Dil Pickle Club
Encyclopedia
The Dil Pickle Club or Dill Pickle Club was once a popular Bohemian
club
in Chicago
, Illinois
between 1917 and 1935. The Dil Pickle was known as a speakeasy
, cabaret
and theatre
and was influential during the "Chicago Renaissance" as it allowed a forum for free thinkers. It was founded and owned by Wobbly John "Jack" Jones and was frequented by popular American authors, activists and speakers.
The club's legacy has seen several reincarnations, including the revived Chicago Dil Pickle Club, the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, Dil Pickle Press, and the Dill Pickle Club of Portland, OR, "an experimental forum for critiquing contemporary culture, politics and humanities."
(IWW)) had started several weekly forums at the Radical Book Shop on North Clark Street in Chicago
. The forums discussed labor issues along with social concerns of the day. Soon, in early 1915, Jones needed a new venue as the capacity was exceeded at the forum. To accommodate increased participants, Jones found a decrepit barn on Tooker Alley, off of Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago that he would name the Dil Pickle Club. Soon after, fellow labor organizer from Ireland, Jim Larkin would join Jones along with the "hobo doctor" and anarchist Ben Reitman
. Reitman would be instrumental in getting regular news coverage of the Pickle in the Chicago Daily News
and Chicago Tribune
. The news coverage would help increase the clubs following and by 1917, Jones created the Dil Pickle Artisans by officially incorporating it as a non-profit in Illinois
for its promotion of arts, crafts, science and literature.
Jones would say of his new club:
During the early years of the Dil Pickle Club, Jones began the Dil Pickle Press which produced material to promote the club. The Dil Pickler newsletter, The Creative World bulletin along with Jones' book Tech-Up were printed. The Press also printed Arthur Desmond
's Lion's Paw, Ragnar Redbeard's Might is Right
along with works by Sol Omar and J. Edgar Miller. Most of the literature was often crudely designed but easily reproduced. It contained humor and often typos. Admission to the club and refreshment sales helped it survive financially. Jones may have also printed counterfeit out-of-print books in order to make additional money.
The club would reach its pinnacle by not only serving as a place for debate and idea-sharing but a host for one-act plays, poetry readings, jazz dance
s, opera
along with other acts. The Dil Pickle Players was formed in order to perform original works by local authors as well as contemporary playwrights. Jones was often very active in the club; building the stage, wiring the lighting along with writing, directing and acting in productions.
During the Great Depression
, the Dil Pickle Club began to experience its decline. By the early 1930s, the club was being frequented more by Chicago mobsters rather than the usual free-minded Bohemian
attendees. Soon the club would lose its unique taste and personality as rent rates in Chicago were rising. Tax difficulties in 1933 would be the end of the Dil Pickle Club. Despite Jones' efforts to save the club - which included the sale of the wooden Du Dil Duck toy - the Dil Pickle Club closed in 1934. Jones struggled financially thereafter until his death in 1940.
, Emma Goldman
, Big Bill Haywood, Hippolyte Havel
, Lucy Parsons
, Ben Reitman
and Nina Spies. American authors included Pulitzer Prize
winner Upton Sinclair
along with Sherwood Anderson
, Carl Sandburg
, Ben Hecht
, Vachel Lindsay
, Djuna Barnes
, William Carlos Williams
, Kenneth Rexroth
and Vincent Starrett
. Other common attendees were poet, writer and Wobbly, Slim Brundage
, speaker Martha Biegler, speaker Elizabeth Davis
, Harry Wilson and F. M. Wilkesbarr.
A club for people with ideas and questions, it often attracted a mixed crowd. Scientist
s, panhandlers, prostitutes, socialists, anarchists, con men
, tax advocates, religious zealots, social workers and hobo
es were commonly at the club.
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
between 1917 and 1935. The Dil Pickle was known as a speakeasy
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
, cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and was influential during the "Chicago Renaissance" as it allowed a forum for free thinkers. It was founded and owned by Wobbly John "Jack" Jones and was frequented by popular American authors, activists and speakers.
The club's legacy has seen several reincarnations, including the revived Chicago Dil Pickle Club, the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, Dil Pickle Press, and the Dill Pickle Club of Portland, OR, "an experimental forum for critiquing contemporary culture, politics and humanities."
History
In 1914, John "Jack" Jones, a former organizer for the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the WorldIndustrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW)) had started several weekly forums at the Radical Book Shop on North Clark Street in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The forums discussed labor issues along with social concerns of the day. Soon, in early 1915, Jones needed a new venue as the capacity was exceeded at the forum. To accommodate increased participants, Jones found a decrepit barn on Tooker Alley, off of Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago that he would name the Dil Pickle Club. Soon after, fellow labor organizer from Ireland, Jim Larkin would join Jones along with the "hobo doctor" and anarchist Ben Reitman
Ben Reitman
Ben Lewis Reitman was an American anarchist and physician to the poor . He is best remembered today as radical Emma Goldman's lover.Reitman was a flamboyant, eccentric character...
