Holiday cheer delivered by state humorist

Missouri had Mark Twain. Oklahoma had Will Rogers. Louisiana has Gasper J. “Buddy” Stall as a chuckling favorite son to remind us of our roots and challenge our thinking with a subtle mix of wit and wisdom.

Stall, a noted historian, author and commentator, delivered a gift of good will last Tuesday to members of the South Central Industrial Association during their final group meeting of 2010.

Combining humor with tales of Christmas traditions, history trivia and contributions to commerce, Stall made his mark as a genuine holiday treat.

“Christmas is a season for tradition,” Stall said as he described the origin of various holiday elements such as greeting cards, lit Christmas trees, flowers and candy canes, with each being credited as expressions of faith.

“I like to talk about Louisiana because it is my home,” Stall said. “This has got to be the best place in the world to live because even the people who hate it live here.”

Stall, who has written four books on New Orleans and Louisiana, noted that the bayou state might not be better than anywhere else but is certainly as good as anyplace. He offered tales of explorers and founders and even gave note to those that put the state on the map with their accomplishments and oddities.

For a local connection, Stall told of how then 16-year-old James Martial Laperye of Houma one day ran shrimp through his mother’s roller washing machine and ended up inventing the first automatic shrimp peeling device, which was originally put to commercial use in 1949, and revolutionized the shrimp processing business.

“By the time he died he had patents on 100 items, and he was very charitable,” Stall said.

Stall stressed that people need to take on a genuine attitude of giving and stated that charity means giving without expecting anything in return. “When you have [some] poor people and you bring them to a place and give them a basket and put their pictures in the damn paper to show how poor they are, that’s not for the poor people that’s for your ego,” he said.

Following his discussion, Stall admitted that all humorists carry their own tradition of making people laugh then later reflect.

“I think it is important for people to know that Louisiana history is truly unique. We have lived what other people make stories about. So, fiction can’t equal our history,” he said.

Stall explained that his point during this talk was that the people of Louisiana have made many contributions throughout history and that those present have the opportunity to add to that tradition.