Mr. George Moore, Mobile, Alabama Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras along the Gulf coast has changed in many ways over the last 300 years. Historians tell us that Mardi Gras celebrations were initially conducted on New Year’s Eve, rather than Fat Tuesday. Secret societies were created, parades were invented and the ever popular “throws” evolved. For a first hand, eyewitness account of the changes over the last few decades, Gulfscapes consulted the Official Historian of Mobile’s Battle House hotel, Mr. George Moore. The Battle House has been known as Mobile’s living room since it was first built in 1852. Over the years, it has been burned down, shut down and now renovated as part of the plan to revitalize Mobile’s downtown. Mr. Moore, known affectionately as “Mr. George”, worked at the Battle House in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and was one of the first new hires when the hotel re-opened in 2007. Mr. George, a life-long Mobile resident, proclaims he is “seventy five years young”, and has seen as many Mardi Gras as anyone.
“The first Mardi Gras I recall I was nine years old. We lived on the corner of State and Warren Streets, which was about five blocks from Government Street, where the parades usually go down. We could hear the sirens and we could easily walk up State Street where I lived and walk to Government to catch the beginning of the parades. I recall seeing the Excelsior Band, a black band which marches in most parades and which has been around continuously for 125 years. The floats were lighted by kerosene lamps. Those kerosene lamps were big, heavy, dangerous. The men carried them. They also had flares to light the floats and they let teenagers carry them. I carried those flares and made a little money and it was fun. You were in the parade. You didn’t get to throw candy but you were still in the parades.
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“Of course back then, we didn’t have a lot candy. They threw serpentine and Cracker Jacks – in the box. Those things were dangerous! They would knock you out, man! Some of those guys thought they were quarterbacks. If you wore eyeglasses, they could break them and hit you in the eye. Later on they started getting those Cracker Jacks with serrated plastic and if they landed wrong, they could cut your hand. A lot of changes have been made and they came up with candy and stuffed animals and Moon Pies in later years.”
“I made a lot of money (carrying flares), $5. Back in 1946, ’47, ’48, that was lot money. We thought we were big shots and would go back by this place called Coney Island after the parade and get hamburgers and big drinks.”
“I’ve seen a lot of parades and they’ve all been fun. My first memory of the Battle House is when I played in this high school band my first year, 1949, and we marched north on Royal Street and saw all the people on the balcony of the Battle House, and you know, I was thinking they were cheering just for me!”
“By living right there at the corner of State and Warren Street, that’s where the colored parades, as they called it then, would pass right by there. Back during segregation, they had separate parades, black ones and white ones. We had a parade on Monday for black school kids and on Saturday the white school kids had a whole parade. The King and Queen of the colored parade would get on their float there by my house. So I was right there in the middle of that. I would see all the bands. I know one year Tuskegee played and I know that Alabama State University played every year. And they had high school bands. Of course, they didn’t have that many high school bands here so they’d bring high school bands from other areas. The colored parade was a big success. Some whites would come to the area to watch also. And they would use the floats built by the white societies.”
As far as the floats themselves, “The lighting has changed the most,” said Mr. George. “Back when I was a kid, the floats were pulled by tractors and mules. Today trucks pull them.”
And the other changes, “have been good. They now throw candies and soft animals and Moon Pies. And there used to be two weeks of parades, now its three weeks. The groups have expanded. So the changes have been good. I’ve enjoyed it. And it will only get better. Parades are larger, and there are more societies now. On Sunday, they used to not have a parade, now they have the Joe Cain parade, honoring him. It’s more for the people that are not in any organization. You also see a lot more people coming from all over to see our Mardi Gras, like they do in New Orleans.”
“And now the little towns around here have parades. In Pass Christian they have a parade. Also in Theodore they have a parade. On Dauphin Island they have a parade. So it’s really expanded, and it’s good to see that.”
“I’ve seen most of the Mardi Gras. Now I won’t miss any of the parades because I’m right here at the Battle House. They come right by. The balcony of the Battle House is the best place in Mobile to watch Mardi Gras. It’s just the right height. The people on the floats can make throws to up there. And they have to slow down to make that turn onto St. Francis Street. I’ve gone up on that same balcony that I saw the people cheering for me as a kid and watched the parades. I’ve made a 180 degree turn!”