, Uptown New Orleans that was an essential element in the earliest days of jazz, and had a pivotal role in spreading the sounds of Treme and Storyville--ragtime and marching band music (Bolden, King Oliver, etc.)--to a wider audience. Their CDs can be ordered through Louisiana Music Factory and some songs can be found on YouTube.