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. 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, 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. Additionally there is no evidence supporting the existence of Dan Dority and Johnny Burns (both portrayed in Deadwood, whose real life counterparts were based on a combination of multiple Gem Theater subordinates). Swearengen was reputed to be much more brutal to the prostitutes than seen in the series. Customers frequently brutalized the