By Edward M. Bury, APR, MA (aka The PRDude)
A resolution came to me earlier this year: Each week try to do something you haven’t done before, or visit someplace you have visited ever or in a long time.
The post that follows provides an account of achieving both. I haven’t visited the Newberry Library in years, make that decades, even though this world-renowned research library is a short drive or public transit trip from home. And, although I’ve been through its doors, I don’t recall really enjoying an exhibit or using the library’s resources. So I made a commitment to visit the building on West Walton Street on the Near North Side.
But my primary reason last week for heading to the grand facility across from Washington Square Park (known colloquially as Bughouse Square) was to revel in the temporary tribute to a true icon of Chicago journalism.
The Mike Royko Exhibit at the Newberry provided visitors with a visual perspective of a print journalist who for decades chronicled all that defined Chicago — its people and politics, its graft and greatness, its neighborhoods and place in the national conversation, and lots more. While I gained a lot from the one-aisle display, I would have enjoyed a stream of audio/visual recordings of Royko offering thoughts on an election night or even one of the television commercials promoting the columnist and his work. One Royko TV spot that comes to mind — probably from the early 1970s and in black and white as I recall — had the tag line, “The guys from the old neighborhood were right. Once a bum, always a bum.”
For the record, I regularly read his columns in the long-gone Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, and Royko and I actually met one time — more on that to follow. But after visiting the Newberry exhibit, I was inspired to share perspectives on these commonalities.
- Born in Chicago, Love for Chicago. Both of us were born in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, and both of us lived most of our lives in the city. We grew to recognize and accept the city’s flaws and its fascination.
- The News Business. Well, it goes without saying that we both were part of the news industry, with Royko staying a newsman his entire career. And, as noted in the graphic below, we both had careers at the legendary wire service City News Bureau of Chicago. We probably used the same typewriter; manual of course.
- Chicago Style Softball. I know he played played 16-inch Chicago softball, and I’m sure he wrote columns on the subject. Me, I played as a kid on sandlot fields and through college; I have two broken fingers on my left hand as proof.
- Eastern European Ancestry. His biography states that Royko was of Polish and Ukrainian heritage. Me? My ancestors immigrated here from Poland. His parents owned a tavern in the old neighborhood, and the family lived upstairs, making Royko a “flat-above-a-tavern” kid. My maternal grandfather owned a tavern on Carpenter Street, and my mother and her siblings were raised in, you guessed it, the flat above the tavern.
- Enjoying a Few at the Bar. Here’s my “Royko in Person” story. Way back around 1978, I was having one at the Billy Goat on a summer evening, and who comes down the stairs? Yes, Royko. He sat one stool away to my right. We nodded. He ordered a beer (and probably a shot), and we got to talking about the Cubs, who were on the little TV in the corner above the bar. We both agreed they had lousy pitching, especially in relief. He finished his drink, paid, and left. Yes, that’s it. Sorry if you expected an account of a deep conversation over Chicago politics.
Now, enjoy a few images from my visit to the Royko exhibit. It runs through September 28; but his perspectives on Chicago and life are eternal.
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