The Gem Theater was a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, 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 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 as prostitutes.

thumb | left | alt=Multiple men in suits standing in front of a bar with no stools and multiple bartenders. The back of the bar has wallpaper, mirrors and posters. | The bar interior

The Gem prospered, bringing in an average of $5,000 a night, even reaching as high as $10,000.

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.

Deadwood television series and film

Swearengen (played by Ian McShane) and the Gem are both portrayed in the HBO 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 in 1904) and that he leaves the saloon to a former prostitute named Trixie.

References

See also

  • Bella Union Saloon