Center for Louisiana Studies Archival Catalog
This searchable database provides information on images, documents, and audio and video recordings, made between 1934 and the present.
Interview with Dale Houston
background; starting off gospel; instruments played; moving to Baton Rouge; musical influences; staying gospel; loving country; Jimmy Clanton; Johnny Rivers; Dale and the Comics; ÒLonely ManÓ; John Fred; Sam Montalbano; defining swamp pop; feeling cajun; The El Paso Comics; North Louisiana; Jerry Lee Lewis; back to Baton Rouge; odd jobs; meeting Grace Broussard; recording ÒLeaving it up to YouÓ; meeting Grace;Huey Meaux; ÒStop and Think it OverÓ; ÒLeaving it up to YouÓ writers; rock ÔnÕ roll influences; duet influences; Jay Chavalier; musicians
Interview with Dale Houston (cont.)
Eddie Raven; Las Vegas; American Bandstand; Dick Clark Tour; Kennedy assassination; Dale and Grace after the hit; esophagus issues; singing again; damaging the team; ÒLoneliest Night of the WeekÓ; another national tour; back to Baton Rouge; end of Dale and Grace; after Dale and Grace; Chicken Haven, Atlanta Georgia; Florida; Tennessee; ÒNobody Cares if a Fool Wants to CryÓ; going country; day job; disability; Dale and the Houston Solution; best country pianist award; session work; reunion with Grace; upcoming performances; relationship with Grace; philandering in Las Vegas; friendly banter; England contacts; more banter; Shane Bernard breaks down the internet for Dale Houston
Interview with John Broven and Harry Simoneaux
background; education; banking; writing about music; interest in music; Mike Leadbetter; record collecting; American artists on British labels; ÒIs She Gone ForeverÓ; ÒSea of LoveÓ; researching music; contact with Schuler; Cajun Corner; relationship with Leadbetter; South Louisiana rock ÔnÕ roll; coining Òswamp popÓ; defining swamp pop; Dr. John; popularity of swamp pop in EnglandHarry Simoneaux: Òhalf Domino, half fais do-doÓ; Dr. John; Joe Carl; swamp rock; Fats DominoÕs influence; ÒSee You Later, AlligatorÓ;
Interview with Harry Simoneaux (cont.)
emotion in cajun/swamp pop; accordion;
Interview with Huey ÒCookieÓ Thierry and Ernest Jacobs
background; musicians in the family; Creole; influences; country; French influence; singing; forming the Cupcakes; Boogie Ramblers; ÒCindy LouÓ; ÒMatildaÓ; recording; George Khoury; ÒGot You on my MindÓ; ÒMatildaÓ; ÒTwistedÓ; Shuler and Khoury; Judd label; bankruptcy; history of the Cupcakes; impostors; Cookie moves to California; Cookie disappears; auto accident; Cupcake reunion
Interview with Huey ÒCookieÓ Thierry and Ernest Jacobs (cont.)
finding Cookie in L. A.; Cookie sings again; earthquake; back to Louisiana; race relations in the 1950s and 1960s; trouble in Lawtell; chased by white women; new projects; swamp pop sound; the Boogie Ramblers;
Interview with Eddie Shuler
recording the blues; where artists originated; Lee Baker Jr.; the blues sound; lost recordings; artists recorded; Clarence Garlow; All-star Reveliers; Hackberry Ramblers; artists influence on other artists; blues clubs; zydeco blues; Thadus Declouet; Little Latour; Clifton Chenier; Boozoo Chavis; rhythm and blues and dance beats; story about the son of the mayor of New York; Ivory Jackson; Clarence Garlow; Al Smith; ÒChicken StumpÓ; Lazy Lester; Ashton Savoy; Katie Webster; ÒLeft handedÓ Charlie Morris; Walter Price; Little Miss Peggy; Bill Parker; Cal Miller; Little Latour
Interview with R. A. ÒBeedyÓ Herpin; Hazel Herpin; and Dalton Comeaux
Interview with Raymond Herpin: real name; background; speaking French; education; the army; cultural differences; speaking French; military experiences; family business; Albuquerque; squadronsInterview with Hazel Bernard Herpin: speaking French; Baton Rouge; speaking French; French in school; La Morandier; St. FarancisvilleInterview with Dalton Comeaux: background; speaking French; grandmother; learning English in school; punishment for speaking French in school; Les AmŽricans; French in the family; Cajun shame; teaching in Tunisia; back to Opelousas; retiring
Interview with Dalton Comeaux (cont.) and Evelyn Comeaux
Interview with Dalton Comeaux (cont.): teaching in Africa; somebody gets a Ph.D.; WW2; college; army; brotherÕs death in invasion; Cheyenne; maneuvers; ear problems; discharged; teaching; French speaking students; French at home; learning French; integrating Opelousas High; integrating teachers; protest and white flight; meeting halfway; teaching around the state; trouble at Washington High; military service; culture shock; changing attitudes towards Cajuns; EvelynÕs heritage; benefits of being bilingual; agriculture; seeding rice fields; technology in agriculture
