Carnival A-Z: Henri Schindler

Henri Schindler is a local Carnival Enthusiast. He is said to have the largest private collection of Golden Age Carnival Memorabilia. He is also an author of 5 Carnival themed books. All are large (9x12ish) books with text and many images mixed together.

The first book he published, Mardi Gras New Orleans, is no longer in print, and has become somewhat of a collectors item. The other four books create a series which is a visual smorgasbord of Henri’s collections. It gives one the idea of how elaborate and extravagant Golden Age Carnival truly was. I suggest you check them out:

Mardi Gras Treasures: Costume Designs of the Golden Age

Mardi Gras Treasures: Float Designs of the Golden Age

Mardi Gras Treasures: Jewelry of the Golden Age

Mardi Gras Treasures: Invitations of the Golden Age

In addition to being the collector and author, he has been the leader of the irreverent, disconnected, and somewhat racy, Krewe Du Vieux. In this role, when Dorothy Mae Taylor enacted her inquisitorial witch hunt for those Krewes she did not like/understand, Henri, under the guise of King Sarcophagus I paraded to the Boston Club. While placing a funeral wreath on the Club for the krewes who were, at that point, no longer allowed to parade, he read a letter attributed to Comus, Momus, and Proteus:

Adieu, fair city, until the coming of some happy day when the furies are done and the Fates call us to ride again to greet you

and to that he added a postscript to "Junta in power in City Hall", which he noted was "sucking the lifeblood fromt he city," he proclaimed, "Your days are numbered!"