# Chicago in pop-culture BEFORE Blues Brothers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489 "2010-06-17T00:14:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/1 "2010-06-17T00:14:26Z")
If you ask most people what kind of pop-culture references they think of when they think of Chicago, I think some of the more common replies you might hear would be Oprah, Ferris Bueller, Smashing Pumpkins, Kanye West, and of course, The Blues Brothers, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of its release date on June 20th. Turning 35 near the same date as the BB movie, I basically grew up with that film being my first exposure to Chicago in pop-culture. An article in the Chicago Tribune about the Blues Brothers film’s milestone got me thinking… What was Chicago known for in pop-culture BEFORE that movie came out. Obviously, there were Chicago based television shows, movies, and musicians before that movie - but what and who were they? What did people think of when you mentioned Chicago before June 20th, 1980? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/2 "2010-06-17T00:18:21Z")
Al Capone. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/3 "2010-06-17T00:27:41Z")
[The Night Chicago Died](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Chicago_Died) [Chicago (musical)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_%28musical%29) But mostly, the Bears, Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/4 "2010-06-17T00:31:20Z")
An episode of Happy Days had Richie, Potsie, and Ralph travelling to Chicago with their school choir. Fonzie asks them to being back a sample of grease from the garage where the St. Valentine’s Day massacre took place. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/5 "2010-06-17T00:32:33Z")
It was known as a toddling town. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/6 "2010-06-17T00:39:18Z")
Corruption. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/7 "2010-06-17T00:43:27Z")
Hog butcher for the world… City of the big shoulders? Does Sandburg poetry fit under the pop culture umbrella anywhere but the house I grew up in? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/8 "2010-06-17T02:29:46Z")
Windy City. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/9 "2010-06-17T02:34:22Z")
BLUES, man, blues! There’s a _reason_ they set the movie there. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/10 "2010-06-17T02:37:58Z")
Good Times… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/11 "2010-06-17T02:50:07Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Al Capone. This is what I would have guessed, although my living memories don’t go quite that far back, so I can’t say for sure. I can say that internationally, Al Capone has, in my experience, been the first thing to come to people’s minds when I mentioned I was from Chicago. That is, until Michael Jordan supplanted him in the mid-90s as the iconic figure most associated with Chicago (thankfully.) ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/12 "2010-06-17T03:44:45Z")
Chess Records, as well as their huge roster of talent. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/13 "2010-06-17T05:42:14Z")
I don’t know if it counts as pop culture, and I don’t know how well know it was, but there is a great quote about Chicago in _Citizen Kane_: “I warn you Jedediah, you’re not going to like it in Chicago. The wind comes howling in off the lake and gosh only knows if they ever heard of Lobster Newburg.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/14 "2010-06-17T08:53:09Z")
The band formerly known as the Chicago Transit Authority. And Styx. Also, Siskel and Ebert. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/15 "2010-06-17T09:16:02Z")
There is a 1937 film “IN OLD CHICAGO” with Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, and Alice Faye. It is the story of the O’leary family and there rivalry between two brothers. Oh and there’s a fire. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/16 "2010-06-17T11:00:10Z")
Deep dish pizza. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/17 "2010-06-17T11:24:41Z")
Plenty of stuff. Movies like The Blues Brothers and Ferris Buehler celebrated things that were already well known about Chicago. As a side note, I would also wager that WGN’s presence as a basic cable channel in most packages added to Chicago’s image in pop culture. Harry Carey didn’t become a nationally beloved broadcaster until he began broadcasting for the Cubs, whose games were broadcast nationally on the Superstation. Despite the fact that he called St. Louis Cardinals games for years starting in the late 1940s until the late 60s. Heck, he was the voice of the White Sox just before he moved over to the North Side. But those games weren’t nationally broadcast on WGN. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/18 "2010-06-17T15:12:43Z")
Wasn’t the Bob Newhart Show set in Chicago? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/19 "2010-06-17T15:41:08Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Wasn’t the Bob Newhart Show set in Chicago? Sure was. And there’s a nice statue of Bob and his couch just in front of Navy Pier. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489/20 "2010-06-17T15:44:19Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Sure was. And there’s a nice statue of Bob and his couch just in front of Navy Pier. Is it better quality than the Mary Tyler Moore statue on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, or the Fonzie statue in Milwaukee? Because TVLand appears to have immense quality control issues with those things. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-in-pop-culture-before-blues-brothers/543489.md?page=2)