Interview with Dalton Comeaux and Ellen Comeaux (cont.); Barbara Secardo; and Courney Dronet and Robertn Leblanc
Interview with Dalton and Evelyn Comeaux (cont.): using airplanes in agriculture, changes in agriculture in St. Landry Parish; sharecropping; co-op; crops grown; cattle; soybeans; crawfishing; technology in insect control; Swiss livestock show; importing livestock; importance of agricultureInterview with Barbara Secardo: Cotton Bros. Bakery; Echo, LA prepares for war; Alexandria; Italian POWs; Italian nationals during the war; speaking Italian; friends dad at Pearl Harbor; boarding soldiers and wives; Sheriff Didier; music in the familyInterview with Curney Dronet and Robert Leblanc: T. V.; oil boom; hiring locals for oil field; oil plants; Americanization; Conrad;Vermillion Parish; DronetÕs heritage; family names
Interview with Curney Dronet and Robert Leblanc
Scotland; debriefing; OSS teams; George Patton; speaking French on missions; 4th armored division; breaking through lines; French Indochina; end of the war; state of education before 1940; LSU; active duty; the radio; translating broadcasts; LeblancÕs background; friendÕs death at Pearl Harbor; ConradÕs definition of cajun; joining up after Pearl Harbor; response to Pearl Harbor; learning English in grade school; punishments for speaking French; hiring non-French speaking teachers; shame; Americanization; speaking old French; fluctuations in French speaking population; culture shock; Brooklynese; regional slang; mispronunciation;
Interview with Curney Dronet and Robert Leblanc (cont.)
les Americans; American identity; ethnicities; next generation of French speakers; cold war; political conflicts; Vietnam; red scare in Acadiana; media; military weapons controversy; Vietnam; protesters; education debate; history; college for veterans; education in Vermillion Parish; Walter McIlhenny; time away for military; nuclear weapons course; LeblancÕs military career; civil defense; nuclear war; Bogalusa civil rights march; contingency plans
Interview with Curney Dronet and Robert Leblanc
Interview with Dronet and Leblanc (cont.): contingency plans; fallout shelters; nuclear drills; nuclear threat; fallout; germ warfaredead airInterview with Louise Landry and Dave Landry: birth dates; speaking English; punishments for speaking French in school; quitting school; working in the bakery; experiences in the military; Jefferson Island salt mine strike; joining the military; training in Arkansas; accent; oil field; ÒcoonassÓ; staying stateside; Texas; not teaching children French; French in church
Interview with Allen Simon
French presentation; ÒColindaÓ; speaking French in the family; ÒbesqueÓ; speaking French in school; French identity; creole; French identity; les Americans; Pearl Harbor; bombing of Berlin; drills and rations; gravel roads; listening to the news; Pearl Harbor; movies; news on the radio; ÒCousinÓ Dudley Leblanc; French on the radio; having both languages; education laws; bringing in outsiders; punishments; choosing not to pass on the French; French as low class; bilingual benefits; dealing with Texans; small worlds
Interview with Allen Simon (cont.)
punishments for speaking French; ÒthÓ; leniency; confidence when speaking English; Camy and Deanne Doucet; French skits; nativity play; Catherine Blanchette; too short of breath to sing; new words; Òdanse rondeÓ; college; the army; travels; European views of Americans; being cajun in the army; CODOFIL; Dudley Leblanc; speaking for ourselves; old French;
Interview with Allen Simon (cont.)
outsiders views; Hollywood depictions of cajuns; claiming to be cajun; recording in French; BernardÕs research; older people learning French; cajuns on t.v.; Bayou Folk/ Poor White Trash; inferiority; Importance of French; genesis of French language; ÒcoonassÓ; future of cajun culture; giving lectures;
Interview with Allen Simon (cont.); Elmo Authement
Interview with Allen Simon: music; music clubs; T.V.Õs effect on the Americanization of cajuns; Òboite du protraitÓInterview with Elmo Authement: speaking French at school; the Authements; sending letters; background; bilingual teachers; parish to parish differences in punishment for speaking French in school; teaching in Carencro; bombing of Pearl Harbor; army jobs; places stationed; culture shock;
Interview with Elmo Authement (cont.)
