UNTANGLING the Saloon Girl Myth

This western saloon photograph is absolutely authentic, right down to the bobcat... except for one thing. Research and common sense dictate that the girl, the saloon girl in the front, she never happened. At least not like this... and that is why after a tremendous hunt over a decade, I had to fake this photo... *************************************************************************************** The myth of the Old West saloon girl being admitted in the previous blog (see below), I thought it would be interesting to try to trace back, and ask, how did Hollywood get it so wrong? *************************************************************************************** Where did our beloved, scantily clad, frontier alcohol schleppers come from? If they are a myth, what on earth were the writers and producers and directors of many hundreds of films and television shows thinking? It could not have been education, or history, or the truth... what might have been their rationale? And why did millions of Old West fans tolerate it? *************************************************************************************** Besides the fact that sex sells... ***********************************************************************************

Sure there were “saloon girls”... but in most cases far different from what has been repeatedly depicted on television and in the cinema. When we search the historical photographic record, we can not find any basis for the icon well established in our Western culture; The brazen hussy, slinking around Hollywood-created saloons, wearing as little as possible, except for a ridiculous hat topped with a colorful plume which adds to her slink... her skirt removed from her front, allowing full disclosure of her thighs, but following in tassels behind like a vapor trail.

Young women, and men, enjoy role-playing... of stereotypes which never existed. ***************************************************************************************** She hangs around the saloon, dressed to kill, chronically bored, dutifully entertaining enthusiastic cowboys, who are determined to make fast friends and end up in a bed somewhere, or anywhere, barely learning these girl's names. It was highly suggestive, sex on demand. But fees for services rendered never come up in the dialog. You were supposed to know what it was all about... if you did not, then you were probably too young to understand these things.

Little boys, who watched it all in admiration and wonder, could never understand that this was the beginning of their lifelong Hollywood acculturation, which presented women as primarily objects of sexual desire- professionals in fact, who should be waiting at a saloon near you, ready to pour you a drink, make you feel good, arouse your passion and then succumb to it as a matter of obligation. Man, would most of them be disappointed. ***************************************************************************************** Playboy magazine picked up this male-oriented cultural expectation when Westerns began to fade from the daily fare, ensuring that American boys turned into unhappy sexual tyrants in adulthood. We can never measure the negative impact these shows had on our youth and mental development. American boys grew up wondering... where were all of those beautiful, sexy girls who were so accommodating to those smelly, dirty, lucky cowboys? ***************************************************************************************** Most of us shrugged at the myth- it was fun, if not artistically amusing, even if it was as realistic as the freaks in Star Wars. Who knew? Who lived back then, so who could verify one way or another? Who could prove that these Western tarts were any more or less real in our past than those Star Wars creatures might be in our future? And so they persisted till this very day. Western reruns insure the eternal existence of the saloon girl myth, regardless of her origins in the salacious minds of Hollywood creatives who made her as American as the Statue of Liberty. ***************************************************************************************** And since there was such a dearth of historical evidence of western saloon female employees, and such a great demand to use females in western productions, it was only natural, good business, to give the public what it wanted. Besides, nobody wanted to watch prostitutes cavorting in the saloons as they actually did, taking reservations, hustling customers with not-so-subtle advertisements using innuendo unfit for children's ears. The saloon girl, whatever she had been, became the Hollywood solution, a convenient cultural amalgamation, a deliberate conflation of saloon girl, bar maid, dance hall girl, vaudeville entertainer and prostitute. And that was not only simplistic, and unrealistic, it was a slam on almost all of the women who ever worked in a saloon.

So here is the process as I understand it... how so many innocent working girls in saloons all across the West became fancy vixens of shame. The assumptions which created the Western saloon girl, which went unchallenged for nearly a century, were that since women in the Old West were fairly rare, and would have to have been crazy or desperate to find themselves in these hell towns, if they were not prostitutes when they came, they probably joined the sex-trade soon afterwards. Or they certainly hoped so. Hollywood ordained that they gladly accepted jobs in these combo bar/dance hall/brothel/opera houses and dutifully provided whatever services paid the best. Westerns perfunctorily skimmed over the cooks, maids, seamstresses, nurses, teachers and other female towns-persons... and made the saloon girl the jacke of all trades...

