Nell Nolan: Harlequins court, Apollo Ball | Entertainment/Life

Centennial Salute

“Join us, dear friends, as the party takes flight/

For the 100th anniversary, this magical night!”

These lines figured in the program hailing the Harlequins for its ten decades, along with the cover wording, “Harley’s Eras Tour.” The throne that the first queen, Gladys Hopkins, occupied in 1925, became, in a newer rendition, the seat for the most recent majesty, Miss Anna Hassinger Schmidt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Justin Burton Schmidt. The preceding year, the honor befell Miss Rebecca Claire Baxter. In 1945, Catherine Burns wore the Harlequins crown, and in the spirit of her 100 years, she, as Catherine Burns Tremaine, celebrated that landmark birthday in glorious style last June in the New Orleans Museum of Art.

For the reign of queen Anna, the site was the New Orleans Convention Center. Mrs. Bernard Robert Henri Jacobs, who held the scepter in 1981 as Leslie Volaire St. Paul, was the matron at the “Eras” ball. The first maid was Miss Claire Marie Burton, daughter of Mrs. Alan Frank Burton and the late Mr. Burton. Nine maids graced the court: Misses Katherine Coll Benton, Carson Louise Browne, Bryce Surgala Couvillon, Eleanor Helen Hortencia Curtis, Phoebe Anne Cox Kaynor, Lauren Ainsley Klebba, Mary Kepper Lagarde, Matilda Grace Ramsey and Ana Leigh Zander. Masters Henry Joseph Hefler III and John Thomas Waldrup were the pages.

Former Harlequins queens were presented to the court. They were led off by Lesley Fromherz Hardin (1972), who was escorted by her husband, Mr. Charles K. Hardin. Others, most with married surnames, were Jeanne Livaudais Duryee, Katherine Frellsen Young, Leslie Jacobs, Micheline Avegno VanDenburgh, Mary Virginia Weinmann Coffman, Claire Stockton, Anne Chaffe Eichin, Jane Alpaugh Delmer, Lea Fitzhugh Rea, Mary-Frances Labouisse Adriance, Lucy Adair Faust, Caroline Avegno Andress, Ellen Logan Williams, Helen Laville Waller, Aylett Clesi Mazzarell, Claire Plauché Hughs, Sarah Marie Favrot McLellan, Erin Curry Reily, Virginia DeRussy Dodenhoff, Katherine Randolph Jacobs, Caroline McDaniel Hughs, Emily Clay Weinmann, Elizabeth Kathleen Robert, and the above Rebecca Claire Baxter. The Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra played, led by Robert Maxwell.

As queen Anna entered the ballroom, escorted by Mr. Michael Quirk Walshe Jr., the ball’s general chairman, all admired her stunning gown designed by Katie Johnson of Royal Design House. The A-line silhouette of ivory silk had an airy overlay of delicately beaded dimensional flowers, each crafted to catch the light. Also by Royal Design House was the shimmering metallic green gown of the queen’s mother, Mary Hassinger Schmidt.

Joining Mrs. Schmidt in prominent seats were royal sisters Conery and Ellie Schmidt, Miss Winnie McCarthy, and Mmes. Robert C. Hassinger, Michael J. Schmidt, Thomas B. Brown, E. James Kock III, Timothy J. Young, David C. Joseph, Paul A. Connolly, H. Merritt Lane III, William M. Anderson III, W. Christian Gambel Jr., Shaun M. McCarthy, J. Baldwin Montgomery, Andrew S. Hovet, Michael H. Schmidt, William H. Summerour and Benjamin A. Dupuy. Seated nearby were Miss Elizabeth Kathleen Robert, the queen of 2022, along with her mother, Mrs. Kearny Q. Robert III, in a gold jacquard trumpet gown, and her sister, Miss Madeline Robert.

Noted, too, were Mmes. W. Parker Stewart, John L. G. Robert, Conrad Stanley Castle, Bryan Frater, James Roberts, James H. Robert, Scott Zazulak, E. Wade Walk, G. Wogan Bernard II, C. Theodore Alpaugh III, Charles F. Seemann III and David L.C. Gibbons Jr. They also applauded the masterful king, whose name was not revealed.

Delightful socializing flanked the formality of the ball. In carmine lettering on ecru stock and headed by “Her Majesty The Queen of the Harlequins,” the invitations were, first, to the Schmidt family home for a 5 p.m. reception, where her majesty expressed the thrilling anticipation of the ball and the gratitude she felt, and then, post bal masqué, for a 12 Seasons Catering-supper at the Grand Oaks Mansion of Mardi Gras World. Guests were regaled with “Queen Anna” cups, koozies, baseball caps and blinking lei necklaces and danced the night away to GOT Groove. Appropriately monarch Anna’s entrance song was “Dancing Queen.”

