New Years Eve 1965

Here’s a recent discovery from the Danny Miller archives, a fabulous moment in time captured 40 years ago tonight at a raucous New Years Eve celebration at the Covenant Club in downtown Chicago. My parents are the ones standing up, my mother with her impossible 1960s skyscraper hairdo, my father already decked out in celebratory regalia, my grandparents on the left, obviously feeling no pain, and my dad’s brother and his wife on the right, my Uncle Willie and Aunt Fannie. Amazing to me how formal everything was back then. Did the men own those tuxes? I’m guessing yes although I don’t remember seeing my father’s at home. One thing that’s surprising is that the ever-present cigarettes are not visible in the photograph. My mother, grandmother, and Aunt Fannie were heavy smokers who should have listened to their nagging husbands. All three died of smoking-related cancer, first Aunt Fannie, while still in her 40s, then my grandmother in 1990, and finally my mom in 1999 at the age of 65. Casualties of an era that clearly knew how to have fun but wasn’t nearly as concerned with health as we are today.

Are there any places in your past that you’d give anything to revisit just one more time? The Covenant Club is that place for me. This was a Jewish social club that was founded in 1917 for well-to-do businessmen at a time when Jews were not welcome at the mainstream clubs. It was a refuge for the men during their busy workdays. They’d have lunch at the club and enjoy a “shvitz” in the steam room where endless deals were made among the city’s Jewish elite. The wives would hit the club regularly to attend meetings for their charitable organizations and plan fundraisers and parties. My grandparents were married at the Covenant Club in 1932. During its heydey, the Covenant Club was THE place to be among local and visiting Jews. It attracted guests ranging from Sophie Tucker to President Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt. On the weekly Opera Nights, they would invite performers from the nearby Lyric Opera for free dinners and then cajole them into singing something. One night Maria Callas didn’t feel like singing for her supper despite entreaties from the regulars. Hadassah Briskin, the wife of the club’s president, noticed that Callas’s zipper had split. She asked for some needle and thread and proceeded to sew Callas up right there at her table. Seeing this, world-famous tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano ripped some of the buttons off his own vest and shouted, “OK, now sew me!” This loosened Callas up and she sang for the excited crowd after all.

During World War II, the members of the Covenant Club raised money for an ambulance and sponsored a Red Cross unit. They worked hard towards the founding of the State of Israel and weren’t afraid to touch controversial issues. One luncheon they had during the height of the McCarthy Era was for movie producer Herbert Biberman who had been imprisoned for six months after refusing to name names for the House Un-American Activities Committee. His wife was the actress and free thinking Gale Sondergaard (who, long before she was blacklisted, had been cast as the Wicked Witch in “The Wizard of Oz” but left when they decided they would go with a more traditional ugly witch rather than the sexy evil witch called for in the first version of the script). Few venues would risk allowing the outspoken Sondergaard or her husband to speak but the Covenant Club honored them both.

I attended dozens of functions at the Covenant Club at a time when it was a Big Deal to go downtown. We’d dress in our finest clothes and head on over for the annual Purim carnival or Hanukkah party or children’s magic show or just for dinner in the fantastic restaurant where we were waited on by the very Old School staff, many of whom had probably worked there since the club’s opening. To my young eyes, walking into the Covenant Club was like entering the Palace of Versailles. I will never forget the curved marble staircase, the luxurious furniture, or the opulent chandeliers. By the late 1970s, the club’s aging membership was moving to warmer climates. Those that remained attended less and less social functions and the once flourishing Grand Ballroom stayed dark. The Covenant Club started losing money hand over fist and closed its beautiful doors for good in 1986.

I’d give anything to pop in at this 1965 New Year’s Eve party and hear some snippets of conversation. Those affairs were not open to children, of course. My parents were consummate partygoers and dressed in their finery every New Years Eve for the champagne-flowing party at the Covenant Club. We’d stay home watching Dick Clark on TV and at the stroke of midnight unleash a torrent of streamers that would cover every inch of our white shag carpeting. God knows what time my parents finally got home but the following day we would examine the hats and horns and other props they brought home with them, carefully placing them in a box for our own festivities the following year.

