The Legend of the Dew Drop Inn documentary interviews by Julia Dorn

This collection contains video interviews conducted by filmmaker Julia Dorn in 2004 and early 2005 for her independently produced documentary, The Legend of The Dew Drop Inn. The unfinished film was intended to have a running time of 55 minutes, and incorporate oral history interviews to detail the historical, social, and cultural impact of the Dew Drop Inn complex, which included one of the foremost Black entertainment venues of pre-integration New Orleans during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Interviews and other footage feature musicians Dave Bartholomew, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Mike Carruba, Deacon John, Reggie Hall, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Walter Payton, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, and Walter "Wolfman" Washington. Also interviewed are Laura Jackson, daughter of Dew Drop Inn founder Frank Painia; and Kenneth Jackson, son of Laura Jackson, grandson of Pania and, at the time of filming, was working on redeveloping the Dew Drop Inn. Additional interview subjects are James O'Neil, cousin of Drew Drop Inn's M.C., female impersonator Patsy Vidalia; Jim Russell, who booked acts at the club and later ran Jim Russell Rare Records; Tee Eva, who lived in the Magnolia Housing Project across from the Dew Drop Inn and operated Tee Eva's Creole Food at the time of filming; original Dew Drop Inn patrons Herman LaRoche, Joe Schneider, and Edward (last name unidentified), who operated Edwards Shoe Service on Magazine Street in New Orleans at the time of filming; trumpeter Lionel Johnson, who lived above the former Dew Drop Inn location at the time of filming; jazz historian Bruce Boyd Raeburn; and Edward Wood, proprietor of Wood's Barber Shop on LaSalle Street.

Topics included in the interviews range from New Orleans music history and family-owned businesses to segregation and the subsequent consequences of integration which aided in the club's demise. Footage features interior shots of the Dew Drop Inn, and exterior shots of LaSalle Street, the Magnolia Housing Project, and the neighborhood outside the Dew Drop Inn building, all circa 2004-2005.