rank; Korean War service; Nicholls University; integration; McCarthyism; conservatives; Dudley Leblanc; James Dimaggio; integrating Nicholls; preserving French in LA; starting CODOFIL; teaching French in schools; immersion; census stats; CODOFIL backlash; strategies for teaching French; CODOFIL chapters; French in the family; Dimaggio
Interview with Elmo Authement (cont.); Ernest Crochet
Interview with Elmo Authement: Dimaggio controversy; ÒcoonassÓInterview with Ernest Crochet: punishment for speaking French in school; French in the family; joining the service; leaving south Louisiana; speaking with the soldiers; ÒFrenchieÓ; North Africa; Navy jobs; Pearl Harbor; submarine warfare; leave; discharge; family; ÒcoonassÓ; identifying as cajun; other cajuns in the navy;
Interview with Ernest Crochet (cont,); Elvin Soileau
Interview with Ernest Crochet: navy; war and Americanization; Korea; airplane crashes; combat; Vietnam; race relations; oil boom; changesInterview with Elvin Soileau: speaking French in school; punishments; brotherÕs experience in the service; getting drafted; ÒcoonassÓ; ÒFrenchieÓ
Interview with Elvin Soileau (cont.)
ÒcoonassÓ; G. I. bill; welding; farming; picking up French in the home; Vietnam protesters; cold war; t. v.; air conditioning; plumbing; race relations; supporting WWII; news form the war; movies; cowboys; future of cajuns; tourism
Interview with Elvin Soileau (cont.); Floyd Soileau; Homer J. ÒKirkÓ Leblanc Jr. (RESTRICTED)
Interview with Elvin Soileau: prairie grass; indiansInterview with Floyd Soileau: cajun music in the 1950s; making French records; becoming a producer; country and western; success; media licensing; keeping French alive in music; new French sounds; contracts and royalty statementsRESTRICTED INTERVIEW, DO NOT LINK AUDIOInterview with Homer J. ÒKirkÓ Leblanc Jr.: background information; bilingual parents; English in the classroom; punishment as the exception; bilingual teachers;
Interview with Interview with Homer J. ÒKirkÓ Leblanc Jr
RESTRICTED INTERVIEW, DO NOT LINK AUDIOINAUDIBLE
Interview with Pat Delahoussaye Broussard RESTRICTED
BernardÕs notes on previous interviewRESTRICTED INTERVIEW. DO NOT LINK AUDIO. Interview with Pat Broussard: discipline for speaking French as a student; unable to speak French; fatherÕs language habits; teaching in the 1950s; French speaking students; the country school; helping French speaking students; non-official policy; French disappearing from the home; CODOFIL in schools; Cold War drills; duck and cover film; threat of war at home; fallout shelters; red scare; communist activity in Acadiana; Americanism/Citizenship; integration; problems with parents; racial issues now and then
Interview with Pat Delahoussaye Broussard; Ledelle D. ÒBiggieÓ Dupuis
Pat Delahoussaye: Vietnam War; protesters; hippie culture; television in the 1960s; television violence; air conditioning; children missing school because of work; telephones; indoor plumbingLedelle D. ÒBIggieÓ Dupuis: ÒLes AmericansÓ; personal information/background; military service; leaving home for the first time; innocence; how WW II changed the world;
Interview with Ledelle D ÒBiggieÓ Dupuis (cont.)
joining the Navy; meeting French soldiers; speaking French in the military; Cajuns and higher education before the War; G.I. Bill; ÒFrenchieÓ; ÒcoonassÓ; teaching; memos encouraging speaking English in school; no punishment policy; problems with French speaking students; the memos; personal experience with speaking French in school as a child; Cold War in Acadiana; studay abroad thwarted; drills/fallout shelters;
Interview with Ledelle D ÒBiggieÓ Dupuis (cont.)
