The Frenzy of Frisco

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Entertaining Women: Actresses, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West

On August 24, 1863, San Francisco’s elite flocked to Maguire’s Opera House. Ladies in diamonds and furs rode up in handsome carriages; gentlemen in opera capes and silk hats strutted in stylishly. It was an opening night such as the city had never before seen. All one thousand seats in the theatre were filled with curious spectators anxious to see the celebrated melodramatic actress Adah Menken perform.

Adah was starring in the role that made her famous, that Prince Ivan in Mazeppa. It was rumored that she preferred to play the part in the nude. Newspapers in the East reported that audiences found the scantily clad thespian’s act “shocking, scandalous, horrifying and even delightful.”  The story line of the play was taken from a Byron poem in which a Tartar prince is condemned to ride forever in the desert snipped naked and lashed to a fiery, untamed steed. Adah insisted on playing the part as true to life as possible.

The audience waited with bated breath for Adah to walk out onto the stage, and when she did, a hush fell over the crowd. She was beautiful, possessing curly, dark hair and big, dark eyes. Adorned in a flesh-colored body nylon and tight-fitting underwear, she left the audience speechless.  During the play’s climatic scene, supporting characters strapped the star to the back of a black stallion. The horse raced up the narrow runway between cardboard mountain crags. The audience responded with thunderous applause. Adah Menken had captured the heart of another city in the West.

Adah became known as “The Frenzy of Frisco,” but wanted to be the frenzy of the entire West. In 1864 she took to the road again, traveling east to Virginia City, Nevada. She opened her Virginia City show on March 2, 1864. Tickets ranged in price from $1.00 for a single seat to $10.00  for a private box.

The theater was packed on opening night. Many people were forced to stand in the aisles, and hundreds were turned away. Local critics, including a young Samuel Clemens (later to be known as Mark Twain), were present to review her performance. Adah was ushered onto the stage by thunderous applause. She brought down the house, and appreciative miners threw silver ingots at her feet. Sam Clemens was thoroughly impressed. He would return numerous times to see Adah perform.

To learn more about Adah read

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