Classic City

25 Surviving Treasures from Postwar Chicago—and Beyond

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Der Ring des Telefonen

A "thrice-wounded battle-scarred veteran" (as he puts it), Danny Newman returned home from World War II eager to pick up the strands of his life. Born in Chicago's Douglas Park in 1919, Newman had worked as a theatrical press agent since he was 14. Now he resumed that career, while also running the Astor Theatre, a Loop movie house. There, in 1953, two young Chicagoans, Carol Fox and Lawrence Kelly, visited him regularly. With the conductor Nicola Rescigno, the pair planned to start a new opera company in town, and they wanted Newman to sign on to what would ultimately become Lyric Opera of Chicago. "They told me their dreams and ideas and hopes," says Newman. "I was over my head with activity, but I wanted to achieve something for Chicago." Priming his contacts around the globe, Newman ignited enthusiasm for the project, and the company's inaugural performance, in November 1954-Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, featuring Maria Callas, then little known in her native United States-scored an immediate triumph. "It was an electrifying success," says Newman. "In one moment, Callas's American career and Lyric's [reputation] went into orbit together." Newman remained active with the company until his retirement in 2003, though he still keeps an office at Lyric. There he works on his forthcoming memoir, Inside Insights of a Theatrical Guru-the successor to Subscribe Now!, his acclaimed 1977 book that let other not-for-profit arts groups in on the secrets of creating and maintaining large audiences.

Train of Thought

Sit on the long wooden benches inside Union Station's Great Hall, and it's possible to conjure up a time when some 300 trains and 100,000 passengers moved daily through this transportation hub. An original component of Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago (and completed, in 1925, by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, a successor to Burnham's firm), the neoclassical station suffered a major setback in the late 1960s when developers demolished its eastern façade along the South Branch of the Chicago River. But the Great Hall retains all its Beaux-Arts glories, from its mass of travertine and Tennessee marble to its immense Corinthian columns (some topped by enigmatic statuary, such as the hooded representation of an owl-bearing Night) to the majesty of its 112-foot-high vaulted roof. Amtrak and Metra riders still use the station, and lately the hall has become a popular venue for gala fundraisers. But the best time to visit remains the off-hours, when you can sit and imagine that the next train pulling in just might be the Broadway Limited, full of movie stars and sports heroes eager to alight in the Windy City after their 18-hour trip from New York. (210 S. Canal St.)

Mama's Little Baby Loves . . .

From the timeless packaging (the image of a freckle-faced boy sticking his head out of a cookie jar) to the recipe, there is nothing fancy about Maurice Lenell cookies-just lots of shortening and sugar to make them extra rich, sweet, and crumbly. A staple of Chicago childhoods since the company opened for business in 1937, the cookies are still made locally in five varieties: jelly stars, almonettes, coconut bars, chocolate chip, and pinwheels. Pick up a pack at local grocery stores, online (http://www.ecomallbiz.com/lenell), or in the store adjacent to the company factory (4474 N. Harlem Ave., Norridge; 800-323-1760). Collectors even go gaga over Lenell's holiday cookie tins-as if someone needed another incentive to eat his way through an entire two-pound container.

Young at Heart

Photos:Matthew Gilson
Founded during the Depression by Arthur Fritz, KiddieLand still evokes delighted squeals with its array of amusements from simpler times.

Compared with the heart-stopping thrill rides at today's mega–amusement parks, the Little Dipper-the 55-year-old wooden roller coaster at KiddieLand-seems as intimidating as a speed bump. So why is it so much fun? Must be the company you keep-hordes of bright-eyed kids, most of them under the age of ten, who climb aboard the ride with an infectious anticipation that's impossible to resist. Young children and their parents will also delight in the German carousel, the Ferris wheel, the Log Jammer (a water-dousing flume ride), the small train that circles the 17-acre park, and a score of other rides. Now, which way are the bumper cars? (8400 W. North Ave., Melrose Park; 708-343-8000)

Squeeze Play

The New Yorker ran a cartoon several years ago of an old man, drink and smoke in hand, sitting alone in a bar with his accordion nestled neatly beside him. The punch line? It was back in '52 that the hits stopped coming. So it seems, until you step into the Italo-American Accordion Company, the 85-year-old establishment run today by Anne Romagnoli and her two grandchildren. A squeezeboxer's paradise, the store offers repair and restoration service and stocks a colorful array of new and used instruments-everything from the high-end Crown to the venerable Polkamasters and the tried-and-true Cavalier. (5510 W. 95th St., Oak Lawn; 708-422-2992)

 

This article appears in the December 2005 issue of Chicago Magazine.

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