Wishing you all a fun, safe New Year’s Eve and a fantastic new year!

Comments

[david]

Wow. What a blast from the past.

Amba's and my grandfather was a Standard Club regular, and even was president in the early '50's. Every time I go there for some function, I say hello to his picture on the wall.

Of course, his not-so-secret yearning was to belong to the Union League Club, which didn't admit Jews. Many years later, when he was in the grip of what later would be called Alzheimer's, my grandmother moved him to the Whitehall nursing home. When they arrived, she asked him if he knew where he was.

He took it all in. Then his eyes lit up and he said hopefully, "The Union League Club?!"

Happy New Year, Danny.

[Randi(cruisin-mom)]

Danny, I don't know how you manage to do it...but your description is so vivid, that I feel like I was there! Great post once again. Happy, healthy new year to you and your family.

[Danny]

Thanks, Randi! David, I remember always hearing that the Standard Club was primarily for the German Jews who looked down their noses at the Russian, Polish, and Hungarian Jews of the Covenant Club (although I'm sure your grandfather was not that kind of a snob!). We forget today how Jews back then had their own internal caste system. And what a poignant story about your grandfather's Union League Club fantasies!

[Uncle Paul]

Synchronicity strikes again!
I was talking with your sister @ arranging a holiday-birthday celebration tomorrow to get all the kids and parents together and she referred me to your post today. I hadn't caught your wisdom earlier b/c instead of cruising the net I was at the health club. Guess what I was listening to through the headphones while sweating? Maria Callas in "La Gianconda" 1952.
Great post with one caveat: I would have your fact-checker (or Aunt Ann) verify where Sam & Anita were married. I doubt the Covenant Club---I don't see Itsheh Meyer approving.

[justin kreutzmann]

what a great shot!

have a great new year.

[Wendy]

Isn't that just perfection?! I recall seeing photos like that of my parents and grandparents NY Eve celebrations and thinking I would never be that glamorous or sophisticated - here I sit on 12/31 so maybe I was right - haha - but I so enjoyed reading this post - happy new year Danny and the best in 2006 to you!

[Pearl]

Danny, what a great stroll down memory lane. With your knowledge of history/trivia -- or perhaps it's just your wonderful GOOGLEing savvy -- you really recreate for us family scenes and general scenes from the past.

This family photo is so reminiscent of those postcards that are signed "Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here!"

All the best to you & your family for 2006.

[Danny]

Thanks, and happy New Year all! Paul, I'm almost positive about the Covenant Club wedding in 1932—at least that's what I was always told. Don't you think it was frum enough for Itshe Meyer? I assume their kitchen was strictly kosher, no?

[Uncle Paul]

Ann and Jack are the only eyewitnesses I can think of. Can someone ask them? I can tell you the Covenant Club was strictly unkosher----those were different times.
Happy New Year to your gang! Your nephews and cousins once removed should be here in 25 minutes!

[Tamar]

Sliding in late ... to wish you a really Happy New Year, Danny!

[Melissa Clark]

I stumbled upon your website in the craziest, most roundabout way. I am an old friend of Kendall's and would LOVE it if she got in touch. [email protected]. (Melissa Clark) Thanks!!! -mc

[Jamie Ceaser]

Of course I want to eat...I worked on Image Junion for years!
Danny: I'm looking around for memories of the Covenant Club for my doc on Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s and there you are. You were supposed to send me films!! Leslie Cherney said so! I'm cracking up from the Covenant Club...I was there, too!

[Allan Zirlin]

Did you contribute any material to the WTTW production about remembering Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s?

[rachel]

hi, i know you dont know me, but i was searching for info on the Covenant Club and ran across your post. my grandparents lived in Chicago after WWII and were telling me stories about dressing in their finest and going to the Covenant Club. unfortunately they couldnt tell me very much. Thanks for writing about it and teaching me a bit more than i knew!

