Tableaux Vivants
All illustrations and text  © 2014 Darlene Olivo

                               
                               Last Respects Float

          Having put on hold her bifurcated dream of furthering her education beyond her high school diploma, Nola Louise Bridges, owing to a twist of fate and by way of honoring her mother’s own dream, claims her profession as “Entertainer.” Entertainer has a certain ring to it, she believes, and connects her to the likes of nationally known stars like Liza Minnelli and Bette Midler, and even her local idol Becky Allen,[i] women who have stage presence down pat. She can act, move her body, belt out a song, and keep the audience in a state of thrall with witty repartee; big and bouncy, her mass of flaming Blaze Starr[ii] hair looks as if firecrackers have exploded inside.         Nola is married to Earl Eugene Wagner Junior. He’s the twist-of-fate part. Jesus! Now there’s a piece of work. Petty gambler, house pool shark at Acey’s,[i] shade tree mechanic and avowed Lothario: He has a face like an alabaster angel presiding over an aging mausoleum in St. Roch Cemetery,[ii] is built like a shit house made of orange St. Joe bricks, and hung like a stallion at the Fair Grounds dragging his pecker through the paddock: features he considers to be his stock in trade and keys to the city.

[i] Search Terms: In New Orleans so many local watering  holes are gone – but not forgotten …

[ii] Search Terms: MorbidAnatomy/Tuesday, May 19, 2009/St. Roch Cemetery and Chapel, New Orleans.

[i] Two Search Terms for Becky Allen:
a. Gambit/Best of New Orleans/Role of a Lifetime.
b.Blog/Nola.com/David Cuthbert/Backstage/Becky Allen’s Triple Comedy Feature.

[ii] Search Terms: Wikipedia/Blaze Starr.