Historical Studies Journal 2020

A LADY BY FOOTLIGHT Female Impersonation in Nineteenth-Century Denver ART DECO, EXOTIC REVIVALISM, AND MODERNISM IN DENVER’S FANTASY THEATERS THE NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW: For the Cattleman and University of Colorado Denver Colorado of University the City Person Alike Historical “BLESS ‘EM:” The Forgotten WACs of Colorado’s Camp Hale Studies ANCIENT MONARCHIES IN A NEW AGE: Historical Studies Journal Studies Historical Journal Austria-Hungary’s Complicated Relationship Spring 2020 with the Ottoman Empire . Volume 37 Spring 2020 Spring . Volume 37 Volume Historical Studies Journal Spring 2020 . Volume 37 EDITOR: Josef Maurer, Graduate Student ASSISTANT EDITORS: Teddy Scott, Graduate Student Teresa Donahue, Graduate Student Mark Ortiz, Graduate Student Noah Allyn, Graduate Student Joel Rosenstein, Undergraduate Student DESIGN: Shannon Fluckey, Layout Design Kristen Morrison, Cover Design Integrated Marketing & Communications Auraria Higher Education Center DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY University of Colorado Denver Christopher Agee, Ph.D. Marjorie Levine-Clark, Ph.D. Department Chair Associate Dean for Diversity, 20th Century U.S., Urban History, Social Outreach and Initiatives and Cultural Movements, Modern United Modern Britain, British History, Victorian History, States, Criminal Justice System History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, History of Poverty and Welfare, History of Medicine and Ryan Crewe, Ph.D. Health, and History of Citizenship Graduate Student Advisor Early modern global history, Politics Brandon Mills, Ph.D. and economics of religion in early modern 19th Century US History, The United States and colonization, Transoceanic migrations and the World, Imperialism, Racial Identity exchanges, Cross-cultural interactions Tom Noel, Ph.D. James E. Fell, Ph.D. Associate Chair & Co-director American West, Colorado History, of Public History Program Economic and Business History Denver, Colorado, Art, Architecture, Cemeteries, Churches, Ethnic groups, Parks, Gabriel Finkelstein, Ph.D. Planning & Saloons Modern European culture, Modern German culture, Science, Neuroscience, Historiography, Richard D. Smith, Ph.D. Travel and exploration, Gender, marriage, Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern Europe, and childhood, Biography Tudor/Stuart England Rachel Gross, PhD. Dale J. Stahl, Ph.D. Modern U.S. History, Environmental History, Environmental History, Middle Eastern and Public History, Women and Gender History, Islamic History, International and Global History Cultural History, Business History Christine Sundberg Rebecca Hunt, Ph.D. African History, Cultural Studies, Child Co-director of the Public History Program & Soldiers and At-risk Groups Director of Museum Studies and Material Culture American West, Gender, Museum Studies, William Wagner, Ph.D. Public History Undergraduate Student Advisor Nineteenth-Century American History, Peter A. Kopp, PhD. American West, Social and Cultural History Environmental History, North American West, Public History and Museum Studies, Greg Whitesides, Ph.D. and Nineteenth and Twentieth Century U.S. in 20th Century History, History of Science, US Global and Transnational Contexts Foreign Policy Pamela Laird, Ph.D., Emerita Kariann Yokota, Ph.D. History of Advertising, History of Business Colonial & Early America, Ethnic Studies, Culture in America, Civil Rights and Business Transatlantic History, Material & Visual Culture, Transpacific History, Cultural Studies, American Studies, Asian American Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS V Preface 1 A Lady by Footlight Female Impersonation in Nineteenth-Century Denver Teddy Scott 15 Art Deco, Exotic Revivalism, and Modernism in Denver’s Fantasy Theaters Mark Alexander Ortiz 33 The National Western Stock Show: For the Cattleman and the City Person Alike Kayla Hladky 43 “Bless ‘Em:” The Forgotten WACs of Colorado’s Camp Hale Brittany Huner 53 Ancient Monarchies in a New Age: Austria-Hungary’s Complicated Relationship with the Ottoman Empire Brandon Stanley 67 Notes 83 Bibliographies PREFACE The University of Colorado Denver History Department is pleased to announce that this year marks the thirty-seventh edition of the department’s Historical Studies Journal. The editing staff of the Journal carefully considered all student articles submitted for publication in order to maintain the high-quality standards the Journal has reflected in its long existence. The articles included in this journal discuss an array of topics including Colorado’s history as well as international history. The first article, Edward “Teddy” Scott’s “A Lady by Footlight: Female Impersonation in Nineteenth Century Denver,” argues that female impersonation, especially amongst actors, united diverse groups of people because