Mistick Krewe of Comus

The Mistick Krewe of Comus (MKC), founded in 1856, is the oldest extant New Orleans, Louisiana Carnival Krewe, the longest to continually parade with few interruptions from 1856 to 1991, and continues to hold a tableau ball for its members and guests, to date. Initially its public facade was The Pickwick Club.

Before Comus was organized, Carnival celebrations in New Orleans were mostly confined to the Catholic Creole community. Parades were irregular and often very informal. Bernard de Marigny changed that in 1833 with the first formally organized New Orleans Carnival parade and tableau ball. It was Comus who in 1856, organized by 6 Protestant Anglo-Americans from the corresponding Uptown Neighborhoods (versus French Creole Vieux Carré), formalized the first continued observance of what we know today as New Orleans Mardi Gras or technically "Carnival" in New Orleans. French Catholics may have been invited thereafter, but the sharp racial, ethnic, and class divides in New Orleans make it unlikely until later.

In 1991, the New Orleans City Council passed an ordinance that required social organizations to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure. in December 1856, six Anglo-American men of New Orleans gathered at Dr. John Pope's Drug Store on the Corner of Jackson and Prytania, a favorite rendezvous for the young men of the Fourth District, to begin to organize a secret society to observe Mardi Gras in a more formal and organized fashion than their Creole predecessors. These men invited their businessmen friends, a group of some thirty to forty people, to meet at a club room above the now-defunct Gem Restaurant/Saloon in New Orleans' Vieux Carré on Jan 4, 1857, to organize the Carnival society.

Founding members: Samuel Manning Todd, a drygoods merchant from Utica, New York, who arrived in New Orleans by way of Mobile, Alabama, like a few others. Frank Shaw, Jr., commission merchant from New York State; Lloyd Dulany Addison (son of Walter Dulany Addison, of the Oxon Hill Manor Addisons, members of the Tidewater gentry) born in Kentucky, partner Bullitt, Miller & Co. merchants and cotton factors; Dr. John H. Pope, credited with naming the group, from New York State originally, and Joseph Ellison, owned Pope, Ellison & Co., commission merchants-Pope was also a pharmacist owning Pope's Drugstore at the corner of Jackson and Prytania where this small coterie initially organized, he was born in Louisville, Kentucky; brother William Ellison, partner of firm Starke & Ellison, Cotton Brokers was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Comus' first night parade – replete with torches (which later came to be known as "flambeaux"), marching bands, and rolling floats – was wildly popular with Carnival revelers. So popular was the first Comus parade that the prospect of its second one attracted, for the first time, thousands of out-of-town visitors to New Orleans for the Carnival celebration.

thumb|center|700px|Grand Tableau of the Mistick Krewe - [[Harper's Magazine|Harpers - New Orleans Mardi Gras 1873]]

Like that of other old established krewes, including Rex and Momus, Comus's history includes ties to white supremacy, particularly New Orleans's White League. Opposition to Reconstruction-era reforms prompted parade themes such as 1873's "The Missing Links to Darwin's Origin of Species" and 1877's "The Aryan Race".

Parade

The Mistick Krewe presented a parade annually on the evening of Shrove Tuesday from 1857 to 1991 with some exceptions including during war. From 1885 to 1890 while the Mistick Krewe of Comus did not parade, the evening parade on Shrove Tuesday was the Krewe of Proteus. In 1890 Comus began parading again as the final parade on Mardi Gras with Proteus reverting to the evening of Lundi Gras.

Parade themes

Gallery

Costumes and floats

File:Comus 1869 Female Eye.jpg|Female Eye 1869

File:Comus 1873 Alligator.jpg|Alligator 1873

File:Ass Costume Comus Parade 1873.jpg|Ass Costume Parade 1873

File:Comus 1873 Bananas.jpg|Bananas 1873

File:Comus 1873 Bat.jpg|Bat 1873

File:Beetle Costume Comus Parade 1873.jpg|Beetle 1873

File:Comus Bloodhound 1873.jpg|Bloodhound 1873

File:Coral Polyp Comus Parade 1873.jpg|Coral Polyp 1873

File:Comus 1873 Fly.jpg|Fly 1873

File:Grasshopper Costume Comus Parade 1873.jpg|Grasshopper 1873

File:Comus 1873 Lion Costume.jpg|Lion 1873

File:Scorpion Costume Comus 1873.jpg|Scorpion 1873

File:Comus 1873 Spider.jpg|Spider 1873

File:Comus 1886 Amphitrite.jpg|Amphitrite 1886

File:Comus 1886 Offerings in Ancient Egypt.jpg|Offerings in Ancient Egypt 1886

File:Comus 1886 Mercury.jpg|Mercury 1886

File:Comus 1886 Royalty in a Future Generation.jpg|Royalty in a Future Generation 1886

File:Corn Costume Comus 1893.jpg|Corn Costume 1893

File:Jennie Wilde costume design - Krewe of Comus, New Orleans Mardi Gras 1894 01.png|1894

File:Jennie Wilde costume design - Krewe of Comus, New Orleans Mardi Gras 1894 02.png|1894

File:Comus Parade Bulletin Mardi Gras 1897.jpg|1897 Bulletin

File:Othello Comus Parade New Orleans 1898.jpg|Othello 1898

File:Macbeth Comus New Orleans Mardi Gras 1898.jpg|Macbeth 1989

File:Romeo and Juliet Comus Parade New Orleans 1898.jpg|Romeo and Juliet 1898

File:Comus Parade 1900 Picayune - New Orleans Mardi Gras.jpg|Bulletin Stories of the Golden Age 1900

