| Party Hounds on
Parade |
How to outfit a dog in a full
suit of armor, a la Joan of Arc? This was among the more formidable challenges facing Sal
Salamone, a Hollywood costume designer commissioned to create human and dog regalia for a
select group of participants in the 8th annual Mystic Krewe of Barkus canine parade,
rolling through the French Quarter on Sunday, February 27. Theme: "Joan of
Bark."
"I had been interested in armor-making and making a suit of armor for myself,"
says Salamone. "So the idea of doing it for the dog sort of came to me."
The dog in question is Belle, a.k.a. Lady
Belle de Bark, a feisty black Labrador owned by Lamson "Choppy" Rheinfrank and
his wife, Sally, who hail from Kansas City, Mo. Choppy Rheinfrank, a self-described
"party hound" who loves dogs, wanted Salamone to do something special not only
for Belle, but also for his yellow Labrador, Ryerson. |
Choppy and Lady Belle de Bark
at Mardi Gras costume "Dog Bawl" the night before the Barkus canine parade
|
Ryerson, a.k.a. Lady Ryerson de Bark, will
cross-dress as a Medieval damsel, garbed in a sumptuous, yellow brocade skirt and a
conical, period-style lady's hat with a billowing yellow veil. Attached to the bottom of
the hat is a braided brunette wig that's sewn onto a spandex hood, which slips over the
dog's head and snaps onto the body of the costume. Low-cut sleeves, designed for maximum
cleavage, will cover his forelegs, and a pair of furry boobs will protrude from his chest.
For Belle, Salamone has fashioned a full suit of "armor" out of a special foam,
L200, which is often used for special-effects costuming in movies. The sculpted pieces of
foam are covered in plastic chrome that, says Salamone, "really looks like metal from
five or 10 feet away."
The royal insignia
|
There's also a raised-relief
Fleur de Lis backpiece attached to the section of the costume covering the dog's spine.
(The Fleur de Lis, stylized after a three-petaled Iris flower, is a popular emblem of New
Orleans and was once used by the Bourbon kings of France.) A sword hangs off the side of
the outfit. And for an added touch of authenticity, Salamone has created a knight's
headpiece with a visor. It's topped off with an enormous red ostrich plume.
As with Ryerson's regalia, the Joan of Arc costume is sewn onto a spandex body suit
outfitted with velcro fasteners. "We don't want this thing to be so skin-tight [that]
it's uncomfortable...," explains Rheinfrank, adding: "We want the dogs to have
fun in the end." |
Lady Belle and Lady Ryerson—along with Princess
Louisa, a white Maltese—will comprise the "Grand Marshal Court" in the Barkus
parade. Louisa is owned by Charles Dickson, a Williams College classmate of Rheinfrank's,
and his wife, Karen. They live near Hartford, Conn.
Traditionally, the Barkus Grand Marshal has been a dog owned by a New Orleanian who has
worked hard to help organize the parade and support the krewe. But for Barkus 2000—in an effort to
expand the pre- and post-parade festivities, as well as raise additional money for local
animal shelters and the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals—organizers have
made a big push to attract new corporate and private donors.
That's where the Krewe of Choppy comes in. In 1960, as sophomores at Williams College,
Rheinfrank and Dickson came to New Orleans for 10 days to celebrate Mardi Gras. On their
flight down, they bumped into another classmate, Jim Evans, who had family ties to New
Orleans and also happened to be heading to the festivities.
