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Today in New Orleans History |
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September 17
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Rita hit South Florida and the Florida Keys as a Category
2 storm on September 20. As it moved away from Florida, Rita became Category 5. After weakening, Rita came ashore as
a Category 3 between Sabine Pass, Texas and Johnson Bayou, Louisiana at 2:30 a.m. CDT. Water from Rita came down the Intracoastal
Canal and water was also pushed in from the bays. The natural levees of the Intracoastal Canal that had been formed by dirt
when the Intracoastal Canal was dug had severely eroded over the years from barge traffic and they were breached. Eighty
percent of the homes in Erath, Vermilion Parish, LA were flooded, and serious flooding ocurred elsewhere in Cermilion Parish
as well as in Iberia and St. Mary Parishes. On September 23, 2005, the outer bands of the
storm caused a breach in the Industrial Canal levee in New Orleans in the lower ninth ward causing re-flooding of the
area. The largest evacuation in Texas history was undertaken on September 22, 2005. The traffic was backed
up for 100 miles on IH-45; and, 24 elderly persons died on the morning on September 23, 2005 ten miles south of Dallas
when a bus exploded from oxygen tanks ignited by sparks from the brakes.
Jessie Hill Dies Jessie Hill was born in New Orleans on December 9, 1932. In his teens played drums in local bands and in 1951 he formed his own group, the House Rockers. After periods performing as drummer with Professor Longhair and then Huey "Piano" Smith, Hill formed a new version of the House Rockers in 1958, which enabled him to focus on singing. He wrote "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" and recorded it at Cosimo Matassa's studio. Produced by Allen Toussaint it was released in 1960 and became a favorite at Mardi Gras song, selling 800,000 copies and reaching the Top 5 in the US Billboard R&B chart and a Top 30 slot in the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. The
origins of "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" were apparently created from a tune played by a local pianist who was known only
as Big Four. Hill wrote the lyrics and melody, later expanding the work with an intro taken from Dave Bartholomew. It was
further honed on stage, before being recorded. Hill made subsequent but less successful recordings in New Orleans before moving to California to work with fellow New Orleans musicians including Harold Battiste and Mac (Dr. John) Rebennack. He wrote songs recorded by Ike and Tina Turner, Sonny and Cher, and Willie Nelson. A 1972 solo album was unsuccessful, and he began to suffer financial difficulties exacerbated by a drinking problem. These problems continued after his return to New Orleans in 1977, and several benefit gigs did little to revive his personal or professional fortunes. Hill died of heart and renal failure in New Orleans in September 1996, at the age of 63. Carrying on his musical legacy are two of his grandsons are James and Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews who performed "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" in Episode 7 of the HBO series Treme.
Ashley Avery Ambrose is Born New Orleans born -- is a former professional American football cornerback for several NFL
teams during the 1990s and early 2000s who is currently the defensive backs coach for the California Golden Bears football
team. Ambrose was a one time Pro Bowl selection in 1996 and AFC Defensive Back of the Year while he
was playing with the Cincinnati Bengals, the team for which he played from 1996-1998. He also played for the Indianapolis
Colts from 1992–1995, the New Orleans Saints in 1999 and again in 2003 and 2004 and for the Atlanta Falcons from 2000-2002.
He attended Mississippi Valley State University and has 42 career interceptions for 512 yards and three touchdowns.
Prior to the 2005 season, he tried out for the Kansas City Chiefs. Ambrose was hired as a defensive
technical intern for the Colorado football team's 2008 season. In May
2009, head coach Dan Hawkins announced that Ambrose would take over as the wide receivers
coach in 2010. In 2011 he will be the Defensive Backs coach at California. Seymour Weiss Dies Prominent New Orleans hotel executive and civic leader Seymour Weiss, who was a close confidante of "The
Kingfish" Huey Pierce Long, Jr., was born in Bunkie on September 13, 1896. He moved to New Orleans in 1916 to clerk
in a shoe store. In 1923, he became the manager of a barbershop at the Grunewald Hotel built by owner Louis Grunewald in 1893.
