The History of the Bourbon Street Awards
Bourbon Street Awards, 1977, Courtesy Louisiana State Museum
February 2025The epic Mardi Gras Day costuming contest got its start as a promotion to drum up business for a Bourbon Street diner.
– by Frank Perez
This column is underwritten in part by the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana
The earliest written reference to Carnival in New Orleans dates to 1729 and refers to a man dressing in drag. In his personal journal, Marc-Antoine Caillot, an accountant with the Company of the West, wrote:
“The next day, which was Lundi Gras, I went to the office where I found my companions bored to death. I proposed to them that we mask and go to Bayou St. John . . . As for myself, I was dressed as a shepherdess, all in white. I had a corset of white bazin, a muslin skirt, a large pannier . . . I had some beauty marks too. I had my husband, who was the Marquis of Carnival...
“What made it hard for people to recognize me was that along with having shaved very closely that evening I had a number of beauty marks on my face and even on my breasts, which I had plumped up . . . unless you looked at me very closely, you could not tell that I was a boy.” Marc-Antoine Caillot (A Company Man, Erin M. Greenwald, Ed., THNOC)
Drag, camp, and gender-bending queerness have been a staple of Mardi Gras ever since. But it began to take on an even bigger role in 1949 when Bob Demmons brought five out-of-town friends to lunch at Brennan’s. During the lunch – and much to his guests’ surprise – Demmons produced a bouquet of flowers and a tiara and crowned one of his friends “Queen of the Lunch.”
The invitation to the ill-fated 1962 Yuga Ball by artist Stewart Gahn, Jr.
After the meal, a carriage was waiting for the group, and they began making their way around the French Quarter tossing gladiolas to those they passed. Thus was born a tradition that survives today—the Fat Monday Luncheon.
Nine years later, the first gay krewe was formed. The Krewe of Yuga was founded by Doug Jones and a group of his gay friends. Yuga didn’t last long; the krewe folded after the police raided their 1962 ball.
The 2013 invitation to the Fat Monday luncheon, courtesy Louisiana State Museum
But from the ashes of Yuga arose other gay krewes, with its members going on to form the krewes of Petronius, Amon Ra, Armeinius, Ganymede, and Celestial Knights. In their heyday, before the AIDS epidemic, there were close to twenty gay krewes.
None of these krewes paraded but instead, staged elaborate Tableau Balls, which featured fantastic set designs and fabulous costumes. Ostrich plumes, rhinestones, and sequins—oh my! Each costume was a variation of the ball’s theme.
Some of the more memorable gay balls included themes such as “The Wicked Bitches of History” (Petronius, 1965), “Creepy Crawlers” (Ganymede, 1970), “Camelot” (Olympus, 1971), and “Movies Greatest Moments” (Armeinius, 1980).
After making their debut at the balls (which were by invitation only and held in secret locations), many of the elaborate costumes had their public unveiling on Mardi Gras at the Bourbon Street Awards.
Started in 1964 by Arthur “Mr. Jake” Jacobs, owner of the Clover Grill, as a way to drum up business for his diner, the Bourbon Street Awards has grown into an internationally known feature of Mardi Gras. But this success belies the contest’s humble origins.
According to Jacobs, "That's when I thought of a Mardi Gras costume contest right outside the grill. I figured if I could get people to come to the contest, they'd buy some food once they got there and maybe come back. But I didn't think of it as anything more than a one-time thing."
1964, Arthur Jacobs at left. Courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
But Jacobs’ idea was a hit, and the contest became an annual Mardi Gras tradition. Jacobs produced the contest until 1973, when he turned it over to Café Lafitte in Exile, which is conveniently located across the street.
Award-winners in 1966, courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
1966 contestants, Courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
A 1967 contestant, Courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
Location. Location. Location.
In the early 1970s, this section of Bourbon Street was known for being a queer space. The lower Quarter was the closest thing New Orleans had to a “gayborhood,” and Lafitte’s was its anchor. The bar originally opened in 1933 at the corner of Bourbon and St. Philip streets in what is now known as Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. In 1953, it moved up a block to its current location at Bourbon and Dumaine.
Mardi Gras, 1968. Revelers watching the Bourbon Street Awards from Café Lafitte in Exile. Joe Crews, photographer, courtesy Louisiana State Museum
The adjacent 800 block of Bourbon was perhaps the gayest block in the neighborhood. It was home to the popular bars Caverns and Pete’s, while most of the residents in the block were gay men. A few years earlier, gay Carnival pioneer Elmo Avet who lived in 800 block died, and a few years later, Rip and Marsha Naquin Delain – founders of the Krewe of Queenateenas and Ambush Magazine – would move in across the street from Avet’s old home.
Nearby were other gay bars. It was only natural that gay men would essentially take over the Bourbon Street Awards. After all, Mardi Gras was the only day of the year when it wasn’t illegal to cross-dress.
But not everyone was thrilled about drag queens flaunting their talents in public. During Jacob's tenure with the Bourbon Street Awards, he faced a good bit of opposition because of the participation of what was then called female impersonators.
Jacobs once noted, "A big shot reporter tried to degrade the Awards with a feature in a New York magazine in 1964. He inferred that the show contributed to moral decay.”
Darlene Jacobs, Arthur Jacob's daughter, remembers the New Orleans Police Department would try to disrupt the award show. “Dad was a police officer for twenty-seven years. He caught a lot of heat for allowing gay people to participate in the contest. There was so much discrimination back then.”