. Reitman would be instrumental in getting regular news coverage of the Pickle in the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. The news coverage would help increase the clubs following and by 1917, Jones created the Dil Pickle Artisans by officially incorporating it as a non-profit in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
for its promotion of arts, crafts, science and literature.
Jones would say of his new club:
During the early years of the Dil Pickle Club, Jones began the Dil Pickle Press which produced material to promote the club. The Dil Pickler newsletter, The Creative World bulletin along with Jones' book Tech-Up were printed. The Press also printed Arthur Desmond
Arthur Desmond
Arthur Desmond , a.k.a. Arthur Uing, Ragnar Redbeard, Richard Thurland, Desmond Dilg and Gavin Gowrie, was a New Zealand politician, Australian anarchist, poet and author...
's Lion's Paw, Ragnar Redbeard's Might is Right
Might Is Right
Might Is Right, or The Survival of the Fittest, is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard. It heavily advocates social Darwinism and was first published in 1890...
along with works by Sol Omar and J. Edgar Miller. Most of the literature was often crudely designed but easily reproduced. It contained humor and often typos. Admission to the club and refreshment sales helped it survive financially. Jones may have also printed counterfeit out-of-print books in order to make additional money.
The club would reach its pinnacle by not only serving as a place for debate and idea-sharing but a host for one-act plays, poetry readings, jazz dance
Jazz dance
Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Before the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance—modern jazz dance—emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance...
s, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
along with other acts. The Dil Pickle Players was formed in order to perform original works by local authors as well as contemporary playwrights. Jones was often very active in the club; building the stage, wiring the lighting along with writing, directing and acting in productions.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the Dil Pickle Club began to experience its decline. By the early 1930s, the club was being frequented more by Chicago mobsters rather than the usual free-minded Bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
attendees. Soon the club would lose its unique taste and personality as rent rates in Chicago were rising. Tax difficulties in 1933 would be the end of the Dil Pickle Club. Despite Jones' efforts to save the club - which included the sale of the wooden Du Dil Duck toy - the Dil Pickle Club closed in 1934. Jones struggled financially thereafter until his death in 1940.
Characteristics
The Dil Pickle Club was almost hidden from the outside and was considered a "hole in the wall" in Tooker Alley. The entrance was marked by a "DANGER" sign that which pointed to the orange main door which was lite by a green light. On the door, it read: “Step High, Stoop Low and Leave Your Dignity Outside.” Once inside, another sign read "Elevate Your Mind to a Lower Level of Thinking" before you entered the main part of the club. Immediately inside was a large main room with a stage. The room was decorated with brightly painted chairs and partially surrounded by counters where drinks and sandwiches were sold. The rest of the club was also decorated by its attendees and contained a tearoom and art exhibitions. Altogether, the club had reported standing capacity for 700 people.Popular attendees
The club was frequented by many radical American activists, political speakers and authors. Among the American activists and speakers was Clarence DarrowClarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
, Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
, Big Bill Haywood, Hippolyte Havel
Hippolyte Havel
Hippolyte Havel was a Czech anarchist who lived in Greenwich Village, New York, which he declared to be "a spiritual zone of mind". He was close friends with Emma Goldman....
, Lucy Parsons
Lucy Parsons
Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons was an American labor organizer and radical socialist. She is remembered as a powerful orator.-Life:...
, Ben Reitman
Ben Reitman
Ben Lewis Reitman was an American anarchist and physician to the poor . He is best remembered today as radical Emma Goldman's lover.Reitman was a flamboyant, eccentric character...
and Nina Spies. American authors included Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winner Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
along with Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
, Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
, Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
, Vachel Lindsay
Vachel Lindsay
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted...
, Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes was an American writer who played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures in 1920s and '30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the Greenwich Village of the teens...
, William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
, Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...
and Vincent Starrett
Vincent Starrett
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett , known as Vincent Starrett, was an American writer and newspaperman.- Biography :...
. Other common attendees were poet, writer and Wobbly, Slim Brundage
Slim Brundage
Myron Reed "Slim" Brundage was the "founder and janitor" of the College of Complexes, a radical social center in Chicago during the 1950s. It was known as Chicago's Number One "beatnik bistro"....
, speaker Martha Biegler, speaker Elizabeth Davis
Elizabeth Gould Davis
Elizabeth Gould Davis was an American librarian who wrote a feminist book called The First Sex.-Biography:She was born in Kansas, USA in 1910 and earned her master's degree in librarianship at the University of Kentucky in 1951...
, Harry Wilson and F. M. Wilkesbarr.
A club for people with ideas and questions, it often attracted a mixed crowd. Scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s, panhandlers, prostitutes, socialists, anarchists, con men
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
, tax advocates, religious zealots, social workers and hobo
Hobo
A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
es were commonly at the club.
External links
- Picture of Dil Pickle Club - Chicago Public Radio
- Dill Pickle Club Records at the Newberry Library
