Historical Hotties Bracket Bash
Vote on the biggest heartthrobs from HNOC’s holdings!
Our Collection Is Heating Up This Summer
This July, we’re serving up 16 historical hotties from HNOC’s online catalog. Cast your vote each week on our Instagram feedOpens in new tab and watch your favorite vintage vixens advance to the final round for a chance to be crowned history’s finest.
Check out the lineup below and cast your vote—look for the pinned post in our profile!
Voting Opens July 3
The winner will progress to the championship round.
Chris Owens: Queen of Bourbon Street
Club owner and entertainer Chris Owens brought the heat to Bourbon Street with her legendary maraca mambo and glamorous custom outfits, sporting necklines that plunged like a tourist after too many Hand Grenades. Who wouldn’t fall hard for this iconic cha-cha queen?
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Chris Owens: Queen of Bourbon Street
Chris Owens performance, Economy Hall Tent at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, 1988, by Jules L. Cahn. Jules Cahn Collection at HNOC, 2000.78.8.219
Conrad, Paint Me Like One of Your Murals
New Deal muralist and LSU art instructor Conrad Albrizio decorated Depression-era buildings across Louisiana, including the Shushan Airport (later known as the Lakefront Airport) seen here. He could fix our depression, too.
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Conrad, Paint Me Like One of Your Murals
Mural at Shushan Airport, with artist, Albrizio, sitting in front, 1929–40, by Dan Leyrer. HNOC, gift of Allan Phillip Jaffe, 1981.324.2.347
Ravishing State Rep
Son of Louisiana’s first American governor, William Charles Cole Claiborne II represented Orleans Parish in the state House from 1841 to 1843. Nepo baby or nepo babe? You be the judge.
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Ravishing State Rep
William Charles Cole Claiborne II, 1831, by Jean-Joseph Vaudechamp. HNOC, bequest of Clarissa Claiborne Grima, 1981.376.1
Swamp Siren
Pictorialist Eugene Delcroix’s gauzy, artistic snapshots of the French Quarter and Louisiana swamp scenes were popular souvenirs for New Orleans tourists during the first half of the 20th century. We’d certainly take this palmetto pin-up home with us.
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Swamp Siren
Portrait of a woman posing in front of a palmetto, by Eugene A. Delcroix. HNOC, gift of Joel Jergins and Mrs. Eugene Delcroix, courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1984.189.1872
Voting Opens July 10
The winner will progress to the championship round.
Submersible Studs
In 1878, this Civil War submarine was discovered and dredged up from Bayou St. John near Spanish Fort and put on display there in 1895. Eighteen hunky men then decided to put themselves on display as well.
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Submersible Studs
Eighteen men with Civil War submarine, 1895–1905, by Ernest J. Bellocq. HNOC, 1988.19.2
Strong-Arm Stunner
Photographer George Dureau believed New Orleans was full of Greek gods that society overlooked, and model B. J. Robinson, with his long hair, strong arms, and over-the-shoulder smolder, dared viewers to disagree.
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Strong-Arm Stunner
B. J. Robinson, ca. 1985, by George Dureau. George Febres Collection of Louisiana Art, gift of Dr. Jerah Johnson © HNOC, 1997.77.2.21
Spin Cycle Seductress
TFW you realize all your clothes are dirty right before you leave the house, but make it sexy. This beauty got all glammed up for a 1950s dry cleaning ad and we’re here for it.
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Spin Cycle Seductress
Norge Dry Cleaning advertisement, 1945–55, by Charles F. Weber. HNOC, 2012.0208.2.142
Cookin’ Jeffrey Cook
Central City’s Jeffrey Cook toured the world as a professional dancer before returning to New Orleans to become an influential sculptor in the art world. As this portrait of the artist reveals, Cook was sculpture-worthy himself.
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Cookin’ Jeffrey Cook
Jeffrey Cook, 1978–2010, by George Dureau. HNOC, gift of Donald Dureau © HNOC, 2015.0293.2.7.1.2
Voting Opens July 17
The winner will progress to the championship round.
A Model Docent
A New Orleans fashion model through the 1960s and a dedicated HNOC docent for nearly 40 years, Betty Killeen was an avid supporter of local arts organizations throughout her life—and a work of art herself.
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A Model Docent
Betty Killeen modeling an outfit atop the States-Item Building, 1961, by James Perrier Guillot. HNOC, gift of Elizabeth Himel Killeen, 1991.154.1
So Steamy It’s Surreal
Ecuadorian-born New Orleans surrealist George Febres was celebrated for the absurd visual puns and phallic banana motifs that featured prominently in his pop art oeuvre. At HNOC, he is also celebrated for being absurdly good-looking.
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So Steamy It’s Surreal
George Febres, 1981, by Mark Price. George Febres Collection of Louisiana Art, gift of Dr. Jerah Johnson, 1996.78.2.27
Pure Ssseduction
1950s exotic dancer Devilon—accessorizing with a very different kind of boa—has us charmed. We can see how “Her Satanic Majesty” would tempt anyone.
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Pure Ssseduction
Devilon posing with boa constrictor. HNOC, gift of Margie Schwegmann Brown, 2004.0135.6
Slidell (Into Her DMs)
Marie Mathilde Déslonde Slidell (wife of the city’s namesake, John Slidell), slid on over to the garden and decided to drape the whole thing over her bust for this portrait. Honestly, it’s working for her.
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Slidell (Into Her DMs)
Marie Mathilde Déslonde Slidell, 1857, by George Peter Alexander Healy. HNOC, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, 2014.0110
Voting Opens July 24
The winner will progress to the championship round.
Vice is Nice
A Storyville sex worker in early-1900s New Orleans serves up some red beans and vice for renowned red-light district photographer Ernest J. Bellocq.
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Flawless Finalists
If we could ever work up the courage, we’d hand flowers to these fabulous finalists from the 1984 Miss Ao Dai beauty pageant.
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Flawless Finalists
Miss Ao Dai pageant finalists, 1984–85, by Mark J. Sindler. HNOC, acquisition made possible by the Laussat Society, MSS 1074.1.495.1
Pontchartrain Beach Bods
Where’s the beef? In midcentury New Orleans, it was at the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park’s Mr. New Orleans competition. Do we need a ticket to ride?
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Pontchartrain Beach Bods
Herbert Hackley, Terrell Brunet, and Ray Simioneaux, 1955–65. HNOC, 1996.71.16
Baquet’s Beauty
Creole photographer Harold Baquet spent the 1980s documenting African American politics and life in New Orleans. He also documented this bookish cutie in the process.
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Baquet’s Beauty
Unidentified woman, 1980–90, by Harold Baquet. HNOC, gift of Harold F. Baquet and Cheron Brylski, 2016.0172.2.128
Voting Opens July 31
The winner will be crowned the Historical Hotties Bracket Bash Champion!
Finalist #1
Finalist #2
Finalist #3
Finalist #4
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