Kenny Craig sent us the JKF chips last year. I already had the Mason card from years ago. For some reason I did not check my database for other chips sent to the Schlitz Tavern. Just lazy, I guess.

Our "Friend Of The Hobby's" research came back tying the RK chips to the JKF chips. I had the RK chip and the Mason card. I got them in 2001. I have no notes in my database about the RK over stamp other than it was there and possibly a "floor sweeping." I wonder if I actually read the mason card right, at that time. This "Illegal Of The Day" just might redefine our term "floor sweeping."

Take it away "Friend."

JKF

Not long after the sale of beer became legal in the US on April 7th 1933 a place of business opened in Kansas City named the Schlitz Tavern. The Schlitz was located south of downtown at 3310-12 Main Street.

My note: Can anyone out there remember when beer was illegal to sell in the USA? I'm old and I cannot!
Here’s a pic of the building from 1940:

current view (address today is 3240 Main):

In 1935 the proprietors of the Schlitz were Abraham “Butch” Rabinowitz and Joseph Samuel Kronzberg.

During part of the time Rabinowitz and Kronzberg ran the Schlitz they had a partner named Lincoln D. “Link” Moran. Moran was a well known operator of KC gambling clubs in the 1930’s and an associate of Charles Binnagio, the man who would become KC’s boss in 1939.

These RK hub mold chips were delivered to the Schlitz; the R probably for Rabinowitz, the K for Kronzberg:

My notes:
The RK chips were delivered and used by the Schlitz. The Schlitz knowingly ordered chips that were ordered, hot stamped for someone else, and went undelivered or returned. My guess is, they were cheaper.

I sent for info on the GA, LJS, and MS hot stamps. No card found on the GA and LJS. The MS is actually a typo on the Mason card. It is SW.

Mason card says the SW were for Seymour Weiss, Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans but the order was cancelled before they were even shipped. That was 4/10/35. Doesn't make sense to save a few ¢ per chip, since Weiss was a multi millionaire.

Anyone ever seen a chip for the Roosevelt Hotel? I haven't and it is not in the latest TGT. If anyone has the RK over stamped on GA or LJS please show it and "cough it up if you have a trader,

OK, the following probably does not belong in this IOTD but I got it at the last minute and could not resist adding it.

Would be nice to find some chips actually sent to Seymour Weiss, he sounds like an interesting guy.

He was the proprietor of the Roosevelt and a close associate of Huey Long. Long had a 12th floor suite at the Roosevelt. The hotel was apparently the place to be in NO in 1934.

Huey Pierce Long, Jr., nicknamed "The Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1932 until his assassination in 1935.

My note: Huey had his finger in every pie.

--from Huey Long Invades New Orleans: The Siege of a City by Garry Boulard

My note: Seymour Weiss ordered the SW non delivered hubs 4/10/35. Long was assassinated 9/8/35 by Carl Weiss. Quite a coincidence, but I see no connection to the 2 Weiss's. Unsolved Mysteries did a show on Long. If I watched it, I don't remember it.

If we could find some chips actually delivered to the Roosevelt Hotel, we would have one heck of an IOTD.

The RK card is stamped with the date Aug 14 1935. That same month Rabinowitz and Kronzberg were busted by Federal agents for “carrying on a rectifying business” at the Main Street address (apparently they were rectifying alcohol without a permit and not paying the Federal tax on what they produced). In December 1935 sheriff’s deputies were removing property from the Schlitz because the proprietors had not paid rent.

My note: I never heard this term before. "rectifying alcohol without a permit" It is a new one on me.

A year and a half later John Francis Kellerman has these JKF hubs delivered to the Schlitz Tavern:

Kellerman was a known KC gambling operator who in the years prior to his association with the Schlitz managed the 3925 Club:

My note: Where are the 3925 chips?

In 1937 the listed proprietor of the Schlitz was Thomas J. Conway and in 1938 it was Louis Monteleone, a well known KC night club operator. By 1939 the Schlitz was no longer at 3310 Main. A few blocks away at 3009 Harrison a place calling itself the Schlitz Inn started doing business around 1937, but it’s unclear whether the Schlitz Tavern had any connection with the Schlitz Inn.

In 1940 Kellerman described himself as “part owner” of a “book maker shop” and in Dec. 1942 he was arrested and charged with “keeping a horse betting establishment”:

In 1950 during the Kefauver hearings Simon Partnoy, the manager of the race wire service in KC, is questioned by Chairman Kefauver:

pic of the hearing—Kefauver #1 and Partnoy #9:

My note: The Kefauver Commission devastated the illegal clubs across the USA in the early 1950's.

In 1951 Kellerman would start the Plaza Electric Company which he would run until his death at KC in 1959, age 60.

One more thing....
In 1936, while the Schlitz Tavern was up and running in KC, the Schlitz Brewing Company released a new beer:

According to the ad, each bottle or can has 100 units of Vitamin D.
According to the Mayo Clinic, 600 units is the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D.

My note: Who ever heard of Vitamin D beer? Looks like Schlitz was saying everyone should drink a 6 pack per day. Read the claims in the advertisement. Do you think they could get away with that in today's world?

My note: No connection between the Schlitz Tavern and the Schlitz Brewing Company.