Central City Colorado Face On The Barroom Floor

Written in ballad form it tells the story of an artist ruined by love.

Central city colorado face on the barroom floor.

In most bars a face on the floor does not usually make the best impression. He then offers to sketch madeline s face on the floor of the bar. Teller house central city. In the poem he enters a bar and tells his story to the bartender and to the assembled crowd.

But in central city there is a barroom where one such face is not only tolerated it s celebrated. He was also asked to do some work at the teller house. Central city colorado unlike apparitions of the divine there s no miraculous origin to the face on the bar room floor in the teller house bar it s just an oil painting on a floor. He didn t speak it from memory but he did reference it often.

The face on the bar room floor. This is one of dad s favorite poems. Having lost his beloved madeline to another man he has turned to drink. The face on the barroom floor is a poem written by hugh antoine d arcy in 1887.

Courtesy of teller house composer henry mollicone was a young man 40 years ago when the central city opera company in colorado commissioned him to write something short something. Most folks believe that it was the inspiration for a once famous 1877 poem of the same name about a drunk who painted it to prove that he had once been a famous artist. A later version was adapted from the titus poem by hugh antoine d arcy in 1887 and first published in the new york dispatch. The face on the barroom floor painting is a painting on the floor of the teller house bar in central city colorado.

It s a portrait of a beautiful chestnut haired woman painted on the floorboards of the town s historic teller house bar and the story behind it is as. It was painted in 1936 by herndon davis. The eponymous face on the barroom floor in central city colorado that inspired the one act opera by composer henry mollicone and librettist john bowman. I have been to the teller house bar in central city colo twice and saw the painting of the face both times.

Know before you go the central city opera house and teller bar are open to the public during the opera season. 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. Butch whidden 9 10 2020 12 37 00 pm. The face on the barroom floor is a painting on the floor of the teller house bar in central city colorado united states.

The face on the barroom floor may be proof that art rarely makes an effective revenge.