Loubat of New Orleans

It looked as if the opera were coming back to New Orleans after 25 years.

Throughout the 19th century New Orleans disputed Manhattan's claim to be operatic capital of the U.S. The plush opera house on Bourbon and Toulouse streets was the focus of Creole society. Debutantes in French muslins hung over the rails of its red and ivory boxes. People in mourning and octoroon courtesans took their opera behind latticed screens. Barbers and hairdressers discussed high Cs with their customers. During one performance of Faust, an expectant mother is said to have turned to her husband, remarking: "Pierre, I do not think I can wait for the ballet." Many a French opera, including Samson, L'Arlesienne and Herodiade, had a New Orleans premiere before reaching Manhattan. Then, in 1919, the New Orleans French Opera House burned to the ground.

Plush Hopes. The possibility of rebuilding the opera has long obsessed a New Orleans businessman named Walter L. Loubat. In his childhood he sold peanuts and was an usher in the old building. Last winter Loubat formed the New Orleans Opera House Association, gathered $7,200 in subscriptions, planned to raise more with popular-priced opera.

Last week Loubat had a summer season of opera going full blast in the City Park stadium, was drawing an audience of 4,000 a night. If the box office held good, Loubat hoped to net $25,000, sufficient for a down payment on the old opera-house plot. Loubat also hoped to follow his outdoor opera with a winter season in New Orleans' Municipal Auditorium. Rock-bottom estimates on his rebuilding plan run to about $285,000. He thought he might be able to rebuild by 1945.

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