gone with the flood?

a decade after the british actress vivien leigh achieved international stardom as scarlett o'hara in the film of margaret mitchell's civil war novel gone with the wind, she took over the role (created by jessica tandy) of blanche dubois, a piteous caricature of scarlett, in the third—i think—broadway season of tennessee williams' play a streetcar named desire, set in 20th century new orleans.

i presume director elia kazan gets credit for casting leigh in both the stage and screen versions of streetcar, a brilliant—and perhaps even prophetic—stroke, because the two heroines taken together can be viewed as a dual personification of the american south, once proud and defiant, now depending on the kindness of strangers as much as blanche's final exit line says she always has.

as the ravishing scarlett, leigh loved and lost the biggest hollywood male sex symbol of the time (clark gable). then in real life she married the greatest shakesperian actor of the time (laurence olivier) and onstage played cleopatra, who loved two of the most powerful men of her time. then as the faded blanche she got ravished by the new biggest hollywood male sex symbol (marlon brando), lost her grip on reality, and got carted off to an asylum. then she played lady macbeth—who went insane and died—onstage. her real life ended only a dozen years later at age 54, apparently after a period of nymphomania and time in a mental institution.

new orleans has long been the hub of the south, both in commerce and culture. south louisiana is by far the nation's busiest seaport and #3 in the world in tonnage handled. traffic funnels thru it not only to and from much of the south, but to and from virtually all the old louisiana territory. the state is a leader in oil, gas, sulfur, and salt production. its farms produce large crops of cotton, rice, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, and pecans. the city, the delta, and the bayou country are all world-famous for their food, their music, and their eccentricities.

yet louisiana is one of the poorest states, and new orleans has twice the national poverty rate.

new orleans was exotic, glamorous, decadent, and, finally, fading. doesn't it strike you as somewhat pathetic—no matter how humorous the intent—that female mardi gras celebrants would bare their breasts for a string of plastic beads?

only time will tell if life imitates art so much that new orleans ends its life in asylum, like vivien leigh and blanche dubois.