Joe Massara (Rico's Best Friend) – Couple of Questions

I think this movie was one of the greatest early gangster films of all time. All these Warner Bros. early gangster flicks were perfect. Just as Martin Scorsese said as he accepted his Best Director Oscar a month ago.

But the Joe Massara (played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) character I have a couple of questions about:

One: Why did Massara have a small pistol in his pocket when he was dancing? I mean, he was dancing on stage, sort of auditioning. What in the world would he need a pistol for when he’s dancing on the stage, especially since no one knows he is part of the underworld then (except Rico)? That seems so odd; no professional dancer would have a pistol in his breast pocket. I think this must have been put in here like that so Olga, his perspective lady friend, would find out about his past, without him necessarily lying about his past. So, he can still be kind of a good guy.

Two: Still concerning the dancing adution on stage at the club; the man offers Joe $100 per week. And Joe accepts and smiles. But, isn’t $100/week a very big salary back in 1931 (and I’ve heard the movie might take place in the nineteen-teens, though I’m not sure about that)? Think about that, that’s $5,200 each year. Rico said his apartment cost about $20,000 – an apartment that would go for a million or more today. So, Joe would have to be making about six figures ($100,000 or greater) in American dollars today. Right? About there. And if it is in 1931 this is when the Great Depression is at its most rampant; and right away Joe gets this amazingly high paying job? I could be wrong about how high it is, but it’s pretty high I would imagine. If beds at a flophouse cost 15 cents, then $100 a week is very good. And I know he was employed by a gangster, Joe was. The guy who owned the club was a gangster. But it’d seem to me that Joe would have to have more of a reaction, especially with it being the Great Depression.