February 7, 2022 • 9 mins
New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music, Creole cuisine, unique dialects, and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. New Orleans has its own Monumental Task Committee, which tries to preserve some of the city's abundant and often eccentric public art. the Committee keeps a list of all of the monuments it knows about, all 250 of them. while we wont be able to discuss all 250 of them, here are a few of the city's statues, plaques, and monuments that have caught tons of attention and love from tourists and the community.
[FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA & MORE]
LINKS to EVERYTHING: solo.to/southernoddpod
HOST JARED ORDIS: solo.to/jaredordis
[ADDITONAL INFORMATION]
Questions or Business Inquiry, Email Us @ ordisstudios@gmail.com
Researched was used for this episode of Southern Oddities, and we couldn't have made it possible without the journalism and dedication from these awesome sources of information:
Roadside America [Story 43429] - Roadside America [Story 47457] - Wikipedia [New Orleans] - New Orleans Website [Public Art in New Orleans]
"Southern Oddities" is created & produced by Jared Ordis, an Ordis Studios production.
This show is part of the Ordis Studios Network
Copyright © 2022 by Ordis Studios
solo.to/ordisstudios
[FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA & MORE]
LINKS to EVERYTHING: solo.to/southernoddpod
HOST JARED ORDIS: solo.to/jaredordis
[ADDITONAL INFORMATION]
Questions or Business Inquiry, Email Us @ ordisstudios@gmail.com
Researched was used for this episode of Southern Oddities, and we couldn't have made it possible without the journalism and dedication from these awesome sources of information:
Roadside America [Story 43429] - Roadside America [Story 47457] - Wikipedia [New Orleans] - New Orleans Website [Public Art in New Orleans]
"Southern Oddities" is created & produced by Jared Ordis, an Ordis Studios production.
This show is part of the Ordis Studios Network
Copyright © 2022 by Ordis Studios
solo.to/ordisstudios
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The South is full of history,tells of the strange creatures that defy logic,
outlaws who took towns, and roadsidecuriosities that cause in tregue. Grab
your sweet tea, gather around,and let spin a yarn. Welcome to
Southern Odidis. New Orleans is worldrenowned for its distinctive music, Creole cuisine,
(00:28):
unique dialects, and its annual celebrationsand festivals, most notably Mardi Gras.
The historic heart of the city isthe French Quarter, known for its
French and Spanish creol architecture in vibrantnightlife along Bourbon Street. As The city
has been described as the most uniquein the United States, owing in large
(00:51):
part to its cross cultural heritage,and with this unique melting pot of cultures,
New Orleans no doubt has some veryinteresting, flashy, in quirky tombs
and monuments. As New Orleans isa place where the quirky rules. New
Orleans has its own Monumental Task Committee, which tries to preserve some of the
(01:12):
city's abundant and often eccentric public art. If you take a quick stroll around
New Orleans streets, you will noticeunexpected in odd statues plaques and sculptures,
and to make sure everyone knows wherethey are, the committee keeps a list
of all the monuments it knows about, all two hundred and fifty of them.
(01:36):
New Orleans begin erecting monuments in theeighteen fifties, partly because of the
artistic passions of this Mediterranean like city, and partly because New Orleans has a
lot of people and events or rememberingas there's a lot to commemorate and a
lot of characters to honor. Andwhile we won't be able to discuss all
(01:57):
two hundred and fifty of them,here are a few of the city's statues,
plaques, and monuments that have caughttons of attention and love from tourists
and the community. If you wererich and lived in New Orleans in the
nineteenth century, odds are you endedup in mediterrane cemetery when you were dead.
Nine Louisiana governors, seven New Orleansmayors, and three Confederate generals are
(02:23):
buried there. Jefferson Davis, presidentof the Confederacy, was there for a
while before his corpse was dug upand moved to Richmond, Virginia. The
most photographed tomb in Mediterranean cemetery,however, was built for the relatively obscure
of Brunswick family. Lucian Napoleon Brunswickwas a pharmaceutical millionaire, and when his
(02:46):
young son and wife died within amonth of each other, he had them
buried in a pyramid. A sphexguards its doorway, along with a woman
delivering a libertant urn as a orchiseled over its entrance offers divine protection.