File:Comus parade float 1909 - Charlemagne.png|Charlemagne 1909

File:Comus 1910 parade - Comus Float.jpg|COMUS 1910

File:Comus 1910 Costume Violet Cape.jpg|1910

File:Comus 1910 Al Borak.jpg|Al Borak 1910

File:Comus 1910 - Cadijah.jpg|Cadijah 1910

File:Comus 1910 The Cock.jpg|Cockerel 1910

File:Comus 1910 King of Abyssinia.jpg|King of Abyssinia 1910

File:Comus 1910 The Cock.jpg|The Cock 1910

File:Comus 1910 parade - The Koran.jpg|The Koran 1910

File:Comus Parade 1910 The Mystic Shrine.jpg|The Mystic Shrine 1910

File:Comus 1910 - The Reward of the Faithful.jpg|The Reward of the Faithful 1910

File:Comus 1911- Such Stuff as Dreams are Made Of.jpg|Such Stuff as Dreams are Made Of 1911

File:Comus 1911 - What Are the Wild Waves Saying.jpg|What Are The Wild Waves Saying 1911

File:Comus1912FrogFloat.jpg|Frog 1912

</gallery>

Invitations

File:Comus 1860 Invitation.jpg|1860

File:Mistick Krewe of Comus 1861 Invitation.jpg|1861

File:Comus Invite New Orleans 1862.jpg|1862

File:Comus 1866 Invitation.png|1866 Admittance Card

File:Invitation-issued-by-the-Mystik-Krewe-of-Comus Mardi Gras 1867.jpg|1867 Envelope

File:ComusInvite1867.jpg|1867 Admittance card

File:New Orleans 1868-Mistick-Krewe of Comus.jpg|1868 Admittance Card

File:Comus invitation New Orleans Mardi Gras 1871.jpg|1871

File:Mistick Krewe of Comus 1877.jpg|1877

File:Comus Festival 1878 - Ball invitation.jpg|1878

File:Mistick Krewe of Comus 1880 Aztec.jpg|1880

File:1880 Comus Admittance Card.jpg|1880 Admittance card

File:Comus Peacock New Orleans Mardi Gras 1881.jpg|1881

File:Comus Invite 1891 Mardi Gras.jpg|1891

File:1893 Comus Invitation.jpg|1893

File:Comus 1898 Invite.png|1898

File:Comus Ball Cover 1899.jpg|1899

File:Comus Invitation 1890.jpg|1890

File:Comus 1899 Invite French Opera House.JPG|1899

File:Comus1907invitation.jpg|1907

File:Comus1907Admit.jpg|1907 Admittance card

File:Comus1901Invite.jpg|1910

File:Comus 1914 Mardi Gras Ball Invitation.jpg|1914

File:Comus 1916 invite.jpg|1916 Admittance card

</gallery>

Parade

File:Comus Parade New Orleans 1858.jpg|1858

File:Mistick Krewe of Comus, New Orleans 1859 - The Daily True Delta - Procession.png|Route 1859

File:ComusLeslies1867Epecurian.jpg|1867

File:Comus Parade Canal Street 1873.png|1873

File:ComusNightReviewStandWPA.jpeg|COMUS 1934

File:Comus Night Parade - New Orleans Mardi Gras - Postcard Color Photo.jpg|1950's Parade

</gallery>

Programs

File:Comus Tableau Ball Program New Orleans 1857.jpg|1857

File:Mistick Krewe of Comus, New Orleans 1859 - The Daily True Delta - Ball.png|1859 The Daily True Delta

File:Program Cover Comus Ball Mardi Gras 1867.jpg|1867

File:1925 Comus-program-booklet-mystick New Orleans Mardi Gras - 02.jpg|1925

File:1925 Comus-program-booklet-mystick New Orleans Mardi Gras - 01.jpg|1925

File:Krewe of Comus 1927 ball invitation cover.jpg|1927

File:Mistick Krewe of Comus Diamond Jubilee 1931.png|Diamond Jubilee 1931

</gallery>

Tableau

File:Grand Tableau of the Mistick Krewe - Harpers - New Orleans Mardi Gras 1873.jpg|1873

File:GreatSouthCarnivalMaskers.jpg|1875

File:FrenchOperaHouseLadiesInBalcony Colorized.jpg|1900

</gallery>

Respites from revelry

From the first Comus parade until a police strike in 1979, nothing suspended New Orleans' lavish Mardi Gras celebrations except war. The Comus organization (along with Momus and Proteus, other 19th-century Krewes) withdrew from parading, rather than racially integrating (Proteus returned to parading in 2000). Two federal courts later decided that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association and an unwarranted intrusion into the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. The Krewe of Comus never resumed its parading.

Early affiliation with The Pickwick Club

thumb|left|The Pickwick Club Comus New Orleans The Selma Times Fri Jun 2 1882

It is generally known by now that the Pickwick Club, in its beginnings, was the public shield behind which the revelries of the Mistick Krewe were planned and executed. The two were one, but only the Club was known to the public, and the allegiance of the early Pickwickian to the Mistick Krewe was a sacred secret. The fame of each grew independently until distinction became necessary in 1884. The Krewe came first into being, but soon resolved itself into the Club, in the same tradition as The Louisiana Club and the Knights of Momus along with The Stratford Club and the High Priests of Mithras carry one today.

In the 20th and early 21st centuries, their membership is not identical; but it is believed that there are members common to both groups.

Carnival secrecy and exclusivity

The Mistick Krewe has jealously guarded the identities of its membership and the privacy of its activities (other than its parade), perhaps even more than the other Carnival organizations subscribing to the traditional code of secrecy.

Legend has it that admittance to the Mistick Krewe's ball was so highly sought-after that a group of uninvited ladies formed a flying wedge and attempted to force their way into the Comus ball. In other years, uninvited persons have tried to beg, buy, or steal invitations to the ball.