Mary Myers, then a public relations executive at Hill and Knowlton, invited Headline Club members and interested journalists to take a stab at putting together a show. They eschewed the stuffy black-tie roast and toast format of the Washington show in favor of a Second City-style revue.
The first show Who What, Why, Where or What I Did for News, was held in the spring of 1986. More than 400 media hounds packed the Ambassador West's grand ballroom for Gridiron I. The inaugural production featured then-Sun-Times entertainment editor P.J. Bednarski, then-news anchor Mary Laney and Art Norman.
The ever-wise and organized Gridiron crew waited until 1988 for their next production. (Says one show veteran " '87? What happened in '87? Nothing. You can't write a show without a scandal. If you saw the Bar Show that year, you know what I mean.")
The 1988 show, The Wizard of Nooz showed off the crew's spelling ability and talent for writing a cohesive, single-plotted show. Under the guidance of Tribune reporter Merrill Goozner as producer, Chief Scriptwriter P.J. Bednarski and Director Terry McCabe, Wizard skewered Jane Byrne, Eugene Sawyer and David Orr.
The overwhelming success of Wizard prompted Goozner and the Headline Club mucky-muckers to move the show to a bigger and better venue, the Park West. Second City/Columbia College dude Norm Holly directed the 1989 show, Read My Clips, which featured Inc.-ster Kathy O'Malley treading dangerous water as a raging Essee Kupcinet ministering to her ailing husband, Irv, and a violin-playing Harry Porterfield.
The SRO crowd at Read My Clips inspired Goozner and the head office to offer two performances of the 1990 show, Waiter! There's A Bug In My Soup. In Waiter audiences saw Fred Roti and his breakfast club buddies thrown to the wolves, Governor Jim Thompson sent packing, and our friend Ann Gerber trapped in an elevator with her favorite source, Oprah Winfrey.
With Waiter the Gridiron crew discovered the wonders of video technology, using the Park West's giant screens to show an ad for dangerous Dan Rostenkowski's driving school and an intro to the Rich Daley-Avis LaVelle "Honeymooners" skit.
Video played a crucial role in the 1991 show, Mutiny on the County or I'm Phelan and I Can't Get Up. The spellbinding lead-in to Jane Byrne's swan song, "Chestnut Boulevard," played on the big screens, as did "The Civil Aeronautics War," a documentary about the real reason Daley wanted an airport built in Hegewisch that would do PBS proud.
Mutiny featured skits mocking Richard Roeper, Jim Edgar and Rich Daley (of course). New to Gridiron in 1991 were Director Larry Santoro, good-natured anchor Alan Krashesky and the ever-perky Janet Davies. Back again for more Gridiron yuks were Harry Porterfield and James Rowe.
Though the Great Chicago Flood threatened to put a damper on Gridiron '92, Oh! Calumetta! or The Emperor Has No Airport earned record funds for the Headline Club. Calumetta was anchored by WMAQ-ties Jackie Bange and Alison Rosati. Other highlights were the real Irv and Essee, Chet Coppock and Bill Zwecker's ire-inducing imitation of George Lazarus. (Ask us real nice and we'll show you how happy about it George was.) Santoro returned, Ryan Ver Berkmoes debuted as producer and blue-eyed beauty Darel Jevens drooled creative juices.
Make Room for Danny...or The Postman Always Rings
Up Twice lampooned the lotto, Carol Moseley-Braun, Rosty, Jim
Edgar and Mayor Daley. Gridiron '93 also featured
trooper-extraordinaire Janet Davies guiding the crowd through team
coverage of a live spill in the Park West. Bill Kurtis, Siskel &
Ebert and a passel of TV-types leant her a hand via video.
Gridiron '94 was an equally fine affair with
Danny honchos Ver Berkmoes, Santoro, Jevens and Linda Good in
control. The title of the show was Dawn on the Farm... or the
Governor has an Election. The gubernatorial race provided ample
fodder for a rousing closing number based on the hit musical
Grease, focusing on the race between Jim Edgar and Dawn Clark
Netsch. Other objects of scorn included Jay Mariotti, Conrad Black,
and the U.S. Postal Service. And a parody of River North restaurants
made the stage sizzle.
Gridiron '95, producers Ryan Ver Berkmoes' last
Gridiron before moving abroad, was Pulp Diction or How to
Succeed in Politics Without Really Talking. It was hosted by the
hilarious duo of Lester Holt and Larry Mendte. We saw Liz Phair
dressed as a cheerleader along with scenes about the CTA, Jim and
Brenda Edgar, Mel Reynolds, and of course, Mayor Daley.
The 1996 show McDome and Domer, hosted by radio's
"Big" Al Lerner, slinged barbs and arrows at James Burns, Alderman
Medrano and the other sordid characters involved with Operation
Silver Shovel, WMAQ's "must-see" tv newscasts, and the shiny, happy
people behind the Chicago Democratic National Convention.
This year we go after the Chicago City Council, the Mayor, the Governor, our Senior Senator - about whom we predicted victory when she was but a struggling Recorder of Deeds. We also take on radio talk hosts, sports greats, the CTA, the Board of Education, the suburbs and the citizens of Chicago--without whom where would we all be? Gary, that's where!
