When gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California in the mid-1800s, a sudden tide of adventurous miners headed for the West coast. Survival in California during these frontier days demanded industry, moral fiber, and depth of character. Great sums of money, the possibility of instant riches, saloons with poker, drink, and gunfights, and only a few attractive women made such an existence perfectly suited for melodrama. The myths spawned by tales of gold miners, saloon girls, and gunfights did not escape the attention of theater impresario David Belasco. Belasco had written Madame Butterfly in 1900, a play that inspired Puccini to compose his opera of the same name. Belasco was known for his innovative stage techniques, large crowd scenes, and his drive to bring more realism to the stage. Almost single-handedly he reinvigorated melodrama through these devices and with his production of The Girl of the Golden West in 1905, he firmly established the Western as a form of drama. Like Madame Butterfly, Puccini would also compose an opera based on The Girl of the Golden West, known as La Fanciulla del West in Italian.
Belasco’s play revolves around the exploits of two characters that show the industry, moral fiber, and depth of character needed to survive existence on the California gold fields. Even though the “girl” is a saloon keeper and the “stranger” is a desperado, they still exhibit these qualities. The play includes gunfights, poker games, drinking, false identities, a woman loved by different men, and a host of other elements ideal for melodrama. In fact, even though Minnie (the “girl”) and Dick Johnson (the “stranger”) love each other, there is friction between them. This friction is in the shape of Johnson’s occupation as a bandit and the fact that as Johnson he “steals” the girl’s first kiss. One exchange from the couple shows the melodramatic nature of their attraction to one anot...