USA / 2003 / 60mins / Documentary / English

All on a Mardi Gras Day celebrates black Carnival in New Orleans in all its riotous, colorful and spiritual glory. Incorporating classic New Orleans music, previously-unseen photographs and film footage, and interviews with major Carnival players, the film explores African-Creole Carnival traditions. These celebrations date from colonial times, through Reconstruction and Jim Crow – and into the 21st century.

The men and women who make Mardi Gras happen in the black community include: the Indians and the Skeletons, the Baby Dolls and the Second Liners, the marching bands and flambeaux carriers, and the Kings and Queens of Zulu. Songs, stories, costumes and dance reveal a living, unique folk art culture. The program was broadcast nationally on PBS stations, and was awarded at the New Orleans Film Festival. It has been called one of the best documentaries ever made on New Orleans history.

Royce Osborn

Royce Osborn was a New Orleans-born writer and producer. In 2003, he created the landmarked documentary All on a Mardi Gras Day, which explored New Orleans’ black carnival traditions in a historical context. The program was broadcast nationally on PBS stations, and was awarded at the New Orleans Film Festival. It has been called one of the best documentaries ever made on New Orleans history, and has been used as a teaching tool in both elementary schools and universities. Osborn grew up in the rich environment of the city’s Seventh Ward, and later attended the American Film Institute. After several years of working in network television (including the NAACP Image Awards program), he returned to his hometown in 1997, with the purpose of “telling New Orleans stories” in both documentary and feature films and soon began research on what would become All on a Mardi Gras Day. That put him in touch with Al Morris, the legendary chief of the North Side Skull and Bone gang. In 2003, Osborn and his brother, Alton Osborn, both joined the skeleton gang under the chief’s wise and watchful eye. They continued to don their bones and skulls until Chief Al retired from the streets in 2006. He had also begun work on the documentary Walking to New Orleans, about the city’s cultural recovery, post-Katrina. In August 2017, Osborn attended the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame Ceremony where he was honored with the Capturing the Spirit Award for All on a Mardi Gras Day. Osborn’s other work included If These Bricks Could Talk, about the Lafitte public housing development; Spirits of Congo Square, for public television station WYES; and National Black Programming Consortium webcasts, called Walking to New Orleans, that he produced after Katrina about the recovering city’s cultural traditions. Osborn passed away in September 2017 at the age of 58. He was working on a feature documentary, We Are Zulu, about the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. His spirit lives on as he was one with the culture and its people. Learn More