Back when nightclubs were smoke-filled rooms, where people dressed up for a night on the town, and before the 1980s explosion of comedy rooms like Zanies (and various other Ha-Ha Huts, Laugh Lodges, and Chuckle Chambers featuring generic brick walls and a lone mike onstage), there was Mister Kelly’s.
Now the history of the club lives on, just around the corner from its old Rush Street location (currently occupied by Gibsons Steakhouse). The Newberry Library recently acquired the club’s archives—which include everything from ephemera like Bruce’s bar tab to posters, photographs, and original recordings—from David Marienthal, George’s son. And a new documentary, Live at Mister Kelly’s, produced by Marienthal with director-screenwriter Ted Bogosian, is set to air on WTTW on May 27.
“I have to tell you that as someone who prides themselves on being a fan and an admirer of old comedy and pop culture, and, you know, certainly Chicago history, I didn’t really know about the club until right before I joined the project,” says Carston. He figured that was a sign that it was important to start saving the history. But where to start?
Gorn adds, “It was remarkably intimate. You would see these really budding stars in a very, very close space. It was really remarkable that way.” (The club only had about 200 seats.)
Carston says, “You could point to the rise of the Internet age. People live in kind of their own curated bubbles now, instead of letting someone curate for you. And I think why the Marienthal brothers were so important and such tastemakers is they really chose. They helped people be seen, whether it’s a comedian or musician or a woman or a person of color. You just go down the list and they really helped make a major and important stage for a lot of talented people who really needed that stage or who really thrived because they were on that stage.”
