George Swartz had wanted to be an actor from the time he was a boy in Pennsylvania. Tuberculosis brought him to Colorado in the early 1900’s, and he practiced declamation to help with his TB, including memorizing Shakespearean plays. In 1911 he built a new home at 4201 Hooker Street in Harkness Heights with a little theater in the basement, which he later called the Bungalow Theater. Swartz produced and directed over 800 plays during a 20-year period. Swartz’s wife and daughters helped with costumes, painting sets and served cookies and grape juice. Swartz died in 1937 and Paul Witter opened a theatrical training school, and later performed plays under the name Gaslight Theater.

Article image: Rocky Mountain News, April 16, 1919