[Betty Fox]

Danny, your writing is what makes reading worthwhile. Being a close cousin and seeing those photos ripped me from my now to back then. Parties prevailed, dressing up was important and adults only fun was the choice of fare. That's why your memory is so vivid, it was special for you to go to such a place. As for me, I was there maybe twice, once for sure and still remember the Covenant Club. I might share with you the time we (Marvin and I) took our girls to the Shangrila Resturant and Club. sp?. They were dressed to the nines with their patent leather shoes, purses and starched dresses. The memory of them walking up the spiraled stairs to the second floor flew into my head and is something they never forgot. I wonder what kinds of things will remain in the overstimulated minds of young people today. Love to you and Kendall, Betty

[kyle]

I Came across your page doing a Google on the Covenant Club. I loved your essay. I miss the place and mostly I miss my grandparents. We'd have Passover and special family dinners there . My granfather let me use his account number to goof around in the gym and eat lunch at the Grill. I'd get a hamburger and a big crazy milkshake, while the old guys were playing cards in the back rooms with thousands of dollars on the tables. I'd imagine the history of those rooms from the off-color stories I heard. Wow. These guys were like Jewish giants.

I see the posts about the Standard Club and think of my mother asking my grandfather about the difference. He said, "one's for rich millionaires, the other's for poor ones."

[David Cain]

My grandfather was a member, and our family frequented the club in the 1960's and 1970's.

I've long been told that Sid Luckman was a member (and that my grandfather played cards with him there).

[Judd F]

My Grandparents were also long time members. My grandmother belonged until they closed the doors. I wonder if someone has old photos

[Diane Dimend Colman]

I went there as a child with my parents before and during WWII. I remember the magnificent staircase and the "getting dressed up" for special dinners there. When we moved to California in 1946, the Covenant Club was one of the places I most missed about Chicago.

[Marc R]

As a child I went to every Chanukah party for many years. My brother had his bar mitzvah party there and we have many pictures of that event. My brothers and I also went every Saturday morning to the club where organized games (basketball and football) were a staple of the club. Afterward we ate luch in the dinning room (complements of my grandparents). Anyone have the recipe for their creamed spinach?
By the way, the origin of the Covenant Club was the practice of the Standard Club to exclude non German Jews. Hence the name of the two clubs (Standand, the standard for Jews and Covenant, representing the more traditional Eastern European Jews).

[Gloria Langston-Dixon]

Hello,My Name is Gloria Langston Dixon.
My Dad Eugene Langston worked for the Covenant Club for many years.He passed away on August 29,1975 a casualty of crime on the streets of Chicago.I remember the joy my father would have in talking about his job.my dad always told me it doesn't matter what kind of job you have as long as you do the job right.enjoy what you do.my dad would have been in his retirement years and I am sure he would have retired from the Covenant Club.Those were happy times for my dad.I remember coming downtown as a young child in the early 1960's to my dad's job never entering the premises,my dad would always come outside to greet my siblings and my mom now I see why.my dad kept what he did private but I guess he enjoyed it just the same.I am still fasinated as an adult that my dad worked in the downtown area and I never did. I am sure he would be pleased that I still have a fasination in his work. Thanks.

[Jutta Burkart-Field]

My father's uncle was Henry Burkart, the manager of the Covenant Club and the chef before he became manager. He was also an internationally renowned chef who acted as judge at many international culinary competitions. I never tire hearing all of the stories about the C. Club from his daughter, Elizabeth, who grew up at there. Uncle Henry's wife, Elsa, was a beautiful, charming and dignified woman. And my mother is a wonderful cook - why - because Henry Burkart taught her how to cook when she came to Chicago in the mid 50's! To this day, when I smell cigar smoke, it reminds me of my uncle Henry. He didn't speak much, but his presence was definitely felt.

[Nancy Weinberg Jacobson]

For fun I googled "The Club" and came across this site. What fond memories of Sunday dinners as a child in the 50's (lamb chops with green mint jelly), my Sweet 16, lunches and dinners with family and friends while working downtown. The food was always great. That marble staircase is imprinted in my mind. A sad day when "The Club" closed.

[Kevin Gecowets]

I worked in the building at 10 N Dearborn after it was sold and turned into office space. Our cubicles filled the former dance floor under the balcony and I often wondered what kind of wonderful events took place in that ballroom. Thank you for filling in the missing piece of history for me!