Lucian remarried, had more kids,moved to la and lived another fifty one
(03:10):
years, but when he died,he had his body shipped back to New
Orleans and buried inside his pyramid.And just around the corner from the Brunswicks
is another photogenic tomb, that ofthe Egan family, a showcase of the
sound's fondness for Gothic forms and Romanticdecay. The Egans are buried in an
(03:34):
imitation ruined abbey, complete with brokentowers, cracked walls, and crumbling buttresses,
and it's all purposely distressed and fake. Even the cracks on the wall
floors engraved on tablets were chipped andcut when the tomb was new in the
eighteen nineties, and its supposedly modeledon a real ruin at the family's ancestral
(03:58):
estate in Ireland. But if wetravel across town to another cemetery, the
thickly populated Saint Louis Cemetery Number one, you will find that the last two
plots for burial have been purchased bynone other than Nicholas Cage. And what
did Nick Cage do with these burialplots? He built a nine foot tall
(04:20):
Semen pyramid mausolem, apparently for hisfuture self. Some say that Cage's love
of voodoo motivated him to locate histomb in the same ancient cemetery as Marie
la Vaux, the voodoo queen.The pyramids stands stark and white and out
(04:41):
of place among the surrounding graves,which are stained with centuries of New Orleans
grime and mold. Its only embellishmentis a line of creepy lip prints apparently
left by adoring fans, and aninscription in Latin that expresses a belief in
niversal unity. But let's step awayfrom the cemeteries and moved to other parts
(05:04):
of the city. In nineteen fortythree, the Marines needed bodies to perform
its various non violent tasks, andsince most of the men were in combat,
it was decided to try to interestwomen in joining the corps. Recruiter
Sergeant Charles Gresham of New Orleans enlistedthe help of French quarter artist Enrique Alpharez,
(05:28):
and on November tenth, nineteen fortythree, the city statue of Molly
Marine was unveiled. Alphares sculpted ayoung woman with binoculars in a clipboard staring
skyward, presumably on the lookout forNazi rockets her Japanese blue bombs. His
model for Molly was another New Orleansnative, Judy Mosgrove, who was herself
(05:51):
a former Marine. It was thefirst statue of a woman in military uniform
in America, and since Braunze wasrationed during the war. Alpharez made his
Molly out of semen made from graniteand marble chips. A metal version of
Molly was made in nineteen ninety nine, when a mold of the New Orleans
(06:14):
statue was used to make two bronzereplicas. These two bronze statues now stand
at the Marine Corps bases in ParisIsland, South Carolina, and Quantico,
Virginia, but the Molly in NewOrleans is still the Semen original. New
Orleans was created by Frenchmen in seventeeneighteen. So you'd think that a city
(06:36):
with so much French history would havea statue of Johan of Arc. Well
they do, and it's called theMaid of Orleans. But this statue hasn't
always been here as you would think. It wasn't actually unveiled until nineteen seventy
two, after spending years in storage. Joan originally stood outside the international trade
(07:00):
until nineteen ninety nine, when acasino bought the property and kicked saintly Joe
out. It could have ended badlyfor the statue, but she instead found
a new home in the popular,crowded, an entirely appropriate French market.
She was also given a fresh coatof gold and a new gilded pennant to
(07:21):
replace the one that somehow vanished inher various travels. But if you want
proof of the abundant strangeness of NewOrleans public art, look no further than
Robert Shone's bare bottomed Old Man River. It stands on the French Quarter Promenade
along the Mississippi in one of Neworleans busiest touristsponse, and yet no one
(07:45):
seems to notice it. Sculpted innineteen ninety one from an eighteen foot high,
seventeen ton block of marble, theunhappy looking creature is described in his
brief plaque as God to us cityin love with water. The depiction of
the old man has smooth skin andhis bald blockhead appears to be alien rather
(08:09):
than human. His legs are trappedin marble, his arms have been hacked
off at the wrists, and hisgenitals have been replaced by what appears to
be either shredded wheat or a burloughpad. It is no secret that New Orleans
values the arts. You can wanderaround the city and find not only historic
(08:30):
architecture, but creative murals, sculpturesin various forms of public art. With
the help of many local organizations.Artwork and monuments around the city continue to
be created to inspire others, becomingnormal, exciting recognized parts of the city's
landscape, continuing to intrigue the mindand cause us to stop and think.
