Misplaced Pages

#912087

25-485: The Willowbrook Ballroom is often cited as the last place Resurrection Mary danced before her death. Her ghost is said to appear at the ballroom at times, dancing with the patrons. On Friday, October 28, 2016, the Ballroom was gutted by a fire. The building was having work done on the roof where the fire was suspected of starting. Due to water pressure issues the fire department had to wait on tanker trucks, which caused

50-428: A cab driver came into Chet's Melody Lounge, across the street from Resurrection Cemetery, to inquire about a young lady who had left without paying her fare. There were said to be sightings in 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1989, which involved cars striking, or nearly striking, Mary outside Resurrection Cemetery. Mary disappears, however, by the time the motorist exits the car. She also reportedly burned her handprints into

75-502: A course to further expand their operations. A 20,000-foot (6,100 m) addition installed new kitchens, a restaurant and a private room for parties and banquets. In 1959 the entire Oh Henry complex was renamed Willowbrook Ballroom. The 1960s were bringing record crowds to the ballroom, but toward the end of that decade, the public’s taste in entertainment underwent a radical change and fewer people took up ballroom dancing . Willowbrook Ballroom survived by having contemporary bands share

100-587: A delay in getting the fire under control. Founded in 1921 by John Verderbar, an industrious Austrian immigrant. Verderbar purchased 5 acres (20,000 m) along wooded Archer Ave. He planned to build a peaceful weekend home. His son, Rudy Verderbar, was one of the throngs of young people who danced at the nearly 400 ballrooms and dance halls that thrived in the Chicago area during the mid-to-late 1910s. After dancing in an outdoor pavilion in Michigan , Rudy waged

125-584: A relentless campaign to scrap the idea of a summer home and build an outdoor dance pavilion. After some research, his father agreed, and in 1921, the all wooden Oh Henry Park was built. It proved so popular, in 1923, the open-air pavilion was enlarged and a new 10-cents-a-dance policy was implemented. The ballroom was supposedly named after the Oh Henry candy bar, manufactured in Chicago by the Williamson Candy Company , who paid Verderbar for

150-418: A small shopping center on Archer Avenue. "A couple miles up Archer there, she jumped with a start like a horse and said 'Here! Here!' I hit the brakes. I looked around and didn't see no kind of house. 'Where?' I said. And then she sticks out her arm and points across the road to my left and says 'There!'. And that's when it happened. I looked to my left — like this — at this little shack. And when I turned she

175-543: A theory that has gained popularity in recent years. 41°45′35″N 87°49′39″W  /  41.75972°N 87.82750°W  / 41.75972; -87.82750 Otis Day and the Knights Otis Day and the Knights was a fictional R&B band shown performing in the 1978 movie National Lampoon's Animal House . Following the success of the film the actor portraying the group's lead singer acquired

200-537: Is a well-known Chicago area ghost story , of the " vanishing hitchhiker " type, a type of folklore that is known in many cultures. According to the story, the ghost resides in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois , a few miles southwest of Chicago. Resurrection Mary is considered to be Chicago's most famous ghost. Since the 1930s, several men driving northeast along Archer Avenue between

225-541: The Chicago Tribune , "full-time ghost hunter" Richard Crowe has collected "three dozen … substantiated" reports of Mary from the 1930s to the present. The story goes that Mary had spent the evening dancing with a boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom . At some point, they got into an argument and Mary stormed out. She left the ballroom and started walking up Archer Avenue. She hadn't gone far when she

250-513: The Willowbrook Ballroom and Resurrection Cemetery have reported picking up a young female hitchhiker . This young woman is dressed somewhat formally in a white party dress and is said to have light blond hair and blue eyes. There are other reports that she wears a thin shawl, dancing shoes, carries a small clutch purse, and possibly that she is very quiet. As the driver nears Resurrection Cemetery, she disappears into it. According to

275-588: The Willowbrook Ballroom was again destroyed by a massive, multi-alarm fire. As of early Spring 2017 the Dance of Life Foundation —a Burr Ridge-based nonprofit organization—claims to have raised nearly $ 2 million to rebuild the historic ballroom. On Feb. 25, 2019 Crain's Chicago Business reported that suburban construction firm Westpoint Builders had purchased, on Feb. 13, 2019, half of the Willowbrook Ballroom site for 1.25 million dollars. When finished,

SECTION 10

#1732780868913

300-765: The age of 14 when Carl was singing at The Willowbrook Ballroom as a front man for the Gem-Tones. It was one of Jim Lounsbury's local record hops. In 1997 the Verderbar family sold the Ballroom to Birute and Gediminas Jodwalis. The Willowbrook Ballroom is located at 8900 Archer Avenue, Willow Springs, Illinois, 60480. In 2000 The Willowbrook Ballroom was profiled as one of America's "Glorious, Historic, Legendary, Treasured Ballroom Dance Floors" in Amateur Dancers magazine. Criteria for being profiled as an Amateur Dancers magazine's "Finest Floor" is: On October 28, 2016

