Ghostly Child
My dad Johnny Donnels has a photographer friend named Chris Harris, who took a quite wonderful photo of Tennesee Williams over thirty years ago. It's a shot of Williams standing in Jackson Square, right in the middle of the French Quarter. Williams is in front of the famous statue of Andrew Jackson on a horse, at the center of the square. Williams is raising his arms joyfully, as dozens of pigeons scatter into the sky around him.
Just to the right of Williams, there is a little girl in a winter coat, who is looking directly at the camera with a serious and almost ghostly stare. Well, that little girl is quite clearly my oldest and dearest friend Armour. We used to play in that square all the time when we were that age (around 7?). And Armour's mother Cynthia was later to become an expert on Tennessee Williams and his relationship to the quarter. Cynthia considered herself to BE Blanche DuBois (she was an English teacher from a conservative North Carolina background who came to New Orleans to experience its freedoms). Cynthia has sinced passed on, but she would have loved to have known that her daughter shared that moment in Jackson Square with Tennessee.
My father sent me a copy of the photo, signed from Chris, a few years ago and that's when I recognized that Armour was in it. Little Armour and Tennessee both hang over my desk now, and I will display the photo in the lobby display for Streetcar.
Just to the right of Williams, there is a little girl in a winter coat, who is looking directly at the camera with a serious and almost ghostly stare. Well, that little girl is quite clearly my oldest and dearest friend Armour. We used to play in that square all the time when we were that age (around 7?). And Armour's mother Cynthia was later to become an expert on Tennessee Williams and his relationship to the quarter. Cynthia considered herself to BE Blanche DuBois (she was an English teacher from a conservative North Carolina background who came to New Orleans to experience its freedoms). Cynthia has sinced passed on, but she would have loved to have known that her daughter shared that moment in Jackson Square with Tennessee.
My father sent me a copy of the photo, signed from Chris, a few years ago and that's when I recognized that Armour was in it. Little Armour and Tennessee both hang over my desk now, and I will display the photo in the lobby display for Streetcar.
1 Comments:
At 7/20/2006 6:03 AM, Christopher R Harris said…
I never met Laurana...but when I was 16 or so the great French Quarter "character" Johnny Donnels asked me to take some photographs of him and his daughter Raney Jo.
Raney Jo now teaches in Hawaii. And it was she who alerted me to the name of the waif-like figure in my photo of Tennessee Williams scaring the pigeons in Jackson Square.
Armour...Armour and Tennessee...identified by Raney Jo. Man, Tennessee would have loved it. And I appreciate the information more than I can explain.
Instead of the world getting larger, it somehow gets smaller in NOLA. Save the city, save your soul. Scare a pigeon or two.
Chris Harris
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