(09:03):
I hope you enjoyed this unusual tale. To find out more about the show
and keep up with what we aredoing, follow Southern Oddities on Twitter and
Instagram by searching at Southern oddpod.Make sure to subscribe for free on Spotify,
Apple podcast, Stitcher, or yourfavorite podcast listing app. This show
(09:26):
was created by me Jared Ortists andas part of the Ortist Studios podcast network.
You can learn more about this showand more shows on the network by
visiting ortists Studios dot com. Anduntil the next time we spend a yarn,
don't let the door hit you wherethe Good Lord split you.
The South is full of history,tells of the strange creatures that defy logic,
outlaws who took towns, and roadsidecuriosities that cause in tregue. Grab
your sweet tea, gather around,and let spin a yarn. Welcome to
Southern Odidis. New Orleans is worldrenowned for its distinctive music, Creole cuisine,
(00:28):
unique dialects, and its annual celebrationsand festivals, most notably Mardi Gras.
The historic heart of the city isthe French Quarter, known for its
French and Spanish creol architecture in vibrantnightlife along Bourbon Street. As The city
has been described as the most uniquein the United States, owing in large
(00:51):
part to its cross cultural heritage,and with this unique melting pot of cultures,
New Orleans no doubt has some veryinteresting, flashy, in quirky tombs
and monuments. As New Orleans isa place where the quirky rules. New
Orleans has its own Monumental Task Committee, which tries to preserve some of the
(01:12):
city's abundant and often eccentric public art. If you take a quick stroll around
New Orleans streets, you will noticeunexpected in odd statues plaques and sculptures,
and to make sure everyone knows wherethey are, the committee keeps a list
of all the monuments it knows about, all two hundred and fifty of them.
(01:36):
New Orleans begin erecting monuments in theeighteen fifties, partly because of the
artistic passions of this Mediterranean like city, and partly because New Orleans has a
lot of people and events or rememberingas there's a lot to commemorate and a
lot of characters to honor. Andwhile we won't be able to discuss all
(01:57):
two hundred and fifty of them,here are a few of the city's statues,
plaques, and monuments that have caughttons of attention and love from tourists
and the community. If you wererich and lived in New Orleans in the
nineteenth century, odds are you endedup in mediterrane cemetery when you were dead.
Nine Louisiana governors, seven New Orleansmayors, and three Confederate generals are
(02:23):
buried there. Jefferson Davis, presidentof the Confederacy, was there for a
while before his corpse was dug upand moved to Richmond, Virginia. The
most photographed tomb in Mediterranean cemetery,however, was built for the relatively obscure
of Brunswick family. Lucian Napoleon Brunswickwas a pharmaceutical millionaire, and when his
(02:46):
young son and wife died within amonth of each other, he had them
buried in a pyramid. A sphexguards its doorway, along with a woman
delivering a libertant urn as a orchiseled over its entrance offers divine protection.