| Through his roommate at boarding school,
Pierce Hurley, a native New Orleanian, Dickson had become friends with two Carnival
debutantes, Ginger Borah and Sheela Burke. The year the Williams boys came to partake in
the revelry, Borah was queen of Rex and Burke was queen of the Krewe of Proteus. Dickson
and Rheinfrank attended the Rex ball and escorted two of the maids in Burke's court to the
Proteus ball. Evans, through family connections, secured entre into the balls of Proteus
and the Mistick Krewe of Comus. To celebrate the 40th
anniversary of that Mardi Gras experience, Rheinfrank decided to organize a Williams
reunion in conjunction with Barkus. (The festivities included a costume "Dog
Bawl" the night before the parade; Ginger and Sheela were among the attendees.) The
idea for including Ryerson, Belle and Louisa in the krewe's royal court came about
basically at the last minute, thanks to Rheinfrank's daughter Lydia. |
The Krewe of Choppy
|
Lydia, who lives in San Francisco, had signed on as an
associate producer for an upcoming Discovery Networks production entitled Inside Mardi
Gras. In the course of her research, she got in touch with the executive director of
the Mystic Krewe of Barkus, Sean McKean. Out of their discussions came the plan for a
collaboration between the krewe and the Williams reunion celebration.
Karen and Princess Louisa
|
Rheinfrank and Dickson, along with another
Williams classmate, Price Gripekoven, who lives in Portland, Ore., have made donations to
Barkus—money that will go to support local animal shelters and the Louisiana Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Gripekoven, escorting Lady Belle in the parade,
and Rheinfrank, escorting Lady Ryerson, will be dressed as the dogs, in costumes made by
Salamone. Karen Dickson will carry the other member of the Grand Marshal Court, Princess
Louisa, on a black velvet pillow. Underneath the pillow is a platform, which sticks out
from Karen's midriff and is supported by an ornate taseled rope looped around her neck. |
Rheinfrank found out about Barkus after the 1999 parade,
when a friend faxed him a copy of a write-up that appeared in The New York Times.
The story had a particularly memorable description of the queen, a Whippet named Hero,
arriving at the staging area for the parade in a "shiny green BMW
convertible...behind a roaring escort of police motorcycles." The writer, Kevin Sack,
went on to note that she "looked positively elegant in a black velvet cape and a gold
lame Norma Desmond top knot with her title, 'Queen,' spelled out in shimmering
stones."
Rheinfrank got a big kick out of the story, and began making plans to attend Barkus 2000.
He got in touch with Salamone, a former track star at Williams (Class of 1993). Salamone
had dated one of Rheinfrank's daughters, Emily, and established himself in Los Angeles as
an up-and-coming costume designer. (He's created attire for the Ringling Bros. Barnum
& Bailey circus, Janet Jackson and the Rockettes, of Radio City Music Hall fame. For
an upcoming live-action remake of Dr. Seuss' How the GrinchStole Christmas,
starring Jim Carrey, he made shoes for the Whos of Whoville.)
| Although he'd never heard of Barkus before the
call from Rheinfrank, Salamone had already proven his designing chops in the realm of pet
masquerades. Several years ago, for a costume contest sponsored by Pet Supply Depot in San
Deigo, he dressed himself and a friend's dog as Elvis impersonators. The dog, a Lhasa Apso
named Princess, appeared in a full white jumpsuit, with a large belt, scarf, sunglasses,
sideburns and wig. The contest is an annual event, and judges pick winners in three
sub-categories—pet, pet + child and pet + adult. Salamone took home the $1,000 grand prize,
awarded to the best of the sub-category winners. For
Barkus, Salamone will march with the Williams contingent as a muscled Medieval Bishop. His
friend, Fred Sciortino, who lives in New Orleans, will ride in a shopping cart dressed as
a dwarf. "Choppy [Rheinfrank] told me that dwarfs were a popular form of
entertainment in the Middle Ages," relates Salamone, who originally created the dwarf
costume for a play. "They were held in high favor in royal courts." |
Sal and Lydia hamming it up
at the Dog Bawl, which took
place at the historic Bucvolt House
in the French Quarter |
Note to Barkus parade-goers: Beware of a human (i.e.,
Choppy Rheinfrank) dressed as Ryerson. For the get-up, Rheinfrank had Salamone fashion a
special "apparatus" out of the innards of a high-powered squirt gun. Loaded with
water and concealed behind a piece of fur covering his groin, it will be fully functional. |