A Slew of Hues

The New Orleans Theatre at the Convention Center assembled a festive following for the 96th Ball of the Krewe of Apollo. “She’s a Rainbow” – from a 1967 same-name song of the Rolling Stones that had as a lyric “She shoots colors all around” – themed the Carnival celebration. Spotlighted in queenly coloration was Miss Patricia Becker Seemann, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Frederick Seemann III, and descended from Apollo male royalty, as well as an aunt, Jennifer Seemann (now surnamed Wellborn), queen in 1984.

Her majesty Patricia was garbed in a floor-length flowing gown embellished with colorful flowers in pink, orange, green and yellow and sparked with colored gems and sequin trim. The mantle of pink fur and flowers had a sequined Rolling Stones appliqué. Kathleen Van Horn of KVH Designs created all the costumes, including that of the king: a thematic long, bright blue jacket, a white ruffled shirt, bell-bottom pants, gold boots and a white top hat.

In 1960s-style flowered shift dresses and white go-go boots were the maids. They were Misses Sarah Spencer Blessey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emanuel Christian Blessey; Charlotte Elizabeth Bush, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Peyton Bush IV; Lillian Claire Charpentier, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Jay Charpentier; Celeste Claire Eustis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Douglas Eustis; Catherine Westfeldt Fitzpatrick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave William Fitzpatrick; Jane Curry Gambel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Christian Gambel Jr.; Catherine Davis Lapeyre, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Etienne Cassard Lapeyre; Kingsland Eastman LeBourgeois, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Livaudais LeBourgeois; Josie Claire Leyens, daughter of Mr. Jon F. Leyens III and Ms. Jane Dupuy; and Vivian Douglas McCall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Barrett Bloodworth McCall.

Also, Misses Evelyn Soulé Monsted (in absentia), daughter of Mr. George Scott Monsted and Ms. Mignon deMarigny Denis; Ana Marie Hale Rapier, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Westfeldt Rapier; Taylor Reece Robert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Edward Robert; Sarah Gibbs Smallpage, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Benton Smallpage III; and Avery Elizabeth Summerour, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Arthur Summerour. Her respective grandmother and great-grandmother, as May Carroll Waters and Patricia Whitney Brown, were Apollo queens in 1971 and 1946.

The pages to queen Patricia and their parents were Thomas Wright Davis, Dr. and Mrs. Carter Thomas Davis; Thomas Nicolas Semmes Walmsley, Mr. and Mrs. T. Semmes Walmsley; Ellery Clayton Grace, Mr. and Mrs. William Francis Grace III; and Leigh Evelyn Maddox, Mr. and Mrs. James Fisher Maddox.

Her majesty of 2021, Tatum Lady Reiss, a debutante of the season, presented co-debutantes Carolyn Grace Burton and Abigail Hartsfield Chaffe, who appeared in the Apollo court of that year. Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. James Joseph Reiss III, Mrs. Alan Frank Burton and the late Mr. Burton, and Mr. and Mrs. David Blackshear Hamilton Chaffe IV.

Messrs. Grace III, Gordon Hardin Kolb Jr. and Charles Niels Monsted IV headed various committees of the ball that remembered, in the printed program, the late Charles F. Seemann Jr., the queen’s grandfather.

Ms. Jennifer Wellborn and former Apollo maids Amelie Grace Seemann and Catherine Elizabeth Wellborn were among the ladies in the queen’s box seats. Also joining royal mother Amy Seemann were Susan Hill Dearinger, and Mmes. Michael James Veazey Sr., David Cartan Loker Gibbons Jr., Gerard Anthony Plauché, Timothy Charles Brennan, John Roache Cook IV, and William Raley Alford III.

Three additional former queens were noted, Mrs. Nathaniel Pope Phillips III (Anne Juden Sarpy), Dorothy Frances Phillips and Mrs. Reginald Bruce Hoefer (Elizabeth Manning Grace), along with Mmes. Phillips Jr., Joseph Saunders Mann, Robert Kirk Phillips, John Perry Goldsmith, Benjamin Arnold Dupuy, Peter Hillyer Dupuy Jr., Minor Pipes Blanc Jahncke, and Michael Quirk Walshe Jr. Also, former maid Brooke Coleman Reiss.

Post ball, the Rolling Stones revelry whooped it up at the Queen’s Supper, where the majesties delighted in a host of compliments by guests who savored fun food, such as hamburgers, fries, and brownies; smiled at the table decorations of sunglasses, candy, buttons and balloons; and darted to the dance floor where Ocean Street got the groove going.