By Amy Lillard / www.hhhistory.com / January 26, 2015
It’s no secret that Queen Victoria’s habits and manners influenced a generation. So much so that we call it the Victorian Age. From clothing to wedding traditions, she touched more than England. The eastern states were equally affected. But the Wild West? That was another matter.
To the westward pioneer, a great deal of these Victorian practices were just not practical and were quickly dropped. Consequently, the west took on a shape of its own.
Rowdy frontier towns gave rise to rowdy frontier saloons which in turn gave us the saloon girl.
I’ll be honest and tell you that I stumbled across this topic a little on accident. I was working on a story idea to submit to my publisher and wanted to make sure the term I was using to describe my character was correct. I’d used the term “saloon girl,” but was thinking more of a Gunsmoke-Miss Kitty type. What I found was that there was a great deal of difference between the saloon girl and the prostitute of the Old West.
The saloon girl had many different names. The 49ers in California called them “ladies of the line” or “sporting women.” Cowboys called them “soiled doves.” Kansas trailers knew them by many names, "daughters of sin,” "fallen frails,” "doves of the roost,” and "nymphs du prairie.” Still others referred to the saloon girls as "scarlet ladies,” fallen angels,” "frail sisters,” "fair belles,” and "painted cats,” to name a few.
But they were all the same: saloon girls.
Now, east of the Mississippi River, women didn’t go in saloons, but the west was different. To the “proper” woman, there were two kinds of improper ones: saloon girls and prostitutes. And to this “proper” miss, these were lumped together and considered a necessary evil.
But to saloon girls, what they did was vastly different than the prostitutes. Only in the roughest of saloons were the ‘’girls” and prostitutes one and the same. Otherwise, saloon girls held themselves higher than the prostitutes and wouldn’t be caught dead associating with one.
So what exactly was a saloon girl? They were workers, hired by the saloon to entertain the lonely men. And men in the West tended to be lonely. They outnumbered the women three to one in most places. In California in the mid-1800s, the population was ninety percent male! The saloon girls’ job was to dance with the men. They sang to them, talked to them, and otherwise kept them in the saloon buying drinks and playing games.
Most of the girls had come west from farms and mills seeking a better life, the opportunities that the West had to offer. A great deal of them were widows who, without a husband to support them, had to work for a living. Unfortunately, the Victorian Age didn’t offer a great deal of employment opportunities for women. In fact, the men of culture acted like women were brainless. The only legitimate opportunities for a woman’s employment were cooking, cleaning, or washing clothes, all backbreaking work.
That’s not to say that being a saloon girl was easy. A high probability of a violent death was a certain job hazard. Most of the ladies carried small pistols or daggers to protect themselves from overzealous patrons.
The girls were encouraged to dance with the men, then get the men to buy them drinks. The men would pay regular price for the ladies’ drinks though the women would secretly be served cold tea or colored water. (A practice my deputy husband tells me is still in use today. Who knew?) The girls got a commission off the drinks and a set salary for the week. They were also discouraged from spending too much time with one patron as the saloon owners lost a lot of employees to marriage.
As I mentioned, the saloon girls were there to dance with the men. Dancing usually started at eight or so in the evening. Each "turn” lasted about fifteen minutes and a popular girl could average as many as fifty dances a night. Often times they could make more a night than a working man could make in a month. Because of this, it was rare for them to double as a prostitute. In fact, many ladies of ill repute found they could make more money as a dance hall girl.
Most saloon girls were considered "good" women by the men. And in most places the women were treated as "ladies.” True, Western men tended to hold all women in high regard, but the saloon girls and/or the saloon keeper demanded the respect. Any man who mistreated one of these women was quickly deemed an outcast. If he insulted one, he would most likely be shot and killed.
I think we’ve all seen the picture of a dance hall girl, with her brightly-colored, ruffled dress ending at her knees (scandalous!) and her painted face. Yet with as many westerns as I watched with my dad as I was growing up, I never picked up on the distinction between dance hall girls and ladies of the night.
