Imaginations Run Wild In The West

When people think of old-time bordello dancers, or "sisters of riotous sensuality," as they were sometimes called, what generally come to mind are young dancers in black stockings, high heels and frilly dresses. They don't tend to think of women wearing glasses who look a lot like the governor of Montana.

A new sculpture of such dancers on a building in Helena, however, includes a tall, bespectacled woman with short hair that reminds many residents of Governor Judy Martz. The Seattle artist responsible for the piece says the dancer was modeled after her aunt. Others, however, can't help but see the governor when they look at it.

"The Entrepreneurial Spirit of Helena" mural also includes Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, a Catholic archbishop, an Indian, the first woman elected to Congress and two business leaders from the 1800s. In the center of the sculpture are three nude women. The one in the middle is whorehouse madam Josephine Hemsley; her two sidekicks are not named.

Montana had a history of bordellos dating back to the Gold Rush days. The last one didn't close until 1982. Downplaying the resemblance to her as a "stretch of the imagination," Martz expressed concern that the depiction of the naked bordello dancers is historically incorrect and an insult to women. Her spokesman, Chuck Butler, points out that bordello dancers weren't bare-breasted. "The governor felt it went overboard and wasn't factually accurate."