But what would she have looked like, this wonder girl of pleasure- how might she have presented herself? Hollywood designers could find very little evidence for a saloon girl “look,” no fashion which said, “I am your waitress and entertainment for the afternoon... let me fetch you a cigar, or a beer, or some sex.”

Saloon barmaids, and there were a few, wore aprons and bonnets or hair nets, and were sweaty from their toils.

Prostitutes usually wore very un-sexy attire, so as to not flaunt their lawlessness. They tried to keep a fairly low profile, wearing clothing which conservatively covered them from neck to toe. In the brothels they often wore large, shapeless white gowns, which looked like frilly smocks. Around town they would be hard to pick out in a crowd... except that they might have been wearing the most beautiful and expensive clothing in town.

So Hollywood turned to Vaudeville for inspiration. It was known that Vaudeville entertainers came through the larger towns regularly, and the female Vaudevillians often wore very suggestive costumes. In fact, these entertainers, professional singers, musicians, rope-jumpers, poetry reciters, and dancers, wore scandalous outfits condemned by everyone but those who paid to see them. They were wild, and colorful, and unforgettable. Here was a Pandora's box of sexy costumery.

Understand, the women who donned these outfits were amazing, hilarious, brilliant and brave professionals, and even sometimes talented, who traveled in companies well protected by male bodyguards. Nobody got near them. Money, gold and silver nuggets were thrown upon the stage, as lonely, love-struck miners and cowboys emptied their pockets in adoration... but it got them no closer to their latest sexual fantasy. These bizarre sirens of the stage, bedecked in flamboyant wigs, low-cut blouses, colorful stockings and frilly short-shorts, were untouchable, not available at any price, at least to the common folk. They may or may not have made themselves available to prominent gentlemen callers, but only ones who would lavish expensive gifts, rather than money. Their costumes were their stock and trade, not to be touched and felt and grabbed by the unwashed.

Saloon girls did not wear such things. They had to wear practical clothing. In a single night, they might have to fend off several drunks, dodge cigar ashes, dance with a dozen men, carry a half-dozen mugs of beer across the floor, many times, trying not to spill some along the way, and getting some on their dress... which had to be washable, because accidents happen. And maybe daily. And they had to constantly wear a smile, so that the customers would buy more alcohol, on which they received commissions on the sales.

Saloon girls were sales personnel. If they were not too busy, they might agree to a dance with a cowboy or two... fellows they liked, who understood that they had to pay for that pleasure too. Then at closing time they had to turn in their receipts and clean up the place after fifty drunks had trashed the place. They wore working girl clothes... and maybe some ribbons or a little jewelry to make themselves feel attractive... but they wore their hair short, to avoid beer and slobber, and their dress was only a few inches shorter than the average woman on the street. NOBODY ever saw their legs, or their chest, and certainly not any cleavage.

The very first entertainers in Western saloons were probably flamenco dancers and the guitarists and fiddlers who accompanied them. “Spanish” music was often the fare, and “Spanish” flamenco dancers were known to wear more suggestive clothing... low cut blouses, a sexy flower in their hair... a person might be able to see their calves when they twirled. Sometimes Irish music found its way into the saloon.

Later German polka music, played by “Hurdy-Gurdy” girls became the standard. A hurdy-gurdy was a German instrument, which was played by a musician in the old country while a girl danced for tips... The name became synonymous in America with “dance hall girl,” female entertainer, or anything “proper folk” imagined went on in such questionable places.

The idea that saloon girls served drinks all night and then suddenly hopped up on a stage and broke into the can-can dance is absurd. Most saloons had no stage. When they did, these dances were provided by traveling entertainers, who (usually) would not be caught dead waiting on drunks, or wrestling with them. These dances and short plays were a special treat, and not always available. But the prostitutes were, and were allowed to hang around the place, daily, as long as they behaved. It is said that they usually paid a commission to the bar owner.

