For many of us, Central City summers were a positively memorable experience. This was certainly true for those who were connected with the dramatic productions in the historic opera house. And that included the daily performances of the singing ushers, the young men in black who prepared the patrons for the opera with a robust rendition of their welcoming song from the steps next to Williams Stables and then marched and sang their way up Eureka Street to open the opera house, take tickets and lead the crowd to their seats for the main event.

We are those singing ushers, and we are looking forward to the CCOHA 75th Anniversary celebration in 2007, but some of us from the ushers’ crew of 1959 cannot wait two years and are planning a preliminary reunion this summer (July 29-31). We remember 1959 as a significant year because it was not only Central City’s golden centennial year (100 years after the discovery of gold in Gregory Gulch), but it was also the year that the ushers defeated the local volunteer fire department in the opening day hose-cart race. The Ballad of Baby Doe was also revived at the opera house, three years after its world premiere on the same stage.

The Great Hose-Cart Race
Opening Day, June 27, 1959, was significant because Central City was celebrating its golden centennial (100 years after the discovery of gold in Gregory Gulch). It was also the year that, for the first time, the Central City Opera Houses Ushers be in good shape if we were going to compete with the more confident and experienced city volunteers. For a week before the main event, we dragged ourselves out of bed at the crack of dawn for a series of trials runs which separated the “horses” from the also-rans.

Opening Day was filled with colorful festivities: square dancing, an old-car parade, a rock-drilling contest, and a pony express race from Idaho Springs. At 3:15, the crowd lined both sides of Main Street in collective anticipation as the hose-cart competition was announced. The ushers went first and got off to a quick start at the top of Main and sped down the hill, the “horses” running vigorously in front of the cart’s great iron wheels that rolled relentlessly, pounding the pavement with frightening force. Paul Shearer came through in the clutch; he grabbed the unreeling hose from the rear of the cart, and, much to the delight of the cheering crowd, made a perfect connection at the fire hydrant, hooking up for a winning time of 28 seconds. The city volunteers followed and got off to a pretty good start but did not match the ushers’ time and failed to make a clean connection at the hydrant.

Mixing It Up with the Opera Stars
We occasionally invited the opera stars to join us for parties at the infamous House of Usher (Weckbaugh House), and even challenged them to a softball game on a rocky field above the town. My favorite star was Frank Guarrera who is remembered by most opera-goers for his outstanding performances as Tonio in Pagliacci, Horace Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe and Amonasro in Aida (father of the heroine, Beverly Sills). I remember that he also made a circus catch in deep left field to rob me of a home run on that rocky field.

The 59er
The ushers’ favorite watering hole after the opera: no swinging door, but the beer was cheap and the atmosphere was unpretentiously appealing. The perfect setting for the 59er Ushers to celebrate Central City’s golden centennial.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 at September 17, 2007 and is filed under A Journey To Our Past, BRAVO!!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.