So what say you? Miss Kitty…saloon girl or not?
To the westward pioneer, a great deal of these Victorian practices were just not practical and were quickly dropped. Consequently, the west took on a shape of its own.
Rowdy frontier towns gave rise to rowdy frontier saloons which in turn gave us the saloon girl.
I’ll be honest and tell you that I stumbled across this topic a little on accident. I was working on a story idea to submit to my publisher and wanted to make sure the term I was using to describe my character was correct. I’d used the term “saloon girl,” but was thinking more of a Gunsmoke-Miss Kitty type. What I found was that there was a great deal of difference between the saloon girl and the prostitute of the Old West.
The saloon girl had many different names. The 49ers in California called them “ladies of the line” or “sporting women.” Cowboys called them “soiled doves.” Kansas trailers knew them by many names, "daughters of sin,” "fallen frails,” "doves of the roost,” and "nymphs du prairie.” Still others referred to the saloon girls as "scarlet ladies,” fallen angels,” "frail sisters,” "fair belles,” and "painted cats,” to name a few.
But they were all the same: saloon girls.
Now, east of the Mississippi River, women didn’t go in saloons, but the west was different. To the “proper” woman, there were two kinds of improper ones: saloon girls and prostitutes. And to this “proper” miss, these were lumped together and considered a necessary evil.
But to saloon girls, what they did was vastly different than the prostitutes. Only in the roughest of saloons were the ‘’girls” and prostitutes one and the same. Otherwise, saloon girls held themselves higher than the prostitutes and wouldn’t be caught dead associating with one.
So what exactly was a saloon girl? They were workers, hired by the saloon to entertain the lonely men. And men in the West tended to be lonely. They outnumbered the women three to one in most places. In California in the mid-1800s, the population was ninety percent male! The saloon girls’ job was to dance with the men. They sang to them, talked to them, and otherwise kept them in the saloon buying drinks and playing games.
Most of the girls had come west from farms and mills seeking a better life, the opportunities that the West had to offer. A great deal of them were widows who, without a husband to support them, had to work for a living. Unfortunately, the Victorian Age didn’t offer a great deal of employment opportunities for women. In fact, the men of culture acted like women were brainless. The only legitimate opportunities for a woman’s employment were cooking, cleaning, or washing clothes, all backbreaking work.
That’s not to say that being a saloon girl was easy. A high probability of a violent death was a certain job hazard. Most of the ladies carried small pistols or daggers to protect themselves from overzealous patrons.
The girls were encouraged to dance with the men, then get the men to buy them drinks. The men would pay regular price for the ladies’ drinks though the women would secretly be served cold tea or colored water. (A practice my deputy husband tells me is still in use today. Who knew?) The girls got a commission off the drinks and a set salary for the week. They were also discouraged from spending too much time with one patron as the saloon owners lost a lot of employees to marriage.
As I mentioned, the saloon girls were there to dance with the men. Dancing usually started at eight or so in the evening. Each "turn” lasted about fifteen minutes and a popular girl could average as many as fifty dances a night. Often times they could make more a night than a working man could make in a month. Because of this, it was rare for them to double as a prostitute. In fact, many ladies of ill repute found they could make more money as a dance hall girl.
Most saloon girls were considered "good" women by the men. And in most places the women were treated as "ladies.” True, Western men tended to hold all women in high regard, but the saloon girls and/or the saloon keeper demanded the respect. Any man who mistreated one of these women was quickly deemed an outcast. If he insulted one, he would most likely be shot and killed.
I think we’ve all seen the picture of a dance hall girl, with her brightly-colored, ruffled dress ending at her knees (scandalous!) and her painted face. Yet with as many westerns as I watched with my dad as I was growing up, I never picked up on the distinction between dance hall girls and ladies of the night.
So what say you? Miss Kitty…saloon girl or not?
No comments:
Post a Comment