Coloradans go to the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House to see Opera Colorado spectacles such as “Madama Butterfly,” Broadway shows such as “The Little Mermaid,” and the Colorado Ballet.
But once upon a time, that now-splendid space was part of a rowdy, sweaty wrestling hall, the old Denver Municipal Auditorium Arena. Remember?
All Star Wrestling, along with the original Denver Nuggets American Athletic Union basketball team, were favorite attractions. Wrestling became a craze in the 1970s, longtime stagehand Howard Duncan recalls. “We’d install a ring in the center of the arena, and set a big spring under the floor so wrestlers wouldn’t get hurt when slammed down, but could bounce right up.”
Crowds of 5,000 or more jammed these theatrically brutal performances. No one had any trouble telling the good guy from the bad. A typical match pitted a sneering German, Baron von Raschke, against an all-American boy, the Crusher.
Wrestling villains such as the Baron were so hated that a protective circle of policemen had to escort them through the crowd to the ring. The baron wore a pink cape with a swastika on the back. Upon leaping into the ring, this 6-foot 4-inch, 281-pound mammoth would shake his giant fist at the crowd. Jeers and boos ricocheted around the hall.
Then cheers as the hero — the blond, muscular Crusher — pranced in from the other end of the arena. As Crusher climbed into the ring, the Baron, not waiting for any bell, rushed at him. Warned by the crowd, Crusher turned at the last minute and threw himself headlong into battle. The two mighty hulks collided mid-ring and stumbled backwards, then bounced off the ropes and smashed back into each other. Both crashed to the floor, leaving the crowd wondering if either would ever rise again.
But suddenly, the Baron staggered to his feet. He grabbed Crusher by the nose and gleefully dragged him around the ring. By night’s end, good would prevail and the dirty, cheating Nazi would crawl off the stage, vanquished by the forces of American righteousness.
Compare these violent giants with the lithe, embracing dancers of Colorado Ballet, now the most frequent user of the Ellie. And Denverites have graduated from All Star Wrestling to a more graceful, refined cast. For a preview of the season to open this October, drive by Colorado Ballet’s offices and studios in the old Dodge automobile showroom at the southeast corner of Lincoln and E. 13th Avenue. This is the finest window watching in town as wispy young bodies glide through dreams come true.
Colorado Ballet’s Cinderella story begins in 1951 with Denver natives Freidann Parker and Lillian Covillo. The two young dance and physical education teachers teamed up during the late 1940s to create a dance school. To showcase talented students, the dancing duo established the Colorado Concert Ballet in 1951. A decade later, they presented their first annual production of The Nutcracker at the old Bonfils Theater, establishing a favorite ongoing tradition.
By 1978, the Colorado Concert Ballet had an annual budget of $100,000 and changed its name. Thirty years later, it consists of more than 30 professional dancers from across the United States, as well as China, Cuba, Japan, Poland and Russia. With its lively, bouncing performers, Colorado Ballet provides a refined, distant echo of the days when wrestling hulks pranced around Denver’s Auditorium Arena, before its reincarnation for the likes of “Madama Butterfly” and the “Nutcracker.”
Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel invites you to join him for the Colorado Historical Society’s Halloween Tour of Fairmount Cemetery on Oct. 26 from 1 to 4 p.m., and tour of the Grant Humphreys and Governor’s Mansion on Oct. 27 from 6 to 9 p.m. Reservations at 303-8666-4686 or