Lucian remarried, had more kids,moved to la and lived another fifty one
(03:10):
years, but when he died,he had his body shipped back to New
Orleans and buried inside his pyramid.And just around the corner from the Brunswicks
is another photogenic tomb, that ofthe Egan family, a showcase of the
sound's fondness for Gothic forms and Romanticdecay. The Egans are buried in an
(03:34):
imitation ruined abbey, complete with brokentowers, cracked walls, and crumbling buttresses,
and it's all purposely distressed and fake. Even the cracks on the wall
floors engraved on tablets were chipped andcut when the tomb was new in the
eighteen nineties, and its supposedly modeledon a real ruin at the family's ancestral
(03:58):
estate in Ireland. But if wetravel across town to another cemetery, the
thickly populated Saint Louis Cemetery Number one, you will find that the last two
plots for burial have been purchased bynone other than Nicholas Cage. And what
did Nick Cage do with these burialplots? He built a nine foot tall
(04:20):
Semen pyramid mausolem, apparently for hisfuture self. Some say that Cage's love
of voodoo motivated him to locate histomb in the same ancient cemetery as Marie
la Vaux, the voodoo queen.The pyramids stands stark and white and out
(04:41):
of place among the surrounding graves,which are stained with centuries of New Orleans
grime and mold. Its only embellishmentis a line of creepy lip prints apparently
left by adoring fans, and aninscription in Latin that expresses a belief in
niversal unity. But let's step awayfrom the cemeteries and moved to other parts
(05:04):
of the city. In nineteen fortythree, the Marines needed bodies to perform
its various non violent tasks, andsince most of the men were in combat,
it was decided to try to interestwomen in joining the corps. Recruiter
Sergeant Charles Gresham of New Orleans enlistedthe help of French quarter artist Enrique Alpharez,
(05:28):
and on November tenth, nineteen fortythree, the city statue of Molly
Marine was unveiled. Alphares sculpted ayoung woman with binoculars in a clipboard staring
skyward, presumably on the lookout forNazi rockets her Japanese blue bombs. His
model for Molly was another New Orleansnative, Judy Mosgrove, who was herself
(05:51):
a former Marine. It was thefirst statue of a woman in military uniform
in America, and since Braunze wasrationed during the war. Alpharez made his
Molly out of semen made from graniteand marble chips. A metal version of
Molly was made in nineteen ninety nine, when a mold of the New Orleans
(06:14):
statue was used to make two bronzereplicas. These two bronze statues now stand
at the Marine Corps bases in ParisIsland, South Carolina, and Quantico,
Virginia, but the Molly in NewOrleans is still the Semen original. New
Orleans was created by Frenchmen in seventeeneighteen. So you'd think that a city
(06:36):
with so much French history would havea statue of Johan of Arc. Well
they do, and it's called theMaid of Orleans. But this statue hasn't
always been here as you would think. It wasn't actually unveiled until nineteen seventy
two, after spending years in storage. Joan originally stood outside the international trade
(07:00):
until nineteen ninety nine, when acasino bought the property and kicked saintly Joe
out. It could have ended badlyfor the statue, but she instead found
a new home in the popular,crowded, an entirely appropriate French market.
She was also given a fresh coatof gold and a new gilded pennant to
(07:21):
replace the one that somehow vanished inher various travels. But if you want
proof of the abundant strangeness of NewOrleans public art, look no further than
Robert Shone's bare bottomed Old Man River. It stands on the French Quarter Promenade
along the Mississippi in one of Neworleans busiest touristsponse, and yet no one
(07:45):
seems to notice it. Sculpted innineteen ninety one from an eighteen foot high,
seventeen ton block of marble, theunhappy looking creature is described in his
brief plaque as God to us cityin love with water. The depiction of
the old man has smooth skin andhis bald blockhead appears to be alien rather
(08:09):
than human. His legs are trappedin marble, his arms have been hacked
off at the wrists, and hisgenitals have been replaced by what appears to
be either shredded wheat or a burloughpad. It is no secret that New Orleans
values the arts. You can wanderaround the city and find not only historic
(08:30):
architecture, but creative murals, sculpturesin various forms of public art. With
the help of many local organizations.Artwork and monuments around the city continue to
be created to inspire others, becomingnormal, exciting recognized parts of the city's
landscape, continuing to intrigue the mindand cause us to stop and think.
(09:03):
I hope you enjoyed this unusual tale. To find out more about the show
and keep up with what we aredoing, follow Southern Oddities on Twitter and
Instagram by searching at Southern oddpod.Make sure to subscribe for free on Spotify,
Apple podcast, Stitcher, or yourfavorite podcast listing app. This show
(09:26):
was created by me Jared Ortists andas part of the Ortist Studios podcast network.
You can learn more about this showand more shows on the network by
visiting ortists Studios dot com. Anduntil the next time we spend a yarn,
don't let the door hit you wherethe Good Lord split you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com