bomb drills; teaching Americanism/Citizenship classes; mismanagement of Cold War; Americanization of Cajuns; Acadian hardships; misconceptions about Cajuns; ÒcoonassÓ; cost of living/college after the War; electricity; television and entertainment; air conditioning; automobiles
Interview with Ledelle D ÒBiggieÓ Dupuis (cont.); Ernest Crochet
Ledelle D ÒBiggieÓ Dupuis:shame of being Cajun; other ethnic prejudices; approach to Americanism class; American History textbooks; nuclear hysteria; Vietnam/fall of French Indochina; Vietnam War; protesters; hippies; integration of Northside High School; road to integration; studentsÕ responses to integrationErnest Crochet:newspaper article featureing Crochet;
Interview with Ernest Crochet; Richard Nunez
Ernest Crochet: newspaper article; jobs; looking for work after the WarRichard Nunez: importance of learning English in the 1930s; moving to Cow Island; getting punished for speaking French in school; disclipine; early teaching experience; promotions; punishment for speaking French in school; thinking in French; local politics; unofficial policy regarding the speaking of french in school
Interivew with Richard Nunez
Americanism class; american/communist propaganda; fanatacism; fear; American ignorance; defense education act; integration; service in WW II; ridicule for being Cajun; ÒcoonassÓ; spending time in Texas; outsidersÕ opinions of Louisiana; feelings about ÒcoonassÓ; reflections on life; ÒFrenchieÓ; looking for someone
Interview with Judge Allen Babineaux
family store; regional French dialects; grandfather; visiting Grand Pre; parents marriage; traveling in the 1060s; Tom Arceneaux and Roy Therriot; experience with French; influential persons in the Cajun renaissance; university accessibility; issues with ÒCajunÓ events in the 1950s and 1960s; introduction of English into daily life; radio/electricity; Ògentile AcadiansÓ; law careeer; running for office; French in the court room; bicentiennial celebration; migration vs. expulsion; Evangeline controversy; awards and service to the community; international Acadian festival
Interview with Judge Allen Babineaux (cont.)
International Acadian Festival; Canadian documentary: Acadians of the Dispersal; birth of CODOFIL; CODOFILÕs French connections; visit to France; beginnings of involvement in French revival; twinning cities; the making of the Acadian flag
Interview with Judge Allen Babineaux (cont.)
demand for the Acadian flag; CODOFIL under investigation by FBI; founding of CODOFIL; ÒcorrectÓ French vs. Cajun French; punishment of students in school for speaking French; military service; ÒFrenchieÓ; G. I. Bill; AnceletÕs Cajun heritage festival; wanting to be accepted by Anglo-Saxon society; civil rights in Cajun country
Interview with Judge Allen Babineaux (cont.); MathŽ Allain
Judge Allen Babineaux:Dudley Leblanc; communism; Vietmnam War; retirementMathe Allain: Jim Demageaux, tribute to Cajun music, 1974; first comming to Louisiana; academic environment at ULL in 1950s; loyality oath; Americanism class at ULL; Acadian Bicentennial; elitist Cajuns;
Interview with MathŽ Allain (cont.); William Patton
MathŽ Allain:music for the bicentiannial celebration; Lulu Ollivier; involvement with CODOFIL; unorthodox conversations about preserving French in Louisiana; Quebec delegation; teaching young children French; teaching European French; success of CODOFIL; impressions of Demageaux; visits by foreign dignitarites; university students speaking French; gaining outside validation using the Evangeline story; future of Cajun culture and French languageWilliam Patton:beginnings in radio;
Interview with William Patton (cont.);
background and education; KVOL; programming aimed at Cajun audiences; KLFY radio and French programming; more French programming; Floyd Cormier; KLFY television station; problems with FCC; getting licensed; t.v. programming in the early days; minutia of television business and broadcasts; KLFY televisionÕs French programming; changing names; Gunsmoke in French;
Interview with William Patton (cont.)
Gunsmoke in French; French v. English speaking audiences; Cajuns working at the station; creating ÒAcadianaÓ; French programming on other television stations; Cajun character on Combat; Policarp kids program; leads
Interview with William Patton (cont.)
remote broadcasting; Dudley Leblanc; Huggy;
Interview with Dr. Amos Simpson; Marvin Ducote
Dr. Amos Simpson:role of women; bombing of ROTC building at USL; Cajun hippies; students cheating on tests; growth of ULL and Lafayette in 1960s; Oil CenterMarvin Ducote:speaking French in primary school; bilingual family; military service; culture shock; ÒcoonassÓ; Vietnam protest
Interview with Amos Simpson
arrival at USL; not signing the oath at Berkley; USL desegregation; tolerance in Cajun country; incidences of violence on campus; McCarthyism on campus; hippies; misbehavior in class