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Author: Chicago Kenny
They call me Chicago Kenny. I am a mischievous Chicago tour guide, street scholar and history buff.
FollowJim Colosimo – Chicago’s First Vice Lord
Big Jim Colosimo was assassinated, shot behind the ear on May 11, 1920. His life ended in the foyer of a night-club he owned; Colosimo’s Cafe at 2126 South Wabash Ave. At the time, Big Jim was considered to be the most powerful crime boss in Chicago. He was the first Don of an organization that would later be known as the Chicago Outfit.
Excerpts from an editorial, Chicago Tribune, May 13, 1920: “Jim Colosimo ruled in his world. Out of his rule came suddenly death to him. Raised to the throne of the half-world, he was a maker and breaker of political aspirations. His methods were ruthless, considering the law only so far as to avoid its penalties. The penalty which came to him was not of the law but of the kingdom which he had built up.”
While his murder remains unsolved, the authorities and subsequent historians believe the hit was the brainchild of Big Jim’s right-hand man, Johnny Torrio. The Boss assassinated by his trusted consigliere and enforcer who then inherited the “Kingdom” that Big Jim had built up. Johnny “The Fox” Torrio was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral.
Colosimo’s ill-gotten gains allowed him the means to be interned in a casket and mausoleum that was worth as much as the average workingman’s home. A one-mile long motorcade made the trip to Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery.
In the procession were Colosimo’s business associates; the gangsters, gamblers, madams and pimps, the leading citizens of the underworld. At the front marched 1,000 members of the First Ward Democratic Organization and 53 honorary pallbearers that included three Judges, eight aldermen, an assistant state’s attorney, a congressman, a state representative and leading artists of the Chicago Opera Company
Excerpts from Chicago Tribune: “Such a tribute to men set up to make and enforce our laws, to a man who in much of his life was a law unto himself, is more than a tribute to friendship. It is a tribute to power, regardless of the source or justice of that power.”
The service ended with a quartet singing ”Nearer My God to Thee.”
For those wanting more information I highly recommend the book, The First Vice-Lord, Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee, by Arthur J. Bilek.
They call me Chicago Kenny and I conduct private historical tours for groups of friends, families, social clubs and corporate outings. We pick you up at your residence or business and bring Chicago to you.
We also schedule road trips to Chicago to help people living in the suburbs enjoy what the city has to offer. Like our Face Book page to get invited to our next Chicago themed event.
Chicago Irish Folklore – Gold Tooth Mary, Whiskey Row and the Lone Star Saloon
Back in 1896, The Lone Star Saloon opened its doors for business on State Street, just south of Harrison, in one of the roughest places in Chicago, a neighborhood once known as Whiskey Row. The Lone Star Saloon has been closed for over one hundred years, its name forgotten. The legacy of the owner, however, a notorious Chicago Irishman may live on forever; thanks to his barmaid, the gal with one tooth named Gold Tooth Mary……….
Whether she happened to lose her pearly whites breaking up bar fights, starting bar fights, or the usual way by opening up bottles, no one ever found out the answer; you see there are some questions you never ask a lady, especially one from Whiskey Row. I thought to show her picture, to prove she once existed, but trust me on this and be thankful I didn’t!
The owner insisted that Mary sell shots of the house special advertised on signs hanging behind the bar. That golden smile and a wink was all it would take to get a man to shout out for a double. The next day the poor sick fellow would wake up in an alley, robbed of all his valuables.
Now if someone named Gold Tooth Mary handed you a glass and told you it was a Mickey Finn would you drink one? Back in the day on Whiskey Row the men did. “Try a Mickey Finn Special,” the signs on the wall read, and the mastermind behind the scheme was the owner of The Lone Star Saloon, Chicago Irishman: Mr. Mickey Finn.
Mickey was prone to bragging that he had never been arrested because he was connected the Chicago way with his aldermen. However, when Mary became convinced that Mickey had his eye on her gold, she honestly and toothfully testified against him. The press was outraged and city officials responded, shutting down the Lone Star in 1903.
No one knows if Gold Tooth Mary landed another job on Whiskey Row, or perhaps ran off and married a dentist; the history books don’t say. But to this day, people are still finding ways to slip the unsuspecting a mickey, but only Chicago Irishman Mickey Finn, could get his victims to ask for one by name.
They call me Chicago Kenny and I specialize in helping people learn more about the history of Chicago. We offer private tours for groups of friends, co-workers and family members.
DID DICK VAN DYKE “OVERSLEEP” HIS WAY TO THE TOP?
I love Dick Van Dyke and he certainly doesn’t deserve this, but I am starting a ridiculous rumor that just might make even him laugh.
Many famous entertainers are willing to confess that their success hinged on more than talent. Maybe for Dick Van Dyke, his big break started in bed at a flea-bag hotel in Chicago. For goodness sake check out how the man dresses. He looks like the type who would shamelessly oversleep his way to the top.
