Louisiana Movie Poster Museum
Welcome to the the Louisiana Movie Poster Virtual Museum. Since 1895 more than 3,000 movies have been made in or about Louisiana. These posters advertised a few of them. We have hundreds to add, so check back with us as we grow.
Ed and Susan Poole, renowned movie poster experts and authorities on Louisiana film history, curated this initial exhibit. It is based on the Backdrop Louisiana! exhibit that premiered in Slidell, Louisiana in January, 2020 and we’re looking forward to a post-pandemic tour. A smidgen of their knowledge can be found at Learn About Movie Posters, known worldwide as LAMP. Visit Hollywood on the Bayou for a deeper dive into Louisiana film history.
This museum is funded in part by grants from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the New Orleans Entertainment Coalition.
Take a Tour – We love your stories!
Click on a poster to view larger image. Then click “i”. Post your story in Comments. We love to hear about films you remember and your experiences. It’s a highlight of our live exhibits that we hope to recreate in the virtual museum.
Share your favorite posters on Twitter or FaceBook. Find links by clicking Info.
Blaze
The small town of Winnfield, Louisiana is the home of three Louisiana governors: Huey "Kingfish" Long, Oscar K. Allen and Earl K. Long. In 1989, it was the home of location shooting for Blaze, the story of Earl Long’s affair with New Orleans stripper Blaze Starr. The film starred Paul Newman as Earl Long and Lolita Davidovich as Blaze Starr and was directed by Ron Shelton.
According to production notes, Shelton came across Blaze Starr’s 1974 autobiography, Blaze Starr: My Life As Told to Huey Perry, and bought the screen rights in 1983. He spent hours recording Starr’s recollections of her years with Louisiana Governor Earl Long and decided to make the tale of political scandal into a May-December romance. He received resistance from studios, which deemed the movie “uncastable,” but eventually got it to A & M Films president Gil Friesen, who was not impressed by the script, but loved the idea. Starr made a cameo appearance in the film.
Principal photography began in April of 1989 at the East Louisiana Hospital in Jackson, LA. Other locations included Clinton High School in Clinton, LA, which stood in for “Mandeville State Hospital.” Three weeks later, production moved to Baton Rouge, LA, where they filmed in the Old Governor’s Mansion, the Beaux-Arts Capital Building, the State Legislatures Building, which included the Capitol Rotunda and observation deck overlooking the statue and grave of Huey P. Long, Earl Long’s brother. Interiors and exteriors of Blaze’s West Virginia home, Sho-Bar, the Flamingo Motel, a section of a DC -3 airplane, and the interior of Long’s office were constructed in an abandoned Woolco store. The crew moved to Long’s “Pea Patch Farm” in Winnfield, LA, before shooting in New Orleans.
According to various reports, Blaze was filmed during an election year. One of the items to vote on was a bill that had many different state projects. It was defeated the same day the crew was filming the funeral scene overnight in the Capital Building. The crew had to leave before all the props could be removed, including the coffin. The defeated bill was laid in the coffin by someone before the next daily legislative session began.
Poster: U.S. One Sheet