* WYES Will Air An Entire Night Of Programming Dedicated To The French Quarter *

WYES salutes the French Quarter Festival (April 17 - 19, 2009), dedicating a special night of programming in honor of the French Quarter. WYES FRENCH QUARTER NIGHT will begin at 7:00 p.m. on WYES Thursday, April 16th and will feature programs throughout the evening that celebrate the history and liveliness of one of New Orleans’ most beloved neighborhoods. WYES will also run spots featuring WYES Director of Broadcasting Beth Utterback noting WYES’ affection for the neighborhood that has played a part in many of WYES’ local documentaries. A special mention of the recent death of noted New Orleans photographer Johnny Donnels’ will be made. Donnels is featured in the locally produced, THE MAN IN THE PINK SATIN SUIT.




7:00pm THE FRENCH QUARTER THAT WAS Produced and narrated by Peggy Scott Laborde, this program is filled with rare historic footage and home movies of one of the most popular neighborhoods in New Orleans.

8:00pm ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB OF NEW ORLEANS From the 1920s until the early 1950s, in an attempt to preserve the cultural life of the French Quarter, the Arts and Crafts Club of New Orleans, provided local artists with a venue for their work, educated young art students and brought traveling exhibitions of cutting-edge modern art to the Crescent City. This film explores the club’s legacy using rich imagery of the Club members’ original works, excerpts from the writings of its founder, Lyle Saxon, and endearing, often humorous interviews with surviving Club members, their family and friends. The 30-minute documentary was produced for The Historic New Orleans Collection by independent producers Stephanie Riegel and Wade Henderson.

8:30pm BOURBON STREET: THE NEON STRIP With a bit of a reputation, this documentary focuses on the infamous street that has a long history of risqué nightclubs, hot and spicy jazz, cool drinks and girls galore. Produced and narrated by Peggy Scott Laborde.

9:00pm THE OUTSIDERS OF NEW ORLEANS: LOUJON PRESS Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb, now well into her nineties, tells the story of how she and her husband Jon Webb published the avant-garde literary magazine The Outsider from a small apartment in the French Quarter in the early 1960s. By day Gypsy Lou sold paintings on a street corner, and by night found talent such as the beat poet Charles Bukowski whose work Jon Webb also chose for their first two Loujon Press books– It Catches My Heart In It’s Hands and Crucifix in a Deathhand. This story is about Gypsy Lou and Jon’s love for each other and their dream of publishing great literature together.

10:00pm THE MAN IN THE PINK SATIN SUIT documents the struggles, perseverance and discipline that go into the making of a self-made man. Johnny Donnels is an icon of the French Quarter where he runs a gallery filled with his own art. Revealed in a lover’s embrace with the life that he has created, he is, to many, the last of the great Bohemians: a symbol of freedom and ease. ** On Thursday, March 19, 2009 Johnny Donnels died at the age of 84.

11:00pm A CONVERSATION WITH TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Host and WWL News Anchor Eric Paulsen interviews the great American playwright in 1981 on a variety of subjects. Williams reveals that he considered New Orleans his “spiritual home” and the French Quarter as the “last frontier of bohemia” and an inspiration for some of his greatest works.

11:30pm ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB OF NEW ORLEANS