Many saloon girls were just poor country girls forced into work to survive. A significant percentage fell into the sex-trade, but more ended up getting married and putting those days behind them. Out West, propriety had little to do with status. A predominance of the most famous men of the Old West were either pimps or whore-mongers. A saloon girl had little to fear, in a place where a person's reputation was enlarged by their counter-cultural behavior. ***************************************************************************************** Saloon girls were not necessarily dance hall girls. Sometimes, often times there was also no dance floor available. Besides the fact that they were often quite busy, and unable to make themselves as attractive, saloon girls were usually not the apple of the average customer's eye... *****************************************************************************************

Dance hall girls, like the ones above from Arizona, were employed at large dance halls, sometimes adjacent to saloons, but not always. These halls featured professional bands, and more refined atmosphere, and more importantly, the girls where usually more attractive, younger women, whom men were willing to pay to be next to. If they were not attractive, men in the West learned not to be that selective. They were at least, WOMEN! It was not unheard of for miners or lumberjacks or cowboys to dance with each other when women were too scarce. A woman of any kind was a treasured thing.

“Hurdy-Gurdy” or dance hall girls were usually dressed well, and had no other responsibilities... and they would dance with you if their card was not yet full. A dance card was the prepared list for the evening's music, which each girl carried, and male dancers would reserve dances with certain girls for certain songs. The men had to pay, so it was not often that a girl was all tied up by just one partner. If she was, this was the equivalent of “going steady.”

These women wore dancing gowns, often with a minimal bustle, often a nice white dress which had previously been a confirmation dress... or somebody's wedding dress. The hems were kept above the heels to prevent tripping... so ankles were barely visible. They “spruced up” these make-do ballroom dresses with ribbons and perhaps a corsage... but necklines were kept very proper... but open at the base of the neck to allow for ventilation. Those halls got terribly warm. Hair, again was kept short, or tied up to stay out of the way. Men were bad about wanting to stroke and pull it... best to keep it out of reach. ***************************************************************************************** Remember, these courageous young women were often dancing with total strangers, being held, twirled, and dragged about like rag dolls. Often times these dance partners were tipsy, or worse, and not always polite or gentle. These dance hall girls earned their money, as dancing all night took energy and some skill, and tons of patience. It was often a dance hall girl who taught a new dancer how to dance...

So, what DID they look like, those Victorian female icons of frontier fun? "Saloon girls," or bar maids, or whatever they may have been called; they may have been pretty boring looking in the beginning, compared to the Hollywood vision of them... Here are some images I have collected over the decades... and digitially restored... and colorized, to try to capture the spirit of the times.

When we consider the various women and the purposes they served in association with the Western saloon, we cannot find a single one which would have worn the sexy, fancy outfits we are accustomed to seeing in every Western. Each job had its demands, and each its suitable attire. So typically, Hollywood just stuck them all in French Can-Can costumes, and ran with it; Bar maids, saloon girls, dance hall girls, prostitutes, all the same. Imagine if every man in the same Western was dressed as a circus performer... and you might begin to fathom the silly, shallow, inexcusable absurdity. We have been brain-washed by sexist, lascivious lies.

And no wonder young American couples quit meeting one another's naive expectations... and divorce rates sky-rocketed, and homo-sexuality with them... and all of us red-blooded American males grew up believing in SALOON GIRLS, and lots of other Hollywood myths. If you are still shaking your head in disbelief, read LEGENDARY WATERING HOLES, The Saloons That Made Texas Famous, 2004, Texas A&M Press. Here several authors explore the most famous saloons in Texas, and the cultures in which they thrived... and struggled. Saloon girls are never even mentioned. You cannot find the term in the book index. According to this book, they were not even a thing.

The closest acknowledgment of any semblance of saloon girls was Chuck Parson's chapter on the Iron Front Saloon in Austin, where he compared Austin's strict written and unwritten codes about women in saloons to those of San Antonio. San Antonio was more like El Paso, as in wide open, and Jack Harris had "female drink servers" at his Vaudeville Saloon and Theater, which would have been illegal and unwanted in Austin, where saloons were proudly reserved "for men only." ************************************************************************************************

The myth of the American saloon girl is like the sun, The more we look at her, the blinder we get, and the less we can see anything. The term "Saloon Girls," in most instances, appears to have been merely a euphemism, a nice way to identify a possible prostitute without using an ugly word... because in many major cities, even by the 1880's, prostitution was frowned upon if not illegal, and any woman inside of a saloon was assumed to be a whore. Most saloons which were owned by women were in fact fronts for brothels. Ginnie Banters in Jerome, Arizona, Lottie Deno's in Jacksboro, Texas and Silver City, New Mexico, had saloons in tandem with their brothels.

