Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Breakwater Chicago? Nah, It's 'Mr. Lucky!' in Color.

Mr. Lucky TV Series.jpg

The pitch for a floating entertainment center about a half-mile off Chicago’s shore is gaining the public’s support — and dollars. Chicago Tribune

Old Black and White TV had some great shows and one of my favorites remains MR. LUCKY - a saga of a Greek gambler and his Mexican pal who owned an off-shore Casino ship, where gaming and entertainment led necessarily to brushes with law enforcement and seedy underworld types.  The guy who played Mr. Lucky, a show based upon a WWII propaganda firm starring Cary Grant, was dead ringer for the dimple-chinned Old Cockney.  His Mexican pal was played by the great Jewish American actor Ross Martin.

Now, it seems that some guy from Plainfield, Illinois by the name of Beau D'Arcy ( I'd kill for that handle) is developing his own Chicagoland Mr. Lucky Playland.

D’Arcy’s plan includes a floating 300-foot vessel with sun decks, restaurants, a swimming pool and room for boats to dock. He told the Tribune last week he sees the project potentially being Chicago’s’ “next Bean,” a reference to Millennium Park’s popular Cloud Gate sculpture.

Back in the day, the music would be done by greats like Henry Mancini; dig this

 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nXPzhg-xGMY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I shudder to think what Rahm Emanuel's Chicago would demand: Billy "Uncle Fester" Corgin?  Chief Keef?

Theme tunes aside, what about the opportunity for Fully Kreuzened Boaters to lose an outhouse full of personal savings>

I have no doubt at all that Mr. L. . .D'Arcy has already put the touch on the Illinois Gaming docents for a tour of the Byzantine hoops, mazes, and greased pigs necessary to obtain a 'gaming license.

Mr. Lucky's boat feature in both the movie and TV show was christened Fortuna.

Yes, I know the homonym problem all of us Chicagoans can be afflicted by - sound and sense.

' For Tuna?'  No, not the fish, nor the legendary south side political operative Tuna Carey.  Fortuna is Latin. ( Latin, noun Fortune). 

Well, it is Chicagoland!

Perhps Mr. L . . .D'Arcy's floating venue should be called Alosa pseudoharengus - Alewife.   


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