The Rex Organization (founded 1872), commonly referred to simply as Rex, is a New Orleans Carnival krewe which stages one of the city's most celebrated parades on Mardi Gras Day. Rex is Latin for 'king', and Rex reigns as "The King of Carnival".
History and formation
Rex was organized by New Orleans businessmen in part to put on a spectacle in honour of the New Orleans visit of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia (remembered locally as "Grand Duke Alexis") during the 1872 Carnival season. Also in the minds of the founders of Rex was the desire to lure tourism and business to New Orleans in the years after the American Civil War.
Rex has held more parades in New Orleans than any other parading organization. Its official song is "If Ever I Cease to Love", a quirky tune from the 1870s musical Bluebeard. This was adopted because the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia had a fondness for Lydia Thompson, the actress who sang the song in the musical, which was playing in New Orleans at the time of the first Rex parade in 1872. It has stuck around since then and is played often during Carnival.
Membership
Traditionally, the secretive membership was restricted to New Orleans residents of European ancestry for most of its history, typically being elected from the membership rolls of The Boston Club including the first Rex, Louis Solomon, a Jewish businessman. However, in 1991 the New Orleans city council passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras krewes, to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure. In effect, the ordinance required these, and other, private social groups to abandon their traditional code of secrecy and identify their members for the city's Human Relations Commission. The Mistick Krewe of Comus (along with Momus and Proteus, other 19th century Krewes) withdrew from parading rather than identify its membership. Rex decided to comply with the new ordinance, rather than disappear from the main event of Mardi Gras Day. Two federal courts later declared that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association and an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. The Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal from this decision. While the Krewe of Proteus returned to parading in 2000, the Mistick Krewe of Comus and the Knights of Momus have not since been seen.
The Rex organization and the Mistick Krewe of Comus still hold their annual balls together on Mardi Gras night.
Parade
thumbnail|300px|right|Rex parade float on Napoleon Avenue, mid 1990s
Rex assembles floats using techniques that have spanned generations, entirely by hand. Contrary to popular belief, Rex floats are not built over Civil War-era cotton wagons; they are instead built on wagons formerly employed by the City of New Orleans to collect refuse in the late 19th century.
The Rex parade is put on by The School of Design.
Since 1971, the parade has started at the corner of Napoleon Avenue and South Claiborne Avenue, proceeding south (river bound) on Napoleon to St. Charles Avenue, then east (downtown bound) on St. Charles to Canal Street. Unlike some other old-line krewes, Rex's route never went through the French Quarter prior to the city's ban on parades in the Vieux Carre which took effect in 1973.
Parade themes
The theme for each year's parade is decided more than a year in advance, and as soon as the parade is over on Mardi Gras Day, float artists begin work on the next year's parade. It takes thousands of man hours to create an entirely new parade, and it is for this reason, as well as the organization's commitment to its history and traditions, that many consider the Rex parade to be the highlight and most beautiful sight of New Orleans carnival.
Parade themes tend to cover themes related to mythology, ancient kingdoms, and Louisiana.