Video: Remembering Irv Kupcinet

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 11, 2013 2:35PM

Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the death of legendary Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet. From 1943 until his death the comings and goings of Hollywood’s stars of yesteryear and local notables were chronicled in “Kup’s Column.” (The last two years of his column—at least—was written by his assistant and successor Stella Foster.)

In his later years, Kupcinet was a relic of a bygone era, like the restaurants in the Loop that served tough-as-nails two-dollar steaks in the shadows of theaters that screened second-run movies. In his heyday, Kupcinet was a local media force who recognized, as Robert Feder wrote, “(H)ow to leverage print and broadcast platforms before anyone had ever heard of ‘synergy’ or anyone had ever called himself a ‘brand.’ It put him in a class of his own.”

Kupcinet and Jack Brickhouse broadcast Bears games for nearly a quarter century and his talk show, Kup’s Show, brought together local notables and major celebrities to take part in “the lively art of conversation.”

He could also be a hard-boiled newspaperman when the need arose such as this 1973 interview with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.

Related:
One For The Road: Happy 100th Birthday, Irv "Kup" Kupcinet