the impersonators dwelled in an ambiguous social state. Mark Ortiz’s “Art Deco, Exotic Revivalism, and Modernism in Denver’s Fantasy Theaters” discusses the architecture of four Denver theaters: the Mayan, the Paramount, the Aladdin, and the Cooper. Mark argues that the architecture of each theater reflects the social and cultural environment in which they were created. Kayla Hladky’s “The National Western Stockshow: For the Cattleman and the City Person Alike” discusses the role of the show in Colorado’s history. She argues that careful planning and advertising played a large role in the show’s success as a prominent, Colorado tourist attraction. Brittany Huner’s “‘Bless ‘Em:’ The Forgotten WACs of Colorado’s Camp Hale” illuminates the forgotten role the Woman’s Army Corps (WAC) played at Camp Hale, Colorado during World War II. Brandon Stanley’s “Ancient Monarchies in a New Age: Austria-Hungary’s Complicated Relationship with the Ottoman Empire” highlights the tenuous relationship between the empires during World War I. He argues that while the relationship between both empires was not perfect, they nonetheless were forced to work together during World War I. Serving as senior editor of the Journal this year has been a great honor and privilege. The Journal could not have been completed without the dedicated effort of the assistant editors: Mark Ortiz, Edward “Teddy” Scott, Noah William Allyn, Joel Rosenstein, and Teresa Donahue. This publication is also grateful for the support of the CU-Denver History Department—especially Dr. Tom Noel, Dr. Dale Stahl, and Dr. Gabriel Finkelstein. This publication also owes much gratitude to Shannon Fluckey and Kristen Morrison for their roles as the Journal’s graphic designers. Josef Maurer | Editor V An unknown artist’s rendition of Richard Harlow playing the role of Isabella in Edward E. Rice’s “1492.” Credit: Rocky Mountain News, 1 Dec. 1895 A LADY BY FOOTLIGHT Female Impersonation in Nineteenth-Century Denver By Teddy Scott n 1895, a small, effeminate man sat in cell number 5 at Denver’s police headquarters. He calmly answered questions from officers I and the local press, who were curious about his “peculiar” lifestyle. Joe Gilligan was arrested that evening on charges of burglary and forgery, but this was not what readers of the Evening Post wanted to know about. They instead wanted to know why he was in possession of a lady’s wardrobe, as well as several romantically suggestive letters between himself and other men. The suspect denied nothing, even revealing that Denver was filled with “others like himself,” further baffling both officers and reporters with an apparent lack of shame over his unorthodox lifestyle. Seizing the opportunity to capitalize on a controversial story, the press delved into his personal correspon- dences, printed them in the papers, and further dragged the young man down with descriptions of his “girlish” behavior. They even went as far as to call him the “Oscar Wilde” of Denver, which in 1895 had unambiguously negative connotations.1 Just a few months after Gilligan began his sentence at the peni- tentiary, a professional actor named Richard Harlow took his bow on Denver’s grandest stage, the Tabor Grand Opera House, to the sound of uproarious applause. While the operetta performed that evening might have left a lukewarm impression upon the audience, they nonetheless returned to the theater night after night to enjoy the grace and skill of the production’s star performer. Both Gilligan and Teddy is a native of Denver and is currently working toward his Master of Arts in American History, with a focus on the American West and a minor in Preservation. Originally a man of the stage, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Elon University in North Carolina. He would like to thank Dr. Bill Wagner, Dr. Tom Noel, Dr. Gabriel Finkelstein, David Duffield, and Josef Maurer for their assistance in the research, writing, and editing of this paper. Harlow were female impersonators, but unlike Gilligan, Harlow’s female illusion would gain him “emphatic praise” from the Evening Post for his “attractive impersonation” of the character of Isabella. 2 These two examples highlight an apparent double standard. They raise the question: why was female impersonation socially acceptable (and even celebrated) during the late — A Lady by Footlight nineteenth-century, as long as it was confined to vaudeville or to legitimate theatrical stages?3 Serving as the most public form of constructed female illusion, why did professional performers, like Richard Harlow, escape the charges and opprobrium subjected to Teddy Scott non-professional counterparts like Joe Gilligan? The obvious answer to the question of social acceptance could be in the satirical nature of these performances — that female impersonation was

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