Gérard Sellers, Réalisateur et Metteur-en-scène
8215 Brich Street
New Orleans, LA 70118
TEL: (504)861-7878
***Date Unknown***1994
See Credits for more information

Acadians first arrived in 1764. 1790-Most People claiming Acadian Descent than in any other country. What will happen to our culture?;
Bon Temp Train on KROF Abbeville. D.L. Menard's Bachelor's Life;
Acadian Langauge;
1604-First immigrants of France arrived in Acadia, 394 years
150 years raising families, worked their farms, trapped. Same things Cajuns of Vermilion parish were doing;
Coming to the New World and naming new things;
Separating Acadian families into American Colonies;
Vermilion Parish coastline very similar to Acadian coastline. Living on the water;
Abbéville 1844 crée par Père Antoine Désiré Mégret, un missionaire de Vermilionville (Lafayette). Acheter de la terre à Pont Perry. Il y avait juste des Américains (ne parlaient pas français et n'étaient pas catholique), pas de cadiens. Ils voulaient just lui vendre de la terre basse. Acheter de Mr. LeBlanc pour l'église, la maison de court, et les rues;
Un des plus gros assemblement des Acadiens;
Plus chaud, des moustiques, etc. Faire récolte, élever des bêtes;
Monter dans un arbre/leur cheval pour voir s'ils étaient partis dans la bonne direction. Venir de Cameron, frapper la Pecanière;
Les moustiques dans les mèches, étouffer les vaches;
Aider les voisins travailler les vaches dans les mèches;
Used to, 6 am to 5-6 pm. Now you can get back for 2 pm with the new roads. Bridge now, no need for a barge anymore;
Putting horses on the barge, pushing cattle about 25 miles;
Costs lest per acre in the marsh because of the insects. The grass doesn't die during the winter, don't need to plant rye grass/hay;
2 horses on a barge and go to the Western side of the marsh, 2 on Eastern side to push them south to the beach, join the rest of the horses;
Arriving at the pipeline. 6-8 miles of travel;
Carrying calves on horses;
40-50 horses on the barge;
Putting calves on barges;
Separating cattle with calves and cattle without. 47-50 head of cattle in a field;
Tagging cattle after calves and cos are reunited, medicating them;
Teaching kids what was done in the past. Learning what to do;
La Dernière Valse par Lionel Leleux;
Crawfishing. 200-300 acres that are farmed. Rotating fields;
Crawfish boil;
Maxie Broussard visiting with the Trahans. Rice and Crawfish farmers throughout generations;
2,600 acres of rice. 700 heads of cattle. Planting rice in March, crawfishing in November, restock rice in May/June annually to be sure there's a crop;
Takes a lot of water for both, deep wells and canal drains connected to the intracoastal canal;
Differences in planting rice then and now. Easier to plant/cut rice nowadays in an air-conditioned combine;
Crawfishing by foot for two days, then he stopped because it was too hard;
Crawfish 'Combine.' Voir Jim Olivier avant qu'il va pêcher;
Robert Duval et Maxie Hebert--his movie. 18-wheeler hauling crops in winter. Sinking a truck and borrowing a neighbor's;
Typical of Cajuns to find where they're related it at all;
D.L. Menard playing for a school with Leo Abshire on fiddle;
D.L. had an uncle that had a Cajun band. They had a practice one night and he fell in love with the guitar. Montgomery Ward Catalog to buy an $11 guitar that was shipped by mail. He showed D.L. the rhythm to a two-step and a waltz;
1962-La Porte d'en Arrière/The Back Door. The band thought it was alright just by himself. Je peux pas t'oublier was recorded first, then The Back Door;
This'll be the hit, Mr. Badeaux started a little bit faster than it was supposed to be. Recording Wednesday, Saturday night at the Jolly Rogers Club between New Iberia and St. Martinville and singing that song 7 times;
Playing festivals, schools. Kids appreciate Cajun music more and more lately because kids couldn't go into clubs. Now in restaurants;
1974-Tour with Lionel Leleux and Marc Savoy in South America. State Department Tour because of The Back Door;
D.L. started to hate the song because that's all he would sing;
Lionel Leleux making fiddles. Interested because it's in the blood;
His father had a fiddle. Lionel was one of four. Lionel teethed on a fiddle;
1924 before Lionel bought a fiddle for $4.50 (50 cents a week). Playing songs after a week;
Aller chez son grandpère, son père se fâchait en voyant ça. He was 75 years old when she told him that;
Lionel older than D.L., both enjoy music;
Lionel fixing and building fiddles. D.L. building chairs. Cajuns were primarily farmers;
Tradition of not buying things at the store, but making them;
Always thought less of themselves for speaking French. Maybe better than monolingual anglophones;
Making quilts since 1990 at Ms. Maryland Morvant's place, finding a pass-time. Every Tuesday. Giving quilts to convents, kids with AIDS, for themselves;
Selling quilts in Europe, California. Making money for convents/churches of Abbeville and Gueydan;
Buying materials using the money made from selling prior quilts;
32 hours à travers 6 semaines. Pull names to make quilts for 22 mothers;
Americans in charge of businesses. English was the language of the U.S., not French;
Americans were the same type of people that deported the Acadians from Canada. Most kids went to school without knowing English. Punishing kids for speaking French at school;
D.L. learning English in school;
Grandparents and parents didn't speak a lot of English. Father went in the Navy at 18 years old;
Starting school with a tutor in first grade;
Cajun French vs. Québec/Canada/France. Importing French and not being able to speak with their families;
Cajun French can't last more than another 30-40 years because kids don't speak French;
People didn't want their kids to speak French because they thought they were less than;
Cassettes and Video tapes will be the only place we'll hear Cajun French in 10 years if it's not taught in schools;
Cajun music tells the Acadian story. We make the instruments and we play the music;
Young musicians playing other types of music with Cajun instruments;
Youth learning French via the music;
Cajun music more popular than rock and roll;
Camey Doucet says kids are only learning French to sing the words of songs. They don't speak it. Wayne Toups and Roddie Romero. Must be up-tempo for young people;
1755-Le Grand Dérangement, Joseph 'Beausoleil' Broussard;
1925-1931, Cajuns went to Texas to work in the oil fields. Cajuns developing boats and energy to work on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico;
Oil in Arab countries, Cajuns went to develop that. Oil in the North Sea;
Not rare to find a farmer with a few head of cattle, flood fields to crawfish, duck hunting and opening blinds to everyone;
Fishing, crabbing, shrimping, the parish is so diversified;
Acadians like to have so much fun, that we'll remember how much fun they had;
Cajun culture excites tourists. Cajuns live to eat;
Camey Doucet announcing songs/announcing weather forecast in French;
La Porte d'en Arrière/The Back Door with various scenes around Vermilion Parish;