The Chicago metropolitan area following World War II was home to numerous gay bars and other nightclubs and drinking establishments that catered to the local LGBT community. The Fun Lounge raid and a later police raid on the Trip bar in Chicago have been compared to the later Stonewall riots in the impact that they had on the Chicagoland LGBT community.įurther information: LGBT culture in Chicago
However, he lost reelection in 1972, due in part to efforts by the local LGBT community. Ogilvie benefitted politically from the raid, as it demonstrated his hardline stance against " vice", and he was later elected governor of Illinois in 1968. The group published newsletters and operated a hotline for people to report police harassment, and historians regard its formation as the beginning of modern gay activism in the area. While the raid was one of several during this time, its size made it notable, and in its aftermath, LGBT individuals in the Chicago area formed Mattachine Midwest, a gay rights organization modeled after the national Mattachine Society. Others who had been arrested lost their jobs and there are reports of at least one suicide. Newspapers such as the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Tribune widely reported on the raid and highlighted the fact that several teachers had been arrested, leading to all but one losing their jobs. Ogilvie arresting 109 individuals and seizing several hundred dollars-worth of illegal drugs. In the early morning of April 25, 1964, the Fun Lounge was the target of one such raid, with deputies of Cook County Sheriff Richard B. Bars were often targeted in police raids, with those arrested often having their names and personal information published in local newspapers, leading to the loss of jobs and relationships. However, these bars and their clientele were often subject to harassment and other forms of discrimination, indicative of the widespread culture of homophobia present in the United States during the time.
One such club was Louie's Fun Lounge, located outside of Chicago on Mannheim Road near O'Hare International Airport. The raid led to the arrest of over 100 individuals and is considered a notable moment in the LGBT history of the area.ĭuring the mid-20th century, the Chicago metropolitan area was home to several gay bars and other establishments that catered to the local LGBT community. The total lack of scenery means there is simply nothing for any of the performers to hide behind - apart from those decadent ostrich feather fans, so the acting, singing, dancing, everything has to be spot on and it is.The Fun Lounge police raid was a 1964 police raid that targeted Louie's Fun Lounge, a gay bar near Chicago, Illinois, United States. Read more : Beauty and the Beast is a "triumph" at the Palace Theatre - review and pics Sheila Ferguson, of The Three Degrees fame, as Mama Morton also nails the part of the laconic and openly corrupt prison warden, who befriends her charges purely in order to relieve them of their cash. Set in jazz age Chicago and based on a 1926 play by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins about the real-life criminals she wrote about, we are introduced to Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, two fame-obsessed murderesses, one a washed up vaudeville star guilty of murdering her husband, the other a wannabe celebrity in prison for bumping off her lover.įormer Coronation Street star Faye Brookes, back on home turf, is delightfully impish as Roxie and the perfect foil to the hardened, cynical maestra murderess Velma Kelly (played on opening night by Michelle Andrews). Fortunately, it's clear right from the off that this will be one polished production. The second longest-running musical on Broadway, with six Tony awards, two Olivier awards and a Grammy, the Opera House stage tonight is no place for amateurs as Chicago returns to Manchester.