Recently I had the pleasure of listening to this comedy legend reminisce about his career on WGN Radio’s Dave Plier Show. Turns out back in the 1940’s, Dick was employed as a DJ in Danville Illinois and found himself with a golden opportunity to audition for a job at Chicago’s WGN. The main reason they didn’t hire him? He overslept and failed to show up for the interview.
He arrived in Chicago late one night by train needing to be up bright and early the following morning. Travelling on a young and broke budget, he checked into a fleabag hotel and left his wake-up call in the hands of the desk clerk. Call it fate or a simple matter of the hotel clerk sleeping on the job, Dick Van Dyke’s wake-up call never arrived.
Forced to travel on a different path he would eventually find himself on Broadway auditioning for a small time part. While singing a few bars and
done simply to settle his nerves, his feet began performing an unscheduled and unrequested soft-shoe. Those few nervous dance steps caught the eye of the director who rejected him for the bit part and instead offered him the lead role in Bye Bye Birdie. Dick tried unsuccessfully to talk him out of it because he sincerely didn’t know how to dance!
While accepting a Tony Award for his performance it probably never occurred to Dick that he should thank his old buddy the desk clerk in Chicago. If he had worked for WGN would he have ever been discovered on Broadway? I have no doubt he would have been a hit with the listeners. Household names like Wally Phillips and Roy Leonard felt content to spend decades broadcasting, and Orion Samuelson recently celebrated his 55th year with the station.
The Dick Van Dyke Show has now aired on television for 55 years. Along the way, he has accumulated five Emmys, one Tony, a Grammy and a Hollywood Star on the Walk of Fame. Not bad for a guy who got lucky oversleeping in a hotel in Chicago and landed on top. I’m willing to bet the man can’t even spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Chicago Kenny
A Kennedy’s Advice to Kup on Coping with the Murder of His Daughter
Chicago legend Irv Kupcinet famed columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times passed away in 2003. Both Kup and his wife Essie outlived their only daughter by approximately forty years.
On November 28, 1963, Karyn (Cookie) Kupcinet’s body was found in her West Hollywood home. The coroner ruled her death as a homicide, and the mystery behind it has never been solved. Kup and his wife buried their daughter at the age of 22.
An ancient proverb tells us that there is grief enough when a child buries a parent, but that grief is monumental when a parent buries a child. There is no surcease from the anguish. Irv Kupcinet quoted that proverb in the most difficult column he ever had to write, after returning back to work and the daily routine of his life.
In his autobiography Kup describes the dark thoughts and unbearable pain that a life of fame could not erase. His wife needed pills to start her day, and more pills to fall asleep. Kup relates walking over the bridge (that now bears his name) over the Chicago River harboring thoughts of suicide.
Then one day a letter arrived from Rose Kennedy the mother of President John F. Kennedy, and she took the time to write the following just two months and four days after the assassination of her son.
I know how very difficult it is for us parents to understand and accept these tragedies, for it is unnatural for youth to precede age on the final journey to our Eternal Home. But if it is God’s will to send us this heavy cross, we must trust his goodness and wisdom in respect to our lives and most important, we must carry on and work for the living.
We can work indefatigably for a charity and see the faces of orphans or cripples or the aged become bright with new hope because of our efforts.
God created that strong bond of love between children and parents. He did not intend to see it severed. He gave us hope that we could by prayer communicate with our beloved ones even after they have left us.
So pray to her when you cannot sleep, and pray when your heart is heavy and you can find no solace.
Rose Kennedy, Mother of President John F. Kennedy, January 26”, 1964
Similar words of consolation had been extended to the grieving parents from other voices. Most of us can recall tragic events when our words of advice or sympathy to a friend have sounded and felt inadequate. Two months and four days after the assassination of her son whose words could carry more weight, understanding, and compassion than Rose Kennedy? After all, before JFK was our nation’s Commander in Chief she was his.
She also understood that her advice despite her stature lacked the power to mend broken hearts. “It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don’t agree. The wounds remain. Time – the mind, protecting its sanity – covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessons, but it is never gone.”
‘I tell myself that God gave my children many gifts – spirit, beauty, intelligence; the capacity to make friends and inspire respect. There was only one gift he held back – length of life.”
Oh that one gift, the length of life is only a part of the equation; what matters is what we do with the precious days, hours and minutes allotted to us. We want our sons and daughters to live their dreams and nurture and apply their talents and God-given gifts and to lead a productive and full-filling life. Yes, we want to be proud of our children, but we also want them to be proud of us. Our children are our legacy, but when a parent suffers their loss, they can choose to inherit the responsibility of being theirs.
For the next four decades, Kup and his wife Essee worked for the living in the memory of their daughter Cookie. In life, she was an up and coming actress who in a few short years appeared on 41 television shows and had 14 stage plays to her credit.
