Bill Matteson Live Sunday on WLIP 1050 AM On Your Dial

Bill Matteson
Uptown Chicago History Correspondent

One of my "hobbies" is collecting stories of American folklore, cryptozoology, hauntings, and paranormal occurrences. As Professor Bill, I have appeared on a local Comcast cable show called Psychobabble TV, and several Radio programs.

I hope you tune in on Sunday night, Oct 30th. I'll be on the Mothership Connection with Dobie Maxwell from 10:20 to 11:PM. I am going to give the "real facts" of the Hounds of the Baskervilles, which was based on a true story. Also, I will talk about my experience in a real haunted house in Southern Illinois, and also about an American werewolf-like creatures in Native American folk lore.Plus, I'll share an authentic, documented story of the Vampire of Croglin Grange.

Streaming live on the internet or 1050 AM on your radio dial (Radio Kenosha, what can I tell you).

The Mothership Connection — AM 1050 WLIP

Prof Bill

Helicopter Liftoff from Edgewater Beach Hotel, 1957

You didn't have to mix with ordinary folk if you didn't want to, and could fly above the masses. The Edgewater Beach Hotel could accommodate seaplanes and helicopters.

Item currently available on eBay at time of writing, search for item 300615200887

Summerdale and Uptown

Bill Matteson
Uptown Chicago History Correspondent

Uptown was always an exciting place to live; something was always happening.

We had two police stations that we had to worry about, Town Hall and Summerdale. As I remember, Town Hall stopped at Lawrence Ave on the north and Summerdale took over. The Town Hall cops were for the most part easy to get along with as long as we didn't smart off to them. "Big 10" was their unmarked detective squad car; it was a plain blue Ford and always carried three detectives whose names I've long forgotten. The black and white patrol car was Ace Double Duece #122, I would walk around the block to avoid these guys. I don't know if they were mean or not, I just never wanted to get that close to find out. Also at Town Hall was a juvenile officer named Cribbens. He went out of his way to help us kids and keep us out of trouble.

My freshman year at Senn (1950) was interesting; as part of the physical fitness programs, I signed up for "spparatus," which was in reality gymnastics. I wasn't good enough be on the team, but good enough to be in the class. I loved the side horse, which is a short pommel device.

The instructor, Mr. Bergman, also taught fencing, and because I was light and quick, I had to sign up for that also. So I was a 14 year old, 120 pound, 5'6" fencer with tumbling, gymnastic and boxing skills.
I eventually had to drop fencing because as soon as my opponent learned I flinched when the foil raked across my mask, I was done for.

Now the Karras twins, Al and Sol, were on the Gymnastic team. These guys looked like greek Adonises, and were really good with helping us younger guys through some difficult maneuvers. They could have posed for all the marble statues in the old temples, and when they walked the school hallways all the girls would stop and stare. They were seniors when I was a freshman; they graduated, moved on, and I forgot about them.

Now also in Senn was another kid I made friends with; his name was Richard Morrison, later to be known as the Babbling Burglar.

Around 1960, when I was married with four kids, I read in the paper about the Summerdale Scandal.

The Summerdale Scandal was basically this: Richie Morrison got caught burglarizing a store and in a plea type of deal he implicated a lot of cops from the Summerdale Station.

Al and Sol Karras had become policemen and got caught up in the scandal, along with Richard Morrison; most of the Summerdale cops played cards at Nick's Pool Hall at Foster and Clark, most were good guys, but a couple of them were not.

The cops supposedly would stake out a store and Richie would burglarize it (according to Richie). Now Al and Sol were good guys and Richie, well, he was just being Richie. I remember Richie's philosophy was steal something every day, He always wore a big St. Christopher medal with a handcuff key taped to the backside, he used this more than once.

In the years after the trial, Richie, faded away into oblivion, or Florida, whichever is worse

Al and Sol, you were great guys, I hope you are alive and well and thanks.

PS: After all was said and done I don't believe any Cop was convicted of anything

My Romance with Pool

Bill Matteson
Uptown Chicago History Correspondent

Somewhere in the late 40s, two pool tables were installed at the Uptown Chicago Boys Club. I fell in love with the game instantly: 8-Ball,or as we called it, stars and stripes,which was really stripe and solids, but as kids we didn't care what you called as long as we got to play.