325-593: The first dances in the new Oh Henry Ballroom. It had been built at the then-staggering Great Depression -era cost of $ 100,000. As Big Band fever spread throughout 1940s America, the Oh Henry Ballroom, now with air conditioning, became a major force in the Midwest’s entertainment industry. Even during the Second World War , typical weekly attendance was about 10,000 dancers. The ballroom’s popularity

350-399: The many thousands of burials in Resurrection Cemetery. A particular focus of these efforts has been Mary Bregovy, who died in 1934, although her death came in an automobile accident in the downtown Chicago Loop . In 1999, Chicago author Ursula Bielski documented a possible connection to Anna "Marija" Norkus, who died in a 1927 auto accident while on her way home from the Oh Henry Ballroom ,

375-450: The naming rights. In 1930, the pavilion was destroyed in a devastating fire. Verderbar quickly assembled a team of 200 carpenters to construct an enormous outdoor dance floor in time for the next Saturday night. The remaining ten weeks of Oh Henry’s 1930 dance season drew even bigger crowds due to massive publicity touting the romantic aspects of "dancing under the stars." On May 3, 1931, more than 1,700 invited guests and dignitaries danced

400-427: The new construction on the site is said to include 168 condominiums and 42 townhomes. As of Oct. 28, 2021 there has been no announcement about the sale of the other half of the property, and the property as a whole is now apartments as of June 25th, 2023. 41°43′43″N 87°52′54″W  /  41.7286111°N 87.8816667°W  / 41.7286111; -87.8816667 Resurrection Mary Resurrection Mary

425-458: The part of the group's frontman during filming. Backing vocals for the soundtrack recording were provided by Melvin Britt and Sidney Justin . Robert Cray was one of the members of the band, seen playing bass in the movie. In the 1980s, DeWayne Jessie purchased the rights to the band's name from Universal Studios and formed a real-life version of the band with some of his family members and toured

450-515: The rights to the name and created a real musical act that toured and recorded an album during the 1980s. Several actors and musicians were hired to portray the members of a band for two scenes in National Lampoon's Animal House . This fictional group performed the songs " Shout " and " Shama Lama Ding Dong ". Both songs were recorded for the movie by uncredited studio vocalist Lloyd G. Williams , and lip synched by actor DeWayne Jessie in

475-438: The stage on the same evening with the top ballroom bands. As popular music changed, the entertainers on Willowbrook’s stage also changed, particularly on Friday night. Chubby Checker played the ballroom as did The Cryan' Shames , The Association , The Buckinghams , Otis Day and the Knights , Duke Tumatoe and The All Star Frogs , The Village People , and Martha Reeves . Songwriter James Holvay first saw Carl Bonafede at

500-511: The stage, later so did Wayne King , Guy Lombardo , Sammy Kaye , Jimmy Dorsey , Bob Crosby , Dick Jurgens , Glenn Miller Orchestra and Gene Krupa . Theatre organist Hal Pearl known as "The King of the Organ" occasionally played in the ballroom between sets and sometimes offered his own concerts. In 1955, as ballrooms across the country scaled down or closed, the Verderbars set out on

525-535: The wrought iron fence around the cemetery, in August 1976, although officials at the cemetery have stated that a truck had damaged the fence and that there is no evidence of a ghost. In a January 31, 1979, article in the Suburban Trib , columnist Bill Geist detailed the story of a cab driver, Ralph, who picked up a young woman – "a looker. A blond. ... she was young enough to be my daughter — 21 tops" – near

SECTION 20

#1732780868913

550-561: Was Resurrection Mary at the Liberty Grove and Hall at 47th and Mozart (and not the Oh Henry/Willowbrook Ballroom). They danced and even kissed, and she asked him to drive her home along Archer Avenue, exiting the car and disappearing in front of Resurrection Cemetery. In 1973, Resurrection Mary was said to have shown up at Harlow's nightclub, on Cicero Avenue on Chicago's southwest side. That same year,

575-560: Was gone. Vanished! And the car door never opened. May the good Lord strike me dead, it never opened." Geist described Ralph as "not an idiot or a maniac" but rather, in Ralph's own words, "a typical 52-year-old working guy, a veteran, father, Little League baseball coach, churchgoer, the whole shot". Geist goes on to say: "The simple explanation, Ralph, is that you picked up the Chicago area's preeminent ghost: Resurrection Mary." Some researchers have attempted to link Resurrection Mary to one of

600-431: Was reason for Chicago bus lines to be rerouted to provide direct service to and from the ballroom. Willowbrook Ballroom attracted some of the most popular bands of their times including Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra in the 1930s with lead singer Harriet Hilliard . The 1940s orchestras of Harry James , Les Brown and Count Basie played the ballroom, and singers Frank Sinatra , Doris Day And Helen O'Connell graced

625-415: Was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, who fled the scene leaving Mary to die. Her parents found her and were grief-stricken at the sight of her dead body. They buried her in Resurrection Cemetery, wearing a beautiful white dancing dress and matching dancing shoes. The hit-and-run driver was never found. Jerry Palus, a Chicago southsider, reported that in 1939 he met a person whom he came to believe

#912087