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“Live at Mister Kelly’s" will air soon on WTTW-Ch. 11 and take some Chicagoans back to a forgotten Rush Street era, and introduce others to the empire of Chicago nightspots that launched many a famous career. Barbra Streisand included.
Don Bronstein I never stepped foot in Mister Kelly’s. But many a day, my parents, aunts and uncle took me there as they related dewy-eyed tales. Dick Gregory cracked the place up, they said. Richard Pryor brought the house down. Ella Fitzgerald’s scats hit the ceiling. Sassy Sarah Vaughan’s succulent notes made you swoon. Most if all, it was a place “we” could go. It was always happening at Mr. Kelly’s on North Rush Street, and at the London House, at North Michigan and East Wacker Drive. Columnists In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultur...
The Mister Kelly's archive has Lenny Bruce's bar tab, posters, dinner plates and photos of Barbra Streisand from before she was Barbra. It's soon to all be searchable at the Newberry. From one Chicago institution to another.