The Buddha of Greenwood Cemetery

New Orleans CemeteriesGreenwood Cemetery

Nov 4

This gorgeous and mysterious Buddha in Greenwood Cemetery (5190 Canal Blvd) adorns a tomb that represents an amazing local story of service, burlesque, food, and romance. The tomb is home to Gee Nee Tong and his wife Adra (née Cooper). Tong was born in 1904 in Canton, China. His father was born in America and Tong came to the United States in 1914. He later went to the Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia where he learned to fly. He returned to China and flew for the China Air Corps for four years before returning to the U.S. In 1942, he met Adra in Houston and it was love at first sight.

The couple soon moved to their “favorite” city – New Orleans. Cooper was a successful burlesque dancer from St. Louis who danced with the famed Minsky’s, the Palace of Burlesque. She was famous for her Snake Dance – dancing with seven boa constrictors (named Nijinski, Pavlowa, Shankar, Rajah, Empress Eugenie, Sylvia, and Shawn). Once, onstage, one of Adra’s snakes got tangled in her elaborate headdress and clamped his tail around her neck, choking her. Another dancer came to the rescue by pulling on the snake and getting it to loosen his hold. Adra used to joke that she wasn’t allowed to take her dogs on the train, but they never questioned the basket of snakes she had at her feet. At one point, she even incorporated into her act an iguana that was given to her by a Siamese prince.

The Tongs were married in St. Louis Cathedral and opened up the Chinese Dragon Cafe on Decatur Street. In 1947, Tong was awarded an honorary appointment as a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps for his recruiting abilities. He tried to recruit every eligible young man who walked into his restaurant, saying “because I know they are real fighting men.” Adra stayed busy, helping her husband in the restaurant and dancing for benefits, including A Pageant of Nations for United Nations Day in 1952, where she represented China and dressed up as a Chinese warrior from the Han Dyansty. In 1965, they opened China Town Café on Bourbon Street, which featured American and Chinese food, and in 1969 wrote a cookbook published by Pelican Press called Chopsticks Unlimited. Mayor Victor Schiro wrote the introduction.

Tong was the first Chinese man to be admitted to the Grand Lodge of Masons in Louisiana. Upon his death in 1973, he received Masonic services. Adra, who described herself as “chop suey – a little Irish, a little Jewish, a little Indian, and a little French,” continued to run their French Quarter restaurant. In an interview in 1975, she said her dancing days were behind her (although she’d occasionally perform an exotic dance on a restaurant table) but that she loved to “be out on that second line when those jazz bands play.” Adra died in 1980 and is buried with her husband.

A special thank you to historian Winston Ho who first alerted me to this unusual love story.