The Gem Theater was a saloon in

Deadwood, South Dakota Deadwood (Lakota: ''Owáyasuta''; "To approve or confirm things") is a city that serves as the county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It was named by early settlers after the dead trees found in its gulch. The city had its ...

, owned by Al Swearengen.

Opening

Swearengen opened the Gem Variety Theater on April 7, 1877, at the corners of Wall and Main streets to entertain the population of the

mining camp A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historical mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendig ...

with " prize fights" (as was customary with Swearengen's previous establishment the Cricket Saloon, no prizes were actually involved), stage acts consisting of comedians, singers and dancers, and primarily, prostitutes. Gambling was a main theme at the Gem, as was the Gem band, which played nightly from the balcony as a form of advertising.

Management

Swearengen recruited his prostitutes by advertising legitimate stage, cleaning, or waitressing jobs in his theater to desperate young women and advancing them the money for their (one way) trip; then, when they arrived, forcing them into what was essentially

indentured servitude Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an " indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or s ...

as prostitutes. Those who balked were first threatened with demands for repayment of the funds advanced to them for the trip; if that failed, they were threatened with beatings, and if that failed they were beaten and physically forced to submit to Swearengen's demands. Many still resisted, but those who escaped this fate could only find themselves in no better situation, as penniless women with no source of income, alone in a rough and rowdy mining camp, and with the constant threat of Swearengen's men hanging over them. Many grew sick and died from lack of proper nutrition and shelter, while many others committed suicide. The Gem prospered, bringing in an average of $5,000 a night, even reaching as high as $10,000. Swearengen forged alliances with many of Deadwood's most prominent citizens, buying himself immunity from legal or other problems. His immunity even extended to the notoriously upright and incorruptible Marshal

Seth Bullock Seth Bullock (July 23, 1849 – September 23, 1919) was a Canadian-American frontiersman, business proprietor, politician, sheriff, and U.S. Marshal. He was a prominent citizen in Deadwood, South Dakota, where he lived from 1876 until his death, ...

, who did not have the political clout to extend his campaign to clean up the town as far as the lower regions of Main Street, which remained Swearengen's territory. The front of the Gem consisted of a bar, and the "theater" area; in the back were the rooms for the prostitutes. Day-to-day operations were managed by Al Swearengen himself. Customers frequently brutalized the women, even to the point of killing them. The violence in the Gem was not confined to the prostitutes, with the saloon being a frequent site of gunfights between drunken patrons; and in one memorable instance, the memoirs of John S. McClintock reported a prostitute named "Trixie" having shot a large hole through the skull of a man who astounded everyone by surviving for another half an hour.

Destruction

The Gem was damaged by fire in the summer of 1879 and repaired, but then very soon destroyed in a major fire that devastated the town on September 26, 1879. Swearengen built an even larger and more grand establishment, reopening in December 1879 to adulation as the finest theater ever seen in Deadwood. In 1899, however, the Gem burned down once again, and a broke Swearengen declined to rebuild and left for Colorado. Despite the Gem's history as Deadwood's longest-lived entertainment institution, its support by so many of the town power brokers over the years, and the glowing tributes in the press after the rebuilt Gem was unveiled, after its demise it was reviled in the press as an evil institution and a town shame.

''Deadwood'' television series and film

Swearengen (played by

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

) and the Gem are both portrayed in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television show, ''Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and '' Deadwood: The Movie'' (2019), but in heavily modified form. The show's fictional Gem Saloon is already well-established when the show begins in August 1876 and in the movie, which takes place in 1889, it is implied that Swearengen dies due to liver failure in his bed upstairs in the saloon (the real Swearengen was murdered in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

in 1904) and that he leaves the saloon to a former prostitute named Trixie.

Opening

Management

Destruction

''Deadwood'' television series and film

References

See also