In 1923, a consortium of local investors purchased the hotel and renamed it "The Roosevelt" in honor of President
Theodore Roosevelt, who had died four years earlier. In 1924 Weiss was appointed the assistant hotel manager. In 1928,
he was promoted to hotel manager. In 1931, Weiss was named president of the New Orleans Roosevelt Corp. From 1931–1965,
he was the principal owner and managing director of the Roosevelt. He sold it in 1965. His friendship
with Long began after meeting during the 1928 gubernatorial campaign and the governor made
the hotel his New Orleans headquarters. Legend is rife with stories of secret communications, rooms, and passageways
provided for Long by his friend. Weiss became treasurer of both the Louisiana Democratic Association and Long's secret
political fund. During the Depression, Weiss had control of federal relief funds in Louisiana. He was vice-president
of the Win or Lose Corp., a controversial oil company whose structure was devised by Huey Long. On Long's death, Weiss chaired
the Huey P. Long Memorial Commission. Weiss remained active in the Long machine until scandals swept through the organization. In 1934, Weiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Orleans on tax evasion charges. He paid back taxes
after the charges were dropped. He was indicted again on tax evasion and mail fraud charges
growing out of the "Louisiana Scandals" of the late 1930s. He was convicted and imprisoned for sixteen months between
1940 and 1942, before he was paroled and ordered to pay back taxes. In 1947, he was given
a full and unconditional pardon by Democratic President Harry Truman. Weiss
was a member of the New Orleans Zoning Board and commissioner of the municipal fire and
police departments between 1932 and 1936. He was also president of the board of commissioners of the Port of New Orleans
from 1933–1938. He was active in the American Hotel Association and was president of the Louisiana Hotel-Motel and
the New Orleans Hotel associations. He won statewide awards for hotel management in 1952 and 1957. He was a director of
the New Orleans chapter of the American Red Cross, the Chamber
of Commerce, and the International Trade Mart. In 1968, Weiss chaired the committee for the 250th anniversary of the
founding of New Orleans. He was the chairman of the board of managers of Delgado College. He
died of a heart attack at age 73 in Baton Rouge, where he had travelled for a meeting of
the State Department of Commerce and Industry, on September 17, 1969. Delgado classes were cancelled
and the graduation program was dedicted in his memory. The Times-Picayune editorial on September 19, 1969 stated, "His
death removes from the city one of its most prominent and effective leaders". Lee Harvey Oswald obtained a tourist card good for one visit
to Mexico City from the Mexican consulate in New Orleans on September 17, 1963.
Rigney D'Aunoy, physician, educator. Born, New Orleans, August
8, 1890; son of Joseph D'Aunoy and Zelina Chrétien. Education: Tulane University,
B. S., 1910; M. D., 1914. Never married. Assistant pathologist, New Orleans Dispensary, 1916-1917; assistant pathologist,
Charity Hospital, 1919-1924; pathologist, 1928-1939. Instructor in Pathology and Bacteriology, Tulane, 1919-1924; professor
of Pathology and Bacteriology, Louisiana State University, 1931-1938; dean, LSU Medical School, 1937. Died, New Orleans, September
17, 1941; interred St. Louis Cemetery II. From http://lahistory.org/site21.php
Louis Hall Nelson is Born Louis
Nelson was born on September 17, 1902 at 1419-21 Touro Street. During the 1920s, he played with Buddy
Petit, Kid Rena, Kid Punch Miller, Sam Morgan, Chris Kelly, Papa Celestin, Willie Pajeaud, Kid Howard, Sidney Cates
and Kid Harris' Dixieland Band. During the late 1920s he joined the Sidney Desvigne Orchestra. which played for white
audiences at the New Orleans Country Club and the Southern Yacht Club. Monday and Tuesday nights were reserved for black
audiences at such venues as the Pythian Temple and the Bulls Aids and Pleasure Club. During his 15 years with Desvigne's
10 piece Orchestra, Nelson played for summer Mississippi River cruises on the steamer S.S. Capitol. During
the Depression, he became first chair in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) band. Between engagements, he and fellow
musicians dug stumps for the City Park WPA expansion project. He enlisted in the U. S. Navy and became Musician 1st
Class at the U.S. Navy base in Memphis, Tennessee. After the war he returned to New Orleans and resumed playing with Sidney
Desvigne's Orchestra. In 1945 he joined Kid Thomas Valentine's band, playing at the Tip Top club,
Fireman's Hall in Westwego, and Speck's Moulin Rouge in Marrero. He also worked for the Herbert Leary Orchestra at
this time and kept day jobs as a driver for the post office, working as a fish merchant, chauffeuring, and working as a janitor.
In 1949, he recorded with clarinetist Big Eye Louis Nelson Delisle,
as well as Charlie Love, Johnny St. Cyr, Ernest Rogers, and Austin Young at his father's Touro Street house and recorded
by jazz historian Bill Russell of AM Records. He played at the Paddock Lounge and Dixieland Hall, both on Bourbon Street.
He was a regular player with the Preservation Hall band and travelled abroad as both a soloist and band member of the Billie
and De De Piece and Kid Thomas Valentine's bands. His travels, begining in 1963, included perfomances with the George
Lewis band in Japan, Eastern, Western Europe, South America, Australia, Canada and Mexico, as well as the United States.
His music can be heard on the soundtrack of the movie Pretty Baby (1978) starring Brooke Shields.
He can be seen in many New Orleans jazz documentaries, including Art Ford's House Party, Live the Jazz, Three Men of Jazz
and Till the Butcher Cut Him Down. In later years, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts he developed
a program in which he played for New Orleans public school students and discussed New Orleans jazz history. Lous
Nelson appeared at every New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival until his death on April 5, 1990 as result of a hit-and-run
collision.
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