Green Mill
Green Mill is the name of a bar in the uptown of Chicago that is considered one of the oldest jazz clubs in the USA and the longest running nightclub in Chicago.
Early years
The bar opened in 1907 in building 4802 North Broadway, initially under the name Pop Morse's Gardens . Only the new owner Tom Chamales introduced the name Green Mill (also Green Mills Gardens ) in 1910 , based on the Paris Moulin Rouge , and installed a large green windmill as a landmark on the roof of the club. The Uptown of Chicago was an up-and-coming artists' quarter at the time, and actors like Charlie Chaplin came from the nearby Essany Studios , which were also founded in 1907, to the Green Mill to take breaks from filming. The Green Mill was one of the first clubs where jazz pioneer Bert Kelly performed with his band after moving to Chicago from San Francisco in 1914 . Under the management of Henry van Horne, to whom the Chamales rented the bar, the Green Mill became one of the most famous clubs in Chicago after the First World War , where jazz greats like Helen Morgan began their careers. In addition, the Green Mill became famous for other events, especially cabaret shows. In 1922 the promoters Morris Greenwald and Jimmy O'Neill staged the first performances of the Afro-American cabaret Plantation Days (with the orchestra of Charles Elgar ), which later went on tour successfully in the USA and England.
Chicago outfit
The Green Mill also became known as a meeting place for members of the Chicago Outfit during the time of alcohol prohibition in the USA. Al Capone was the unofficial owner of the Green Mill, and a separate room opposite the entrance was reserved for him. A system of tunnels and trap doors in the block ensured that the bar could be supplied with alcoholic beverages unnoticed. The management took over from the mid-1920s Capone's confidante Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn , who held 25% shares in the club. Signed pictures of Capone and McGurn still hang on the walls of the Green Mill today. Particularly notorious were events in 1927 when comedian and singer Joe E. Lewis had his throat cut after he refused to sign his contract with Green Mill and planned appearances in the bars of other mobsters . Lewis survived the assassination attempt in which he lost parts of his tongue and later appeared again at the Green Mill. His story was later filmed under the title The Joker is Wild . The main role is played by Frank Sinatra , who himself was a frequent guest at the Green Mill in the 1950s.
Many of the greatest jazz musicians of the interwar years, such as Anita O'Day , Billie Holiday , Benny Goodman or Tommy Dorsey , performed regularly in the Green Mill until the uptown of Chicago experienced a decline in the course of the Second World War and the subsequent Depression the Green Mill was also recorded. The image of the area was increasingly shaped by the drug and red light district and the Green Mill temporarily lost its importance, although live music was still offered daily.
The 1980s until today
The Green Mill was taken over in 1980 by Dave Jemilo, who had already organized successful jazz sessions in other clubs in Chicago. In 1986 the first known poetry slam was organized by Marc Kelly Smith in the Green Mill , and this new way of dealing with literature spread from here around the world. Since the first event on July 20, 1986, the "Uptown Poetry Slam" has been held weekly in the Green Mill.
Since the 1980s, the Green Mill has once again become a center of Chicago's jazz and cultural scene, with bands such as the Mighty Blue Kings and regular appearances by the Jimmy Sutton Four Charms Frank Catalano , or the Alan Gresik Swing Shift Orchestra . Today, the Mill is once again one of the pioneering jazz clubs in Chicago and was voted one of the 100 best bars in the USA by Food & Wine Magazine in 2009.
The Green Mill in Literature and Film
The Green Mill is the setting for the action in numerous novels about the Chicago outfit , for example in John Swift's The Chicago Connection . The Green Mill has also been used as the setting for numerous crime films, for example in The Untouchables and the Crime Story series . The club can also be seen in the film High Fidelity .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chicago sketches: urban tales, stories, and legends from Chicago history . June Skinner Sawyers, Loyola University Press, 1995 ( ISBN 0829408207 ), p. 246
- ↑ That toddlin 'town: Chicago's white dance bands and orchestras, 1900-1950 . Charles A. Sengstock, University of Illinois Press, 2004 ( ISBN 0252029542 )
- ↑ Chicago jazz: a cultural history, 1904–1930 . William Howland Kenney, Oxford University Press US, 1994 ( ISBN 0195092600 ), p. 43
- ↑ Capone: the man and the era . Laurence Bergreen, Simon & Schuster, 1994 ( ISBN 0671744569 )
- ↑ The Green Mill Lounge: Former Chicago Speakeasy Takes You Back in Time ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Associated Content, February 1, 2008
- ^ The true and complete story of 'machine gun' Jack McGurn
- ↑ Chicago Bar Project via Green Mill
- ↑ The Joker Is Wild in the IMDb
- ^ Sounds of poetry: contemporary American performance poets . Martina Pfeiler, Gunter Narr Verlag, 2003 ( ISBN 3823346644 ), p. 100.
- ^ Destination Chicago jazz . John Steiner, Arcadia, 2003 ( ISBN 0738523054 ), p. 128
- ↑ Chicago Tribune Blog . May 4, 2009
