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Eccentric New Orleans Update
Immediately following Hurricane
Katrina, the 17th Street Canal and London Avenue Canal
broke and dumped 10 feet of water into the Gentilly
neighborhood, residence, and office of Eccentric New Orleans creator,
filmmaker, and producer Rick Delaup. Delaup, his wife, and three Sheltie
dogs had safely evacuated to Baton Rouge. However, the entire Eccentric
New Orleans archive, which includes all photos on this
site, was destroyed. The archive included thousands of
photos, negatives, videos, films, documents, and many
other artifacts pertaining to some of the most colorful characters
of New Orleans from the 1940s to the present.
Among the items destroyed were hundreds of photos and negatives of Ruthie
the Duck Girl. The photos covered her entire life, from her infancy
through recent times. They documented her entire life
spent wandering and living in the French Quarter.
Ruthie herself evacuated to Baton Rouge before the
hurricane hit.
Delaup had spent over 10 years collecting and documenting New Orleans
burlesque of the 1940s through 1960s. The collection included very rare
vintage photos of Bourbon Street striptease dancers. The collection also
included vintage promo materials, postcards, letters, documents,
negatives, and films. While Delaup's videotaped
interviews with strippers, musicians, and other
performers from the period were kept safe, everything else in the
collection perished.
Besides documentary video and photography work, Delaup produced and directed
Bustout Burlesque, a live 1950s-style burlesque show. The second run of
the show was to open at the House of Blues on
September 10th. All of the props and costumes from
the show were destroyed.
Delaup's Gentilly neighborhood has been slated to be bulldozed.
Eccentric New Orleans is planning to launch an extensive search for photos
and memorabilia pertaining to eccentric characters of New Orleans and the
history of New Orleans burlesque, one piece at a time. The new archive
will be secured in safe,
commercial facilities that specialize in documentary
materials and are safe from fires and floods.
"After having faced the scope of the loss, I've redoubled my enthusiasm for
documenting this fantastic history. I will continue to work on the
website, the burlesque show, and my plans to create a
book and documentary on New Orleans burlesque."
If you would like to help rebuild Eccentric New Orleans, its archives, or
the live burlesque show, please contact Rick Delaup at rickdelaup AT cox
DOT net.
