Includes index

Introduction -- Memories of Chicago entertainment -- Jazz clubs -- North side entertainment venues -- Downtown and near north clubs -- Folk clubs -- Amusement parks -- Hotels -- Blues clubs -- Ballrooms -- Rock and roll clubs -- Restaurants -- Movie theaters -- Legitimate theaters -- Comedy clubs -- Classical and opera music -- Chicago sports -- Interviewee index -- Subject index

"Throughout the 20th Century, Chicago offered its residents a wide variety of entertainment venues, ranging from jazz, blues and comedy clubs to nightclubs and hotels and restaurants, where music was broadcast across the country, to legitimate theaters, movie palaces, classical and opera music, rock and roll clubs and sports that included championship baseball, football, basketball, hockey and bowling. This book presents numerous stories about such wide ranging opportunities for entertainment from the perspectives of national and international performers as well as average Chicagoans who experienced such entertainment, including more than 80 interviews ranging from comedians Shelley Berman, Shecky Greene, Tom Dreesen, Tim Reid and Mort Sahl, jazz musicians Ramsey Lewis and Johnny Frigo, actors Gary Sinise, Joe Mantegna, Bill Peterson and Tim Kazurinsky, singer/musicians Bonnie Koloc, Judy Roberts, Corky Siegel and Ronnie Rice, as well as journalists Hugh Hefner, Ira Berkow and Richard Christiansen. The jazz clubs included Club DeLisa, the Blue Note, the Black Orchid and the Green Mill. There were national musical radio broadcasts from the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Aragon Ballroom and Blackhawk Restaurant. The Chicago Theater was the flagship for the citywide fleet of first-run major motion pictures and elaborate stage shows. Second City was the home for improvisational comedy that supplied talent to the nation, including Saturday Night Live. Who in the world didn't know about the original Playboy Club?"--Amazon.com