The J hub mold came to me from Weston Charles back in January. A 2nd ED hub mold was included. Both Kansas City chips and both issued on the same day at Mason Co office in Kansas City. The Ed went to an address on Troost Street, a well documented illegal casino area. Troost Street joints have been in several "Illegal Of The Day" posts. My gut feelings told me there was a connection between the 2 chips.. So much for gut feelings. No connection found.

The J hub brought back a good story. I had no idea the "Movie" industry had such a large presence in Kansas City. Our chip buyer, John Michael “Johnny” Flynn was featured in the 1996 Robert Altman film, "Kansas City." Turns out Robert Altman's father worked in film row in Kansas City. I did not see the movie.

Enough of that:

Kansas City, Missouri:

Film Club
John Michael “Johnny” Flynn
118 W. 18th St
Kansas City, MO
1/12/37
1700 red, 300 pink, 200 yellow

J—hub

The Film Club was located in a two story building on West 18th St. between Baltimore Ave. and Wyandotte St. which was part of an area of Kansas City known as “Film Row.” Film Row got its name because most of KC’s film and motion picture related businesses were located in the area. The neighborhood was the home of offices and film exchanges for most major Hollywood studios as well as many local businesses providing products and services to KC movie theaters.

The Film Club opened around 1935-36 and was gone by 1941. At the time of the chip order the proprietor of the place was a guy named John Michael “Johnny” Flynn who was a gambler, a player in the Pendergast machine and a man with a reputation as a “gangster” (the “J” on the chip probably stands for Johnny).

My note: The Pendergast machine has showed up in several Kansas City "Illegal Of The Day" posts. It was a brutal and political machine that held sway on most KC illegal casino operations. A young Harry Truman has been connected to the Pendergast machine in several Missouri 1930's "IOTD" posts.

Teaser: A new Jeffersonville, Indiana illegal chip has been found and Harry Truman has been tied to the operator while he was president. Watch for the story coming to a future "Illegal Of The Day."
Johnny Flynn was born in KC in 1901. During his childhood Johnny’s father William was a captain in the KC Fire Department. By the time Johnny was a teenager his dad had traded the fire house for the movie house and became one of the owners and managers of some of KC’s earliest movie theaters. William Flynn was involved in the film and movie theater business until his death in a passenger plane crash near KC in 1930.

In addition to his film activities William Flynn was involved in politics. In the late 1910’s and into the 1920’s he was a KC Alderman and “lieutenant” in political boss Tom Pendergast’s KC machine. In 1924 Alderman Flynn lead a group of Pendergast “goats” in a street confrontation with a rival political group which resulted in a brawl that required several dozen KC police to break-up. The melee resulted in numerous injuries, some from shootings and stabbings. One of those stabbed was Alderman Flynn’s 22 year old son Johnny whose knife wound in the neck required 39 stitches.

In the years prior to opening the Film Club in the mid 1930’s Johnny Flynn operated cigar stores, worked as a salesman for Columbia Pictures, ran a Bar-B-Q joint and held the position of Assistant Film Censor for the Department of Public Welfare (a political appointment).

Many of the buildings which made up Film Row in the 1930’s still exist including the one which housed the Film Club. The location is now the home of Birdies, a self described “intimate apparel apothecary” (they have a panty of the month club). So a place in which one might bump into underworld figures during KC’s wild wide-open 1930’s, today one encounters underweared figures.

(the space, both yesterday and today, no doubt giving a boost to KC’s night life...).

Current street view:

Here’s a pic from the mid 1940’s looking north on Wyandotte from W. 18th St. On the tall building to the right you can see the Warner Bros. logo—the building was their local film exchange (other major studio film exchanges were in buildings nearby).

Here’s a current street view of the photo above showing the proximity to the Film Club (the two story building which housed the Film Club and which wraps around the corner was filled with film and movie related businesses while the Film Club was in operation):

In the late 1980’s screenwriter and Kansas City native Frank Barhydt and fellow Kansas City native and director Robert Altman (MASH, Nashville) began floating around the idea about making a film about their native city set during the jazz soaked wide open Pendergast dominated 1930’s. In the early 1990’s Barhydt began doing research for the screenplay and interviewed dozens of KC old-timers about their experiences during that time period.

An 89 year old guy had this to say: “(Gangster) Johnny Flynn was involved in two or three different gambling places in the ‘30s. His main spot was down at the Film Club, on 18th Street between Wyandotte and Baltimore, right down in the film center where all the (movie distribution) centers were. And there was an awful lot of gambling down there. That’s were Nag Altman, who was Bernard Altman, Robert Altman’s father, worked. He was an insurance salesman. And a hell of a poker player. I used to take Johnny Flynn around on election day. He’d fill his pockets with dollar bills and pay off some of the people in the precinct to vote two or three times.”

Barhydt’s research resulted in a screenplay which was made into the 1996 film directed by Robert Altman called “Kansas City.” According to both Altman and Barhydt virtually all the characters in the movie are based on real people—including the character who is portrayed in the film by actor Steve Buscemi: Johnny Flynn.

My note: I am pretty sure this is the 1st time one of our illegal casino chip buyers has been portrayed in a Hollywood movie.

From the Kansas City Star in 1996:

Pic of Buscemi as Johnny Flynn (one of Buscemi’s many roles as the criminal/gangster/underworld type which includes Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, the kidnapper in Fargo and Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs...“Why I am I Mr. Pink?”).

Link to the trailer for “Kansas City” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66rtqQ2Q-Wk

The real Johnny Flynn died in his native Kansas City in 1961 at the age of 59.

The "Era of the illegals" was a different time that many illegal chip collectors have a thirst for information about. I am one of them.