The Face on the Barroom Floor is a painting on the floor of the Teller House Bar in Central City, Colorado, United States. It was painted in 1936 by Herndon Davis.
The Face On The Barroom Floor was referenced in the Three Stooges short "Movie Maniacs" in 1936.
Davis had been commissioned by the Central City Opera Association to paint a series of paintings for the Central City Opera House; he was also requested to do some work at the Teller House. One afternoon at the bar he became embroiled in a heated argument with Ann Evans, the project director, about the manner in which his work should be executed. The upshot of the fight was that Davis was told to quit, or else he would be fired.
According to one version of the story, the painting was the suggestion of a busboy named Joe Libby; knowing that Davis would soon be fired, he suggested that the artist "give them something to remember [him] by". [1]
In Davis' own words: [2]
The Central City Opera House Association hired me to do a series of paintings and sketches of the famous mining town, which they were then rejuvenating as an opera center and tourist attraction. I stayed at the Teller House while working up there, and the whim struck me to paint a face on the floor of the old Teller House barroom. In its mining boom heyday it was just such a floor as the ragged artist used in d’Arcy's famous old poem. But the hotel manager and the bartender would have none of such tomfoolery. They refused me permission to paint the face. Still the idea haunted me, and in my last night in Central City, I persuaded the bellboy Jimmy Libby to give me a hand. After midnight, when the coast was clear, we slipped down there. Jimmy held a candle for me and I painted as fast as I could. Yet it was 3 AM when I finished.
Whatever the inspiration, Davis did not sign his work, and soon the bar's owners chose to capitalize on it. They advertised the painting as that from the poem "The Face on the Barroom Floor" by Hugh Antoine D'Arcy. The actual subject of the painting is Davis' wife Edna Juanita (Cotter) Davis "Nita". She lived at 1323 Kalamath st, Denver, Co
The Teller House painting was the inspiration for a chamber opera titled The Face on the Barroom Floor by Henry Mollicone.
Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States Census. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. The Cripple Creek Historic District, which received National Historic Landmark status in 1961, includes part or all of the city and the surrounding area. The city is now a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.
Central City is a home rule municipality located in Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, Colorado, United States. Central City is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gilpin County. The city population was 779, all in Gilpin County, at the 2020 United States census. The city is a historic mining settlement founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush and came to be known as the "Richest Square Mile on Earth". Central City and the adjacent city of Black Hawk form the federally designated Central City/Black Hawk Historic District. The city is now a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.
Edward Hopper was an American realist painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in capturing American life and landscapes through his art.
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Hugh Antoine d'Arcy was a French-born poet and writer and a pioneer executive in the American motion picture industry. He is known for his 1887 poem, "The Face upon the Barroom Floor", a sorrowful tale of a painter who takes to drink after his lover deserts him for the fair-haired lad in one of his portraits.
Events from the year 1936 in art.
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932 by Julie Penrose and Anne Evans. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G. Pearce was selected in 1996 as Managing Director for Central City Opera, and he was named General/Artistic Director in May 1998, when John Moriarty became Artistic Director Emeritus. Since 2006 John Baril is the first Music director of the opera.
The Face on the Barroom Floor may refer to:
"The Face upon the Barroom Floor", aka "The Face on the Floor" and "The Face on the Barroom Floor", is a poem originally written by the poet John Henry Titus in 1872. A later version was adapted from the Titus poem by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy in 1887 and first published in the New York Dispatch.
Henry Mollicone was an American composer and musical instructor. He died on May 12, 2022, following a lengthy illness. At the time of his death, his home was in Saratoga, California.
Don Barclay was an American actor, artist and caricaturist whose many roles spanned the period from the Keystone Cops in 1915 to Mary Poppins in 1964 and whose many paintings and caricatures of celebrities filled establishments worldwide and are archived in the Library of Congress.
The Face on the Bar-Room Floor is a 1923 American drama film directed by John Ford. It is considered to be a lost film. The film was adapted from the poem of the same name by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy.
Teller House is a historic hotel in Central City, Colorado. Built in 1872, the building now serves as a restaurant.
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