Friday, August 10, 2012

PANTAGES THEATRE : IF NOT FOR KLONDIKE KATE IT MIGHT HAVE NEVER BEEN : DOES SHE HAUNT THE THEATRE NOW?

Linking to the site! Here is the part about Klondike Kate.
"The Pantages Theater, built in 1918 by Alexander Pantages, was partially funded with financial assistance from his mistress, Kate Rockwell. Known as “Klondike Kate” and “Queen of the Yukon” she brought grace and style to the dance halls and saloons of the Pacific Northwest. She held miners spellbound with her flame dance and took their breath away when she appeared in a $1,500 French gown. Her lush ballads brought tears to their eyes and inspired a shower of gold nuggets.

Between performances she would dance with lonely miners for a dollar a dance and drink champagne with them for which she received $7.50 a bottle. “We were vendors of laughter and music to men who were starved for beauty and gaiety,” she said. “And we give good measure for all the gold the miners showered upon us.”

In the first four months she was in Dawson, Alaska, Kate received a hundred proposals of marriage, though the only man she wanted to marry was Alexander Pantages, who in the end, took her money and broke her heart. After Pantages married a woman of higher social standing, Kate sued him but never fully recovered her financial loss. She struggled for the rest of her life to make ends meet.

Rumor has it that a ghost haunts the Pantages. No one knows for sure whether it is Kate or Alexander, but one thing we do know is you'll never have a chance to solve this mystery without visiting the Historic Pantages Theater!"



(Click on the title to get to the link!)

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