We played at the boys club for free, and we would play at the Wilson Ave. Rec., where McDonald's now stands, on the northwest corner of Wilson and Sheridan. It was 25 cents per hour, and if you didn't make a lot of noise or create a disturbance, they would let us play longer as long as no one was waiting for a table.

Later as I went to Senn High, or at least I was supposed to go (most of the time), classes were cut and Nick's Pool Hall was always open. Nick aka Nick the Greek, his pool hall was above either a National Tea or an A&P store on the N.E. corner of Clark and Foster; this area is now known as Andersonville.
There were always cops from the Summerdale District playing cards in the corner of the hall, four or five tables were set up and always filled with money, guns, and badges.

Nick also charged about 25 cents per hour, but me and whoever was shooting with me would sweep up, clean up the glasses, and put all the empty beer bottles back in the cases so we could play for free; sometimes they had some pool shooters in, and I would rack for their games.

In all my years in pool halls I never heard a shooter referred to as a hustler, until the Paul Newman movie came out.

One day a Summerdale cop asked me why I wasn't in school. I asked him why he wasn't working—that was a big mistake (but more about that later).

One pool hall I steered clear of was on the east side of Sheridan just south of the El tracks at Irving Park Rd; it was a "bucket of blood" type of an establishment, meaning a bloody knife fight or a bad beating, but they had the only snooker tables in the area.

Now snooker was a game I not only hated, I was very bad at it. If you shoot pool, you need the experience. I think they even had a "Kings Snooker table" 6 X12; it was larger than Soldier field, well, it seemed like it at the time.

I would travel downtown to Bensingers on West Randolph Street just off State St. Upstairs there were shooters there that could perform feats of magic with their cue sticks. Shooters from all over the world. This was my school of higher education.

Or I would go over to South Federal Street to Herman Rambow's shop and watch him make cue sticks. One day he had two elephant tusks; he would cut off a piece and put it in some kind of vibrating machine; an almost square shape went in and a perfectly round cue ball came out. This was back in the day when you had a break ball, and after the break you would use the ivory ball for shooting.

I had a three piece Rambow stick, one base with a billiard shaft and one for snooker and in a leather case.
Rambow made sticks for Willie Hoppe and Willie Mosconi.

In later years I would stop in at Eddie Laube's cue shop on Elston Ave just north of Irving Park,
and I had a stick made by Burton Spain, when he had his shop on Clybourn Ave. A great guy to talk to with a lot of history, and right before I retired from the graphic arts, I made some ads and we did some photography for Ray Schuler; he made some good sticks. So over the years I got to know every stick maker in town.

I shot pool in Johnson City IL and at Don Tozers in Decatur, all before I was married, and I was married at 19.

Married and a few kids later, I would stop at Johnson Billiards Academy on Roscoe Street just east Of Damen Ave. Johnsons had a championship size table 5'X10'. There are three regulation sizes for pool tournaments: 4' X 8', 4 1/2' X 9', and all championship games were held on the 5X10.The championship game was 14-1 rack; no one plays that anymore.

Willie Mosconi ran over 500 balls; after sinking 14 balls they would be racked with the first ball left whereever it was left on the table, then sink that ball and make a break at the same time, thus allowing continuous play. My record was only 32.

I went to a pool hall on Bryn Mawr or maybe it was Howard Street, next to the El Tracks, and I watched Willie Mosconi shoot;  he had the whitest eyes I have ever seen, and he reminded me of an owl, when he would look at the object ball and the cue ball.

I would practice for an hour or two on the 5X10 and then stop at my local tavern and shoot on a tavern size 3 1/2 X 7; it was like taking candy from a baby. Today with television, it's all 9 ball on a 4X 8 because it makes the shooters look good.

Well needless to say, my wife and I had a few more kids, and the sticks faded away along with whatever skill I had. I haven't shot pool in over 40 years now, and I like it that way; I remember being a good shooter and I would hate to prove myself wrong.

I always remember a Pete Seegar song about "your get up and go has got up and went." Well, all I have left is memories, "so I set here and grin to think of the places my 'get up' has been".