There were saloon girls, but most saloons were off limits to all women... and saloon girls probably evolved over time as saloon proprietors got married and their wives helped out in the family business. Female saloon employees were predominantly drink servers, bar maids, and would probably have been insulted if someone called them a "saloon girl," which originally meant a woman involved in the sex trade. When a bunch of indignant female saloon employees banded together to change their public image in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and made public appeals, they referred to themselves as "dance hall girls."

They were working girls... actually some of the first in the country not employed in sweat shops, and proud to have jobs, even if these jobs required no small amount of humiliation. They fiercely held on to their self-respect, and resented the stereotype promoted by the newspapers and "proper" society, and demanded more respect from both. They would have been very put-out with how they have been depicted for the past one hundred years... *********************************************************************************************** Only Hollywood could have or would have ignored such a large and important demographic, all while they contrived a genre that barely existed, if at all, while making the world's oldest profession a glamorous, iconic, and ubiquitous institution in our imagined past. Read on and get an introduction to the REAL dance hall girls of the American west...

A REAL DANCE HALL GIRL wrote it down...

Above- a real dance hall girl, as described by a real dance hall girl... **************************************************************************************** People my age grew up watching GUNSMOKE on television, and Miss Kitty was a household word. Hollywood did a great deal over many years to fabricate the myth of the western saloon girl, and Miss Kitty was the female icon of every wanna-be cowboy's eye. The idea of the female saloon owner/manager was created so as to include women in Hollywood scripts, but there were very few in real life. And Miss Kitty's big hair, sexy attire and solid, midwestern values were something of a contradiction. How was it, really?

Lottie Deno (ABOVE), Squirrel-tooth Alice, and a few others certainly ran their own saloons, but they were mostly remembered because of their unique roles in a “man's world.” And along with the myth of the female saloon manager, was the western saloon girl, bedecked in a colorful, Moulin Rouge costume, feather in her hair, swaggering among the men with legs exposed like Esther Williams about to dive into the pool...

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No less than Norman Rockwell, America's premier illustrator, joined in the perpetuation of the myth... This was a movie poster for a remake of STAGECOACH, starring Ann-Margaret. ****************************************************************************************** It might be impossible to set the record straight about this, a runaway train of merry misinformation, because western history buffs today are mostly male, and they love the vision of sexy saloon girls sitting around the poker tables, legs crossed, knees shining, swigging beer and swinging their feet like bait before a large-mouth bass. But we will try here to at least tell you how it really was... ******************************************************************************************* You don't have to like it... ;)

First of all, last of all, there is so little original, period material to work from, that Hollywood was able to drive its eighteen wheeler full of nonsense right into the west and park it in the space reserved for SALOON GIRLS. I have searched for years for articles, photographs, anything that might shed light on the saloon culture of the 1870's. There is almost nothing. I found the tintype above after a decade of watching tintypes for sale on ebay. Photographs of western saloons almost never show even one woman in them. Maybe a horse, or a dog, or even a stuffed bobcat, but never even a hint of Miss Kitty. A few photos made in Montana show what appear to be prostitutes in their moo-moos, and some from the mid-west show husband and wife owners standing proudly in their establishments... but still no leggy, feather-headed flirters. ***************************************************************************************** I have found some evidence of the true saloon girl, and some readers will be greatly disappointed. Some of my female readers might be pleased... because all evidence points to a much less lusty, much more conservative appearance for the western saloon girl. Ft. Worth or Dodge were a long way from Paris, where the popular, ribald saloon girl costumes made famous in Hollywood came from. And as the illustration for a French poster shows, even those girls had hems fairly low, back in the day.

