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IF IT WAS STARTLING TO RUN INTO JOHN WAYNE, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU SPOTTED A MISCHIEVOUS MONKEY LURKING ABOUT? TOP: Penrose’s collection of animals entertained guests on property until they were moved into the zoo. ABVOE: Victor Borge plays piano with an odd accompanist. 32 The Broadmoor Magazine | 2011 • 2012 level. The features included a lovely fireplace in the recreation room offset with gizzard stones found during ex- cavation of dinosaur bones in nearby Cañon City. From the lodge, Spec could see a number of sights dear to his heart, including El Pomar (“the orchard”), the home he and Julie purchased in 1916, plus the Pauline Chapel, dedicated in 1919, and, of course, The Broad- moor, each with its own modest trove of little-known aesthetic treasures, star-studded stories, and humorous anecdotes. In the Pauline Chapel one can find the finest example of Spanish Renais- sance art in the U.S.—a triptych of finely carved wood depicting The Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Ascension—plus a bishop’s throne, and a host of other similarly exquisite pieces from across Europe, as well as draperies from Morocco. Only a few blocks away, at Penrose House (formerly El Pomar Renewal Center), one can take in a unique set of evocative lithographs by the noted French Post-Impressionist Toulouse- Lautrec. W.M. Thayer Tutt purchased the originals in the mid-1950s, to hang in the French Bistro room at the Tav- ern. Tours of the Penrose House and grounds are available by appointment on the first Monday of each month. If you can’t make it to Penrose House to see the lithographs, you can still take in a matchless set of replicas in the Tavern, where the originals hung for many years. Wandering fur- ther back into the popular restaurant, you’ll come across another oddity: an interpretation of ancient Mayan mask panels painted onto the carved sugar pine wall paneling by local architect Edwin A. Francis in 1953. And if, perchance, you’re in the Tavern enjoying the nightly dance band and you get distracted by Lau- trec’s paintings or the hypnotic Meso- American designs, and happen to misstep, feeling like you’ve got two left feet, there’s an alibi only steps away. In the central Mezzanine area of the hotel, just up the escalator in what was called the Blue Room, take a close look at the ceiling. One of the Italian artisans brought in to paint the frescoes over the fireplace was a reli- gious fellow who steadfastly believed that no one could do anything perfect except God. As he was finishing the ceiling, he became quite concerned because he felt this was his most perfect work. In order to save himself from certain damnation, he intention- ally created a flaw. If you look at the cherub who has his back to you, note that his feet are reversed, splayed with big toes pointing out. On the opposite end of the room, you’ll find the same pattern repeated. Then there’s the Maxfield Parrish landscape painting that Spec commis- sioned, which remains the signature rendering of the hotel. The archives of the hotel contain a series of letters, initiated by Spec in 1919, discussing the proposed image as well as the noted artist’s travel arrangements and remuneration. Therein Parrish states, “… a literal rendering of the mate- rial facts can be avoided, and the part that stays in the mind can the better be brought out, the spirit and atmo- sphere of the place.”