Jada - Mardi Gras

Cfa collection: Frank Koza Collection
Notes: A group of intoxicated young men cheer for the camera. Now posing in front of the crowd, newsman Frank Koza patiently waits for them to settle down before starting to speak into his microphone: "This is Bourbon Street, New Orleans, for the 1959 Mardi Gras." He explains that now that the parade is over, thousands of revelers have decended upon the street to continue their party. Koza misspeaks and starts the segment over. The crowd becomes a bit unruly and a police officer pushes them back.; Koza is now joined in front of the group by Jada, a burlesque dancer who started her career on Bourbon Street, who is wearing a low-cut sequined dress and a fur coat. Koza asks her how she feels now that Mardi Gras is over, but the segment must be started over as the crowd hollers and Jada doesn't "follow through" with the plan to kiss Koza on the cheek once she says her line. He repeats his instructions and they begin the segment again, and this time Jada plants a kiss on Koza's cheek, leaving lipstick behind. Koza accuses Jada: "You goofed again!" and they prepare to perform the segment again. Koza and Jada grow visibly frustrated as the drunken spectators continue to interrupt the take. The fifth take is the charm.; Four years later, Jada (Janet Adams Mole Bonney Cuffari Smallwood Conforto Washington [1936-1980]) became the subject of many John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, as she was a dancer at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club in Dallas at the time Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. She also starred in the film Naughty Dallas (1964).
Subjects: Bourbon Street (New Orleans, La.); Sexuality and culture; Carnival; Alcoholic beverages; Entertainers; New Orleans (La.)
Places: North America > United States > Louisiana > New Orleans
Language: English
Cfa elements: Negatives, 169 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/12426