The Levee Went Dry
By Margaret Hicks in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 30, 2006 3:32PM
For this month’s Convince Us, we asked you — our darling readers — to provide us with a great biography. We chose Lords of the Levee by Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan. The book describes the rise and fall of “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Kenna, the kings of the 1st Ward — the vice district — at the turn of the century.
Where to begin? Yes, OK then, we’ll start at the beginning.
We’ll admit it; we were way confused at the beginning of this book. Obviously Mr. Kogan and Mr. Wendt know of what they speak — they were journalists at the Sun-Times and the Tribune, respectively. Their love of Chicago history is apparent and contagious, yet we were lost for a good portion of the book. Kogan and Wendt are too excited, throwing out names and information so willy-nilly that at certain parts we just kept skimming, waiting for the book to make sense. In the first few pages, there were so many names and affiliations that we had to write down who was who just to remember where they all belonged. As the book moved through the multitude of ordinance votes in city council, even more affiliations and more old-school Chicago nicknames (Billy “the Clock” Skakel, “Slick Sam” Phillips, “Make a Fuss Wilson,” “Butterface Jones” ) had us wondering which side everyone was on. It was as if the authors gave us an assumption of knowledge that we didn’t feel we had, and we feel fairly confident in our knowledge of Chicago history.
However, the book was downright fun at showing us the great personalities of Chicago history. The great battles with traction magnate Charles Tyson Yerkes, and his attempt to get a 99-year franchise for the El tracks, the mayors Carter Harrison Sr. and Jr., and of course, the craziest personality of all, Bathhouse John.
There are hilarious moments of Bathhouse John and his Bush-like misuse of the English language “I am in favor of the police guarding Chicago in a proper way. We want them to guard the burglars — I mean; we want them to guard us from burglars.” And when the council wanted to close Garfield Park Racetrack, Coughlin shouted “It’s a pinch! It’s an outrage! It’s constitutional!” later explaining he meant “unconstitutional.” There are priceless tales of Bathouse John changing the way men dressed, deciding it was time for an overhaul, and sympathetic incidents of him trying to write poetry and lesser men fawning over it. Stories of John starting a virtual zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and his partnership with Hinky Dink Kenna and the description of the 1st Ward balls, meant to gather votes and money, but were really just drunken orgies we wish we had been around for.
Hinky Dink gets lost in the shadow of Bathhouse John, but that was the way it was meant to be — it was the true beauty of their partnership. While Bathhouse John was a huge barrel of a man, Hinky Dink was “absurdly tiny, an inch above five feet, with a pair of cold blue eyes and an eternally bland expression, inscrutable in poker and business; a skinny saloonkeeper and political dabbler who continually chewed an unlighted cigar.” Hinky Dink was the true mastermind of the first ward, but he let Bathhouse John be his front man.
Once we got past the confusing first half of the book, we really enjoyed the writing. The two authors have a great passion for what they write, and it comes through on the page, in the anecdotes and stories they choose to tell.
We would recommend Lords of the Levee for sure, but we would tell you to brush up on your city council history beforehand; otherwise, you might not know your Hinky Dink from your Bathhouse.
Stay tuned tomorrow, when we'll ask for our next book suggestion.