Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

treasurer of the New Orleans Spring Fiesta. Muriel also played a role in having nationally prominent
architect Edward Durrell Stone design the new ITM building in New Orleans.
Over the years, Francis most notably patronized the New Orleans Museum of Art. Upon her death
she donated substantially all of her works collected over decades to the museum. These included Cubist
works by Braques and Picasso, Surrealist paintings by Joan Miro, and Impressionist paintings and drawings
by Bonnard, Magritte, Redon, Giacometti and Degas. Just before her death the museum saluted
Muriel with the exhibit “Art Seldom Seen,” memorialized in a volume Profiles of a Connoisseur: The
Collection of Muriel Bultman Francis.
From beautiful art to beautiful clothes is not a big leap. When she died in 1986, Muriel Francis had
collected designer originals including a dress Christian Dior made himself and a gown by Yves St.
Laurent. 1 Married twice, she left no direct descendants.
1 The Times-Picayune, May 2 and May 11, 1986; The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), May 2, 1986.
A LLISON “BIG C HIEF T OOTIE” MONTANA
(1922-2005)
Allison “Big Chief Tootie” Montana brought respect to a raucous New Orleans folk custom
known as Mardi Gras Indian masking. Under his influence the “Indian” tradition acquired a new
legitimacy and popularity. It ranks today as one of the most distinctive customs of New Orleans.
Many African-American New Orleanians have a significant percentage of Native American
blood, dating back to eighteenth century relations between the races. Towards the end of the nineteenth
century, this subset of the African-American community organized into tribes or neighborhoods.
The tribes then sought fame by competing with rivals, occasionally lapsing into serious
injury or death.
Tootie’s father Alfred Montana had introduced him as a young age to the “Indians” and made his
first costumes and crowns. His great grandfather Becate Batiste was one of the earliest Indian
maskers. Early on Tootie became disgusted with the fighting between tribes that essentially reflected
nothing but a desire for prominence. With brilliant
insight, he saw that prominence could reside in
the costume instead of in physical superiority. Thus
he became a spokesman for a new form of competition,
a competition that would be judged on the
sewing expertise, beauty, elegance, and extravagance
of the costume.
By World War II Tootie was Big Chief of the
Yellow Creole Pocahontas tribe, and after the war he
also organized The Monogram Hunters, who selected
him as Big Chief. With taste, daring, and energy,
he introduced extravagant color, ostrich feathers,
and exquisitely designed beadwork to old-fashioned
Indian attire. He challenged the other Indian tribes
to do a better job, a challenge that led to months of
work for the ambitious members of his Yellow
Creole Pocahontas tribe and then the wider Indian
community. By the 1970s the Mardi Gras Indians
had become a tourist attraction, a distinction that
had been part of Tootie’s program. By 1987 the
Above: Muriel Bultman Francis.
COURTESY OF THE ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART.
Bottom: Allison 'Big Chief Tootie" Montana.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL P. SMITH ©THE HISTORIC NEW
ORLEANS COLLECTION.
BIOGRAPHIES
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