Her life’s focus, hopes, and dreams remained part of theirs. Essee worked tirelessly on behalf of young people passionate about the arts. She donated time and resources to the Chicago Academy for the Arts and The Joe Jefferson Awards. Together they established the Karyn Kupcinet Gallery at her former alma mater, the Francis W. Parker School. For the benefit of the mentally retarded they created the Karyn Kupcinet Center at Little City in Palatine, Illinois; and at the famous Weizmann Institute in Israel, they founded the Karyn Kupcinet International School of Science.
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?”……”I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, he wants us to be happy, not sad. Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t we?” – Rose Kennedy
The Allstate Automobile – Sold by Sears!
I can’t seem to recall ever noticing an Allstate Automobile on the roads can you? Of course, back in the day, all a fellow had to do was pick out a color and order one from his (or the wife’s) Sears Catalogue. And unlike purchasing a Sears home that required constructing, (piece of cake just follow the instructions) the car’s body came attached to the tires.
Yes,
there was a time when Sears did have everything, and in 1952, they began offering a fastback two-door sedan built by Kaiser-Frazer. Their marketing slogan? Your one brand new car for 52! Allstate! The price just might make you miss the good old days, $1,486 for the Model 111 Standard Version and $1,539 for the Model 113 Deluxe. For those with the means to splurge, they could drop an extra $154 on Allstate’s top-of-the-line the 115.
This new venture was one of those ideas that initially looked great on paper. A win-win proposition for an automobile maker, Kaiser-Frazier, trying to rebound from sluggish sales, and Sears, the undisputed heavyweight king of the retail industry. Sears stood to benefit from cars equipped with Allstate-brand tires, tubes, spark plugs, and batteries. Of course, any new car owner would be in good hands if he insured his Allstate with Allstate.
So what happened? Why was the car only on the market for two years? Sears found themselves at a disadvantage as they were not equipped to offer a trade-in allowance. Another problem was the reluctance of some Kaiser-Frazier dealers to service a Sear’s Auto that offered more bells and whistles at a lower price than the models displayed on their showroom floor.
The idea that looks good on paper ceases to be when the ink turns red; only 2,363 vehicles sold, and Sears abandoned selling cars after 1953. Glen Arlt is a historian affiliated with the experts at Hagerty Insurance specializing in classic cars, and he would be surprised if more than just a handful survived today.
If you are feeling nostalgic, or just have a feeling that plaid seats are about to make a comeback, Glen Arlt at Hagerty suspects that someone
obtaining one may be as rare as seeing one. His check on the Allstate’s possible worth in the Hagerty Valuation Tool suggests a high value for a 4-cylinder model at $22,000 and for a 6-cylinder at about $28,000. Glen points out that Hagerty bases their valuations on sales of competing and comparable models from the era. There currently is no data available on a top dollar paid for an Allstate in a private transaction.
I did a little snooping on Craigslist and found one on the block for twenty-three thousand dollars. You might try haggling with the seller, but my guess is he would not be willing to trade his classic car for today’s equivalent value 1,508 shares of Sears Holdings. Times have changed.
Chicago Kenny
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When the Capones paid the IRS with pennies…..
Now most of us just write a check when we pay our “fair” share, but the Capones once paid off Uncle Sam with millions of pennies. When the government hit up Al for fines and court costs related to his tax evasion conviction, his brother Ralph “Bottles” Capone picked up the tab. He arrived at the courthouse with two cargo vans loaded with bags full of pennies.
The Feds had no choice but to accept the legal tender and count 4,700,000 pennies, one Abe Lincoln at a time. I have a feeling that the government’s response would not be suitable for printing, but the Capones probably laughed all the way “from” the bank. I found this story in a book I highly recommend, Uncle Al Capone written by his grand-niece, Deirdre Marie Capone. You can read the entire book review on our website.
They call me Chicago Kenny and I conduct historical tours of Chicago. Like our Facebook page in the link below and stay informed about our upcoming tours, road trips and events!
A vision for Chicago’s Lakefront by Daniel Burnham
The lakefront by right belongs to the people. It affords their one great unobstructed view, stretching away to the horizon, where water and clouds seem to meet. No mountains or high hills enable us to look over broad expanses of the earth’s surface; and perforce we must come even to the margin of the lake for such a survey of nature.
These views calm thoughts and feelings, and afford escape from the petty things of life. Mere breadth of view, however is not all. The lake is living water, ever in motion, and ever changing in color and in the form of its waves.
Across its surface Read more
The night a Chicago gangster earned his infamous nickname!
Like many bar-room fights this one started over a girl. Blood was spilled because someone dared to insult an Italian’s sister. To fight for the honor of your family is a noble, time honored tradition. Today most people courageously rely on lawyers to do their dueling for them. The fight lasted only a few minutes, but the story is in the history books forever. It was the night an infamous nickname was carved with a knife.
The year is 1917. The place — a nightclub on Coney Island in New York. An Italian named Frank Gallucio is out on the town with his all grown up baby sister. To everyone else baby sister is a very attractive young lady and one of the men working at the bar is smitten by her looks. The young man is constantly walking past their table, staring at her with seemingly X-ray vision eyes and eventually he does the unthinkable, and makes a rude and crude Read more