Chicago bar, circa-1960

[ghost of miles]

I was consulting a couple of chapters from Gene Lees' Woody Herman bio LEADER OF THE BAND and came across this passage. Lees talks about seeing the band in Chicago in February 1960 and going out with Herman afterwards:

Afterwards [Woody] and I went up to the area Chicagoans call the Near North Side, the Rush Street neighborhood that at that time was rich in little clubs devoted to jazz and cabaret singers, the Purple Onion, the Cloister, Mister Kelly's, and more, all of them gone now... We found a low-lit little bar whose jukebox contained nothing but the records of Frank Sinatra. Sinatra's pictures covered its walls. I had no idea that he was a close friend of Woody's. Woody and I sat and drank and talked until very late.

Just out of curiosity, any longtime Chicago posters remember it?

[Larry Kart]

I was consulting a couple of chapters from Gene Lees' Woody Herman bio LEADER OF THE BAND and came across this passage. Lees talks about seeing the band in Chicago in February 1960 and going out with Herman afterwards:

Afterwards [Woody] and I went up to the area Chicagoans call the Near North Side, the Rush Street neighborhood that at that time was rich in little clubs devoted to jazz and cabaret singers, the Purple Onion, the Cloister, Mister Kelly's, and more, all of them gone now... We found a low-lit little bar whose jukebox contained nothing but the records of Frank Sinatra. Sinatra's pictures covered its walls. I had no idea that he was a close friend of Woody's. Woody and I sat and drank and talked until very late.

Just out of curiosity, any longtime Chicago posters remember it?

Sure. It was Jilly's, run by Jilly Rizzo. Reminds me, again, of that Shecky Greene joke: "Frank Sinatra, wonderful man. Saved my life one night. Three guys were beating the crap out of me in the parking lot of the Sands Hotel, and Frank said, 'That's enough.'"

Apparently based on an actual incident.

[Larry Kart]

Wrong info -- my bad. Jilly Rizzo, one of Sinatra's chief go-fers, had a restaurant that bore his name in the the L.A. area. It closed in 1975, replaced by Dean Martin's place, Dino's. Jilly's piano bar on Rush St. was launched I don't know when by a Sinatra admirer named Nick Caruso Jr.

[Larry Kart]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilly_Rizzo

[Larry Kart]

My favorite Rush St. spot, though it closed before I was old enough to get in, was the place where the marvelous singer-guitarist Frank D'Rone made a name for himself -- Dante's Inferno.

[ghost of miles]

Thanks, Mr. LK--had a feeling you'd be the go-to man on this one. I love that Shecky Greene joke as well. I should ask one of our former jazz DJs, Dick Bishop, about Jilly's piano bar; I'll bet he dropped by a few times in his youthful goin'-to-Chicago jazz days.

[ghost of miles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilly_Rizzo

Interesting--I just watched THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE again and certainly recall that bartender scene.

My wife watched most of the film with me and speculated that the karate-fight scene may have been the inspiration for the Clouseau/Kato battles in the Pink Panther films.

[marcello]

Wrong info -- my bad. Jilly Rizzo, one of Sinatra's chief go-fers, had a restaurant that bore his name in the the L.A. area. It closed in 1975, replaced by Dean Martin's place, Dino's. Jilly's piano bar on Rush St. was launched I don't know when by a Sinatra admirer named Nick Caruso Jr.

Jilly's was in NYC, in the Mid town area. Maybe he had one in LA too.

Monty Alexander used to play there a lot,but once I saw trumpeter Charles Sullivan . I shit you not, as they say.

Maybe Jilly Rizzo sold it by then.

I found this...

Edited January 29, 2008 by marcello

[Larry Kart]

Thanks, Marcello. You're right -- my bad twice over:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...756C0A964958260

[ghost of miles]

When did Mr. Kelly's close?