Let's stop right here and address where I am going with this. Some female readers may be reading this, hoping to learn a little about the cute saloon outfit they are planning for a costume party. You can stop right now... this article is not for you. There is so little in common between the truth and the myth, and you are caught up in the myth; one contrived by men to objectify women, that there is no compromise. This article will disappoint you, and all the men looking forward to your... objectification. I am no prude, and love to look at sexy women too... but they have very little place here in Hidetown. Here is where we try to wade through all of the bull, and learn about the real American West. So sex-pots, you are free to go. Your history began in Europe, around WWI. **************************************************************************************** Here at Hidetown, among many other stereotypes of the American West, we try to delineate the subtle difference between saloon girls, bar maids, saloon entertainers (musicians), dance hall girls and prostitutes. In some cases, one woman might have served all of these purposes. In larger establishments in larger towns, women could specialize. But not all saloon girls could sing, or dance, or had great legs, or sold their bodies. Many of them had regular male companions and would not sell themselves to anyone. Saloon girls were hired to fraternize, flirt, and encourage beer and liquor sales. Some of them might be able to sing or play the piano... and so they might not have to schlep drinks... and could wear fancier outfits. I have learned to read these basic facts in antique images... and have collected some great old tintypes, which may illustrate these various roles played by women in the western saloon. One thing I have deducted is the massive influence German immigrants made on the saloon trade. It was German "hurdy-gurdy" girls who invaded the bars in the mid-century and brought European music and fashion to the Midwest. These ladies display a variety of styles, but mostly reflecting the various looks of those hurdy-gurdy girls, who became the standard for all dance hall girls afterwards.

So after a lifetime of Hollywood misinformation, prepare your mind to rewrite history as you know it. ***************************************************************************************** The first and main point is simple. Many western saloon girls looked and dressed like most other women, especially in the early years of the West. Take the average Victorian woman, perhaps add an apron, perhaps shorten her dress a little to allow freedom of movement, maybe let her put her hair up to get it out of the way, even have her wear a hair net, and maybe put on a little bling... and that's it. She might have a flower in her hair on a special occasion. She might wear a “low-cut” dress, exposing her collar bones, if she was sassy. She might even let her hair down to flow on her shoulders... if she was feeling really daring...

When I painted my murals at Washington on the Brazos, I learned that the Mexican flamenco dancer was the springboard for the Southwestern saloon girl legend. That concept spread from Texas and California throughout the West. So let's start there.

The pleated dress, about ankle high, the low-cut blouse, the hair held up and pinned by a tiara, and out of the way, a carnation behind her ear, this was the sex-symbol of the cantina. Many Victorian girls found this a bit too provocative, and dressed according to Mid-western standards... until sexier girls down the street took business away from their saloon... and so they responded with many variations of what they thought was acceptably sexy. We should note that Victorian girls had been donning low-cut dresses at their “coming out” parties, for decades... and Southern girls were already beautifully adorned with tear-drop ear-rings, gold chain necklaces, tiaras, and flowers in their hair as a matter of custom, by the 1860's. But with Hollywood's help, the standard saloon girl costume got more than a little bit out of hand... ***************************************************************************************** The real cultural barrier was the hem of the skirt. Even ankles were customarily hidden. Raising dress hems was a scandal. This is why it took forty years for dress hems to raise just six inches... and it should be noted that acceptable ladies fashion was usually leading the way to more liberal hemlines, not the saloon girls. Saloon girls had to wrangle with drunk cowboys and miners who needed no encouragement to manhandle them. If there was a place where a girl needed to “look” like a lady, it was a saloon, even if she was faking it. Unwelcome advances could get someone killed, because every pretty girl had a willing, and probably drunk avenger, who was probably packing some heat.

Lizzie Beaudrie, a real, honest to god saloon girl, who actually wrote one of the rare, first-hand, detailed accounts of a western saloon girl, left us with a sincere, accurate picture of her culture. She had a typical experience, and like most saloon girls was ushered into the culture by a sorry man who saw her looks and brains as an asset to be exploited. She was not a prostitute... but she came close to that before she met a man who saved her from that life.

Lizzie, illustrated above and at the beginning of this article, was tough and game for what came, and took a job as a saloon girl to support her man, a gambler in one of the toughest places in the West- Cripple Creek, Colorado. It was the 1890's when Lizzie came on the scene. The western saloon was well established, and its culture in full swing. The various roles of women had been pioneered and were well understood. There was some crossover, but women, just like men could be “read” by their attire. Lizzie gave a very thorough description of her saloon attire... which was shared by all of the saloon girls in her place of employment... where only the colors might change. She started by shooting down the saloon girl myth...

