Arts and Flowers

by

Bob Craig

At the Billy Goat Tavern, owner Sam Sianis knows your order before you get to the counter.

"Cheezborger! Cheezborger!"

"No Pepsi, Coke!"

"No fries, chips!"

John Belushi made those lines famous in a Saturday Night Live sketch that was based on Sianis and the tavern. Since then the small Chicago tavern has become as big an attraction as the John Hancock Building or the Sears Tower.

Tourists from around the world come in droves to hear Sianis yelling orders, sit at a red checkered table and eat cheeseburgers served on wax paper.

On Saturdays at lunch time the line of out of towners stretches all the way around the grill counter as they wait their chance to hear Sianis yell in his thick greek accent, "How ‘bout you? Cheezborger? You a big guy, how ‘bout a double?"

The Billy Goat is a living shrine to its owner who cursed the Chicago Cubs, the journalists like Mike Royko who made it a second home and to the SNL sketch that made it world famous.

"After Saturday Night Live everybody knew who we were because I was the one who called the orders back then. Like, Cheezborger, no fries-cheeps- no pepsi-coke," the 62-year-old Sianis said.

"Later, John Belushi came down to Chicagofest and worked with me a couple times there (at the Billy Goat Booth) then he came over here and took orders."

The ties to Saturday Night Live are still there even though Belushi is gone. "I knew all those guys from Second City came here, and that’s where they all went to Saturday Night Live from."

Don Novello, most known for his Father Guido Sarducci character, actually wrote the sketch. He worked as an advertising copywriter before joining the SNL writing staff used to come to the Billy Goat all the time. Once in a while the old SNL cast members still come to see Sam, "Bill Murray comes in, Dan Ackroyd was here a couple years ago."

That was the big turning point when the tourists started coming in. Sianis said, "Before that Mike Royko, Dave Condon and all those guys used to come in and write columns about us, but after that it was Good Morning America and the TV and radio all the time."

Saturday Night Live may have pushed the popularity of the Billy Goat, located at 430 N. Michigan Avenue, worldwide but it has been well known among Chicago’s residents for years.

The original location on West Madison Street across from the old Chicago Stadium was opened in 1934 when Sianis’ uncle, William "Billygoat" Sianis bought the Lincoln Tavern for $205.

He paid with a check that bounced, but made enough money during his first weekend to repay the debt and the tavern has been finding its way into Chicago folklore ever since.

During the 1944 Republican Convention Sianis put a up a sign in front of the tavern that read, "No Republicans Allowed." Soon, the news spread across the convention floor and by the end of the day the tavern was filled with Republicans demanding to be served. It was obvious that "Billygoat" Sianis knew how to make a big splash.

It was a goat though, and the Chicago Cubs that cemented "Billygoats" place in Chicago history when P.K. Wrigley denied Sianis’ goat "Murphy" entry to the 1945 World Series and "Billygoat" put his famous curse on the Cubs.

Sam Sianis tells the story: "Billygoat" decide to take the goat there. He had two tickets. And they refused to let him in, he says, ‘Why you not let me in?’ They said, ‘The goat. Not allowed goats in the park.’ Billygoat says, ‘why don’t you ask Mr. Wrigley see what he has to say?"

"So, they went up there to ask Mr. Wrigley, says, ‘Billygoat downstairs and he wants to come in with the goat.’ The guy says, ‘Don’t let the goat come in, Billygoat but not the goat.’ The guy says, ‘He’s got tickets,’ but they said, ‘No goat here’. When Billygoat asks why, they said, ‘Because the goat smells."

"So later on the Cubs (pronounced Cobs by Sianis) lost to Detroit, and Billygoat sent a telegram to Mr. Wrigley says, ‘Who smells now?’

And "Billygoat" cursed the Cubs. "When he left he says, ‘Cubs they not gonna win anymore." The Cubs haven’t been back to the World Series since.

Billygoat lifted the curse in 1969, a year before he passed away, but the Cubs blew a nine game lead that year and couldn’t use the curse as an excuse anymore.

Sianis still volunteers to help the Cubs out from time to time. In 1984 he took the goat to Wrigley Field on opening day and they won the division, eventually losing to the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series.

"They won two games and then left to San Diego and lost out there. Frey that manager he’s the one who lost it," Sianis said. "On opening day of the playoffs we had TVs from New York and all over."

The goat made appearances at Wrigley Field in 1989 when the Cubs made the playoffs again and was brought in to end the 12 game losing streak in 1994.

It seems though, that the original curse is stronger than the desire to lift it. The Cubs made the playoffs again last season, "I went there with the goat outside and they let me by the door and wouldn’t let me in and they lost," Sianis said.

The Billy Goat Tavern moved to its current subterranean location on lower Michigan Avenue in 1964. Because of its close proximity to all of the city newspapers it soon became a hangout for journalist like Royko, Condon and Irv Kupcinet.

Royko often wrote about his experiences at the tavern in his columns, while hanging out in what became known as "Wise Guys Corner", adding to its growing legend.

"We call it the Wise Guys Corner because of a good bunch of people would talk and joke around for years, Mike Royko’s corner," Sianis said.

On the dark paneled walls there are copies Royko’s columns eulogizing "Billygoat" when he a died in 1970, and Sianis created a shrine to the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist after he passed away in 1997.

Sianis wouldn’t say much about Mike Royko, he simply said, "We were good friends."

Tourist come to the Billy Goat Tavern, not necessarily for the food, but to hear Sianis yelling out orders and admonishing his customers. Some are fans of Chicago comedy others are baseball fans who know that this is the place where the owner cursed the Cubs to mediocrity more than half a century ago others come because they are curious about what all the fuss is about.

On a recent Saturday, Becky Fowler and her husband, Mark, brought their 2-year old son Michael from Des Plaines, Ill. to the Billy Goat for his first "cheezborger."

Fowler said, "We wanted to come out of curiosity, to see if it was really like it is portrayed on Saturday Night Live and if the people are really like that."

She wasn’t disappointed, "Ironically, it is exactly like I pictured it would be," She said. "It was fun, I felt like we gave Michael a little taste of Chicago and who knows, it may not be here when he gets older."

All the publicity, the fame and notoriety bring people in, but Sianis still knows the bottom line is giving the customers a tasty meal and a congenial atmosphere.

Sianis said. "We give em good food, real stuff, we never change. Our ribeye steak is the best. I do my own hamburgers pure beef. I get my own rolls that you get here you don’t get other places. The price is right you know. Then these other things bring people from all over to have a cheeseburger here, from the suburbs and all over."

They also come because Sianis knows how to play to the customer, to be the loud greek order taker that the people want to see. But this is no act, he’s been doing it since 1960 and if he is like his uncle, "Billygoat" Sianis, he’ll be here until the day he leaves this earth.