During the 1960's and early 1970's the contest drew thousands of people to the corner. Japanese, German, British, and French film crews recorded the show for their networks. In 1971 Darlene Jacobs emceed the show, which was later televised on the BBC. “Dad used to get letters and pictures from all over the world from people who participated in the contest,” she said.
Mardi Gras 1971, Nick Donovan as king and Gene Cheatham as queen from Olympus’ Camelot Ball at the Bourbon Street Awards. Joe Crews, photographer. Louisiana State Museum
Mardi Gras 1971, courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
"In 1967 there was a beautiful boy from New York who won Best of Show," Mr. Jacobs said. "His impersonating a woman was so well done, viewers and judges alike could not tell that he was a man."
Shades of Marc-Antoine Caillot.
"I've always felt the contestants were the stars of the show," Arthur Jacobs once said. "I've turned down movie stars, musicians—even Al Hirt was refused access during the show.
“Pete Fountain came before the show one year and played for an hour, but once the show started, the contestants had their moment," Jacobs remembered.
The now legendary "Parade of Cleopatra" featuring Houston entertainer Torchy Laine as Cleopatra, won "Best of Show" for three consecutive years – 1977 through 1979. Cleopatra, whose litter was born by numerous bodybuilders, was preceded by Egyptian musicians, and food and wine bearers. One year, the procession was followed by a tiger and its handler. This spectacle earned the Awards contest the title of "The Largest Free Show of Mardi Gras."
Mardi Gras 1973. Joe Crews, photographer. Louisiana State Museum
Mardi Gras, 1975. photograph by Joe Crews, courtesy Louisiana State Museum
Jacobs laughed, "We had to make Torchy a judge so he wouldn't compete."
Arthur Jacobs founded the Clover Grill, a classic greasy spoon diner, in 1945 and operated it until he retired in 1983. He was also the co-owner of the Checker Cab Company and founder of the short-lived Chain Cab Company. And he served as a police officer for twenty-five years.
In 1956, he was shot in the shoulder by an armed intruder who tried to rob the restaurant. Jacobs wrestled with the thief after being shot, but his assailant fled the scene. A man named Cecil Burgess was later apprehended and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Jacobs also became a successful builder and renovator and served as executive vice president of Home Finders International, a real estate and construction company. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 1984.
When Café Lafitte in Exile took over the Bourbon Street Awards, local legend Edd Smith began hosting the show. He quickly became known as “Mr. Bourbon Street Awards” and the contest continued to grow in popularity, featuring 300 contestants in 1977 alone. In 1977, the Times-Picayune noted the business boom attributed to the Bourbon Street Awards:
Mardi Gras 1977, courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
Mardi Gras 1977, courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
“At the junction of Bourbon and Dumaine Streets, the Mardi Gras crowd is invariably dozens of bodies deep. Necks are craned and cameras trained toward the stage outside the entrance to Café Lafitte in Exile, a busy bar. All year long high-priced tickets are sold to Lafitte’s upstairs bar and balcony, from which the view of the stage is prime. … ‘According to wholesale liquor dealers here,’ explains veteran contest emcee, ‘Café Lafitte has the largest liquor account year around, next to Pat O’Briens.’”
For his fifth anniversary hosting the contest, the bar presented Edd Smith a 24-karat gold hard hat with a sterling silver plate on the front that read “Café Lafitte’s Mascot, Edd Smith.”
Over the decades, the Bourbon Street Awards has had a variety of celebrity hosts including Varla Jean Merman, Blanche Debris, and Bianca del Rio. In a 1996 interview, Tom Wood, who owns Café Lafitte in Exile, observed, "Actually, it's a lot of headaches, tons of red tape and paperwork, endless man-hours dealing with permits and City Hall," Wood said.
"But people love it. I must confess I wake-up Mardi Gras morning and think 'Damn! We have to do the contest.' But even I enjoy it after it gets going. I mean, some of the costumes are pretty hysterical. It's a showcase for a lot of clever work.
“And besides, where are those drag queens gonna go?"
The Bourbon Street Awards have become a staple in the French Quarter’s celebration of Mardi Gras. Wood Enterprises still owns the event, but the contest is no longer held outside Café Lafitte in Exile; rather, in recent years the costume contest has been held on St. Ann Street near Wood’s other bars, Good Friends and Rawhide.
The 2000 Bourbon Street Awards. “He-tini and She-tini, a Toast to the New Millenium” won Best in Show that year. Photos courtesy Harry Hodges
Participants compete in the following categories: Best Drag, Best Leather, Best Group, and Best of Show. First, second, and third place prizes are awarded in each category.
Much like New Orleans herself, Mardi Gras is a wonderfully complex cultural phenomenon, replete with layers of meaning and symbolism. It blends revelry, pageantry, and fantasy. It offers a chance to ditch the everyday humdrum persona to wear masks and don different identities – something with which queer people have historically been thoroughly familiar.
At a time when being gay could get someone arrested, fired, evicted, or committed to a mental asylum, gay Carnival afforded gay men an opportunity to not only be themselves but also an outlet for their creative and artistic talents.
One member of Yuga, John Henry Bogie, sums up the celebration in Howard P. Smith’s book, Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans.
“The Yuga Regina was one of the most spectacular sights I’ve ever seen in my life. When the lights reflected off her royal raiments, the room was filled with explosions and bursts of light like fireworks.
“Who would have guessed that her children would take up the mantle of Carnival and run with it like they were possessed?”
Mardi Gras 1977, courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum
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