174 5-18 2/20/1955 Host: Gordon MacRae
Guests: Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, Gene Sheldon, The New Orleans Jazz Saints, street dancers Skeets and Pete, Carmen Dragon and his Orchestra
Note: This episode originated from the French Quarter in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Locations seen are the Court of the Two Sisters, Absinthe House, the Court of the Maison de Ville, Antoine's restaurant, and a parade down Bourbon Street
My high school band marched in a Mardi Gras Parade on Feb. 20,1955. After the parade they let us loose in the French Quarter. I was 14 years old at the time. I think I had been there once before a year or two earlier with my parents. I remember being greatly impressed with Bourbon Street when I was around 13 years old. The large posters of the strippers certainly caught my attention. Some of them were Blaze Starr,Redi Flame,Tempest Storm, and Candy Barr.
On Feb.20,1955 as I walked in the French Quarter I wandered into The Court of Two Sisters. I and a few band members were told we could not stay as they were setting up for a TV show. I remember seeing large cables for the cameras running across the floors. Years later I figured out it was a broadcast of The Colgate Comedy Hour. Too bad we didn't get to stick around and see the show.(See the above list of performers).
Incidentally there is a brick wall on one side of The Court Of Two Sisters. On the other side of that brick wall is the back patio of the famous bar Pat O'Brien's which has its entrance on St. Peters street.