“I have seen so many moving pictures and read so many stories about dance hall girls that I am going to tell you how they dressed. The pictures and stories I have read and seen had them dressed in low-neck, no sleeve, short dresses trimmed with spangles and tight fitting with lots of jewelry on and flowers in their hair...” **************************************************************************************** Lizzie does not make it obvious, but she is describing a look she knows to be THE MYTH... She continues by describing the first saloon girl she ever saw... and one she was soon to be working with ... **************************************************************************************** “She wore a velvet suit, a short pleated skirt up to her knees, a white silk blouse, with a sailor collar trimmed with narrow lace, long sleeves with turned back cuffs, and a little Eaton jacket to match her skirt. The shirt and jacket were trimmed with gold braid. The suit was black. She wore black stockings and spring heel patent leather slippers. Her hair was cut short and curled all over her head.” **************************************************************************************** This was the uniform more or less. Very conservative compared to today's standards, in one of the most wild and woolly towns in the mine-fields of Colorado. Other girls might wear the same kind of outfit, only in different colors. And then there were a few with “Short lawn dresses with a drop yoke, and little ruffles on the bottom of the skirt.”

Then Lizzie takes direct issue with the Hollywood myth: “... Not a girl there wore a tight-fitting dress or very much jewelry, and the girls all looked clean.” ****************************************************************************************** If I am not mistaken, Lizzie wanted say that her chosen profession had, at least, a wholesome exterior. The girls who sold beer and liquor carried “a purse under their outside skirt,” where they put money and charge tickets. In the saloon where Lizzie worked, there was an adjacent dance hall, so she was serving drinks and dancing when requested. Dance Hall girls all across the west were often just economically disadvantaged girls who took advantage of an easy job where a girl was paid just to dance with a lonely cowboy. Dance Halls were a social traditon all across America... and there was no insurmountable stigma to overcome if a young woman of her class took such employment...

Saloons tried to be a one-stop-shop... where a miner or a cowboy could get drunk, meet a girl, even dance with her, and if she was also a prostitute, get ultimate satisfaction, all in one place. Where prostitutes were acknowledged, there were rooms available for them to serve their customers. In many towns, where the sex trade was outlawed, they had to take their clients elsewhere. These were sometimes nearby cabins, called “cribs.” This was the sad, sordid, unhealthy career some women found themselves in, which was usually a trail of heartbreak, drug addiction, and early death. These women, often poor and despondent, usually dressed in flowing smocks, with few undergarments... they would use the local dance halls to pick up customers. The numbers of "johns" they reportedly serviced in one night would astound anybody...

Lizzie soon learned who did or did not participate in this lucrative sideline. There was a bizarre network of sexual relationships... and this was all over the West, where the most powerful men usually had an interest in some way with the saloon/dance hall, and "their women" were often employed in them. Some were just dance hall girls, others bar maids or saloon girls, some were prostitutes. If a woman had a man, someone she “belonged” to, Lizzie soon learned they were extremely jealous and even deadly when that bond was threatened. Once she had to fight for her life against an enraged, knife-wielding saloon girl, who assumed her man-friend's attentions were intentionally solicited by Lizzie, who had not learned yet to avoid eye-contact with certain men. Many a gambler like Doc Holliday traveled with a particular woman, who often worked as a prostitute while the male gambled. And when he lost their money, the girls always had some to finance the next town... Holliday, the Earp brothers, many gamblers had this kind of understanding with their paramours... They provided protection, some status, and bail money if necessary, and probably casual pimping, until the town had been sufficiently milked, one way or the other. **************************************************************************************** Often the girls were abandoned and left to fend for themselves in a hostile environment where the mirth soon evolved into morphine addiction. Lizzie Beaudrie was no exception. But she got out of it before her life was totally ruined, and even had the pluck to write her story. It has never been made into a movie... her tale just did not fit the Hollywood narrative, where women were usually mindless sex-objects, looking for a good, rich man in a frontier hell-hole, and things hardly ever working out for them. Well, at least that last part was true for many a poor girl.

Here are some of my girls... saloon girls I believe... who would earnestly love to tell you their stories too... and probably make you cry...