Some are praising them; others are calling them thugs -- the thousand or so who gathered on the LSU campus to protest -- successfully -- the burning of the American flag. I'm aware there have been many protest gatherings, some on serious matters, others trivial during the last 50 years on the LSU campus, but this triggered a long buried memory of a protest in the late 1940's when I was a student.
A somewhat risque (at that time) magazine not affiliated with the university but distributed on the campus devoted an issue to Stormy, a noted stripper "exotic dancer" on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. As a response the administration banned or forbid the sale of the magazine on LSU property. Stormy announced that in support of the magazine staff she was going to come to LSU and perform her Bourbon Street show. Most people did not take her seriously, but lo and behold, around noon she had a stage set up in front of the Field House. Her band began to play and she began to dance. Among her shocked audience were University High students, some who -- in this more innocent age -- stared stunned as if aliens had landed. Acting spontaneously, a group charged the stage, destroying it and chasing Stormy and her band to the lake. Stormy was frightened and began crying. My roommate told me a former classmate not only had his instrument, a clarinet I think, damaged but lost two teeth. I don't remember if campus police were involved but security of some kind allowed Stormy and her band members to leave without further trouble.
Stormy continued her "profession" and her fame spread like that of Blaze Starr, whose career and relationship with Earl Long were made into a movie.
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