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EspañolMIKE ROYKO
'Michael "Mike" Royko' (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was a longtime newspaper columnist in Chicago, Illinois.
Royko grew up in Chicago living in an apartment above a bar. His mother was of Polish descent and his father was of Ukrainian origins. [1] Once he became a columnist, he drew upon his childhood experiences to become the voice of the everyman Chicagoan. Although he could use biting sarcasm, he never spoke down to his readers, always remembering that he was one of them.
Royko began his career as a columnist for the Naval Air Station Glenview newspaper and the City News Bureau of Chicago before moving to the ''Chicago Daily News''. He worked for the ''Daily News'' as a political reporter and was an irritant to the city's machine politicians with his penetrating and skeptical questions and reports.
He covered Cook County politics and government and wrote a weekly political column. He soon supplemented that with another weekly column on Chicago's active folk music scene. These columns were successful, and soon he was given a regular slot writing on all topics for the ''Daily News'', an afternoon paper with a strong liberal slant. Royko was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary while with the ''Daily News'' in 1972.
When the ''Daily News'' shut its doors, Royko moved to its allied morning newspaper, the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. In 1984, however, he left the ''Sun-Times'' after it was sold to a group headed by Rupert Murdoch, for whom Royko said he would never work. He famously claimed, "No self-respecting fish would be wrapped in a Murdoch paper" and that, "His goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power." He quickly found employment writing his column at the rival ''Chicago Tribune'', where he wrote until his death of a brain aneurysm at 64 . Royko's columns were syndicated in more than 600 newspapers across the country, and he wrote more than 7500 columns over a four-decade career. He also wrote or compiled dozens of "That's Outrageous!" columns for Reader's Digest.
Many of his columns were collected in book form, although his most famous book remains the best-selling 1971 unauthorized biography of Richard J. Daley, ''Boss''. In the book, Royko portrays Daley as corrupt and racist; it has become one of the principal books regarding the lifetime of Mayor Daley and Chicago under his administration. Mayor Daley forced 200 Chicago bookstores to stop stocking the book, but demand from the public forced them to start stocking them again, after which Mayor Daley's wife was caught vandalizing copies.
As with many columnists, Royko created several fictitious mouthpieces with whom he could hold "conversations." Perhaps the most famous of these was Slats Grobnik, the epitome of a working class Polish-Chicagoan. Royko's Grobnik columns generally took the form of the two men discussing a current issue in a neighborhood Polish bar. In 1973, Royko collected several columns in the book ''Slats Grobnik and Other Friends''. Another of Royko's characters was his pseudo-psychiatrist Dr. I.M. Kookie (title character of the collection ''Dr. Kookie, You're Right!'', 1989). Kookie, purportedly the founder of the religion of Asylumism, according to which Earth was settled by mentally insane individuals rejected by a higher civilization, was used to satirize both pop culture and pop psychology.
Royko was a lifelong fan and critic of the Chicago Cubs. Just prior to the 1990 World Series he wrote about the findings of another fan, Ron Berler, who had discovered a seemingly spurious correlation called the "Ex-Cubs Factor". He predicted that the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics would lose the Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The accuracy of that unlikely prediction, in stunning fashion (four game sweep) propelled the Ex-Cubs Factor theory into the spotlight.
The book '' (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Royko is prominent in many of these stories.
He was also fervently devoted to 16-inch softball and was inducted into the Chicago 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame shortly after his death, an honor Royko's family insists he would have considered as meaningful as his Pulitzer.
To follow up on his 1972 Pulitzer Prize, Royko won the National Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 and the Damon Runyon Award in 1995.
Mike Royko is entombed in Acacia Mausoleum, Acacia Park Cemetery, Chicago.
★ In the 1981 John Belushi film ''Continental Divide'', filmed in part at the Chicago ''Sun-Times'', Belushi's character "Ernie Souchak" is loosely based on Mike Royko. Royko and Belushi were friends.
★ Royko was the source of a derisive nickname for former California Governor Jerry Brown. In 1978, after Brown proposed that California purchase its own satellite to handle emergency communication, Royko referred to him as "Governor Moonbeam", a characterization that, despite Royko's later disavowal, followed Brown long afterward.
★ Royko, Mike. (1967) ''Up Against It''. H. Regnery. .
★ Royko, Mike. (1968) ''I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It''. H. Regnery. .
★ Royko, Mike. (1972) ''Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago''. Plume reprint edition (1988). ISBN 0-452-26167-8.
★ Royko, Mike. (1973) ''Slats Grobnik and Some Other Friends''. Popular Library. ISBN 9780525204954.
★ Royko, Mike. (1983) ''Sez Who? Sez Me''. Warner Books reprint. ISBN 0-446-30896-X.
★ Royko, Mike. (1985) ''Like I Was Sayin''. Jove Books reprint. ISBN 0-515-08416-6.
★ Royko, Mike. (1989) ''Dr. Kookie, You're Right''. EP Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24813-7.
★ Royko, Mike. (2000) ''One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko.'' (Published posthumously, with a foreword by Studs Terkel) University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73073-5.
★ Royko, Mike. (2001) ''For the Love of Mike: More of the Best of Mike Royko.'' (Published posthumously, with a foreword by Roger Ebert) University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73073-5.
★ Ciccone, F. Richard. (2003) ''Royko: A Life in Print'' Public Affairs ISBN 1-58648-172-X
★ Crimmins, Jerry (April 30, 1997). Mike Royko 1932-1997: Newspaper legend Mike Royko dies. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was the voice of Chicago for more than 30 years. ''Chicago Tribune''
★ Moe, Doug. (1999) ''The World of Mike Royko'' University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-16540-X
★ Slate (book review)
★ Terry, Don (April 30, 1997). Mike Royko, the Voice of the Working Class, Dies at 64. ''New York Times''
★ "Royko at The Goat" video interview on 16-inch softball
★ Column examples including ex-Cubs Factor
★ Mike Royko on Find-A-Grave
| Contents |
| Young reporter |
| Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and best-selling author |
| 16-inch softball and the Cubs |
| Honors and final resting place |
| Trivia |
| Books by Mike Royko |
| References |
| External links |
Young reporter
Royko grew up in Chicago living in an apartment above a bar. His mother was of Polish descent and his father was of Ukrainian origins. [1] Once he became a columnist, he drew upon his childhood experiences to become the voice of the everyman Chicagoan. Although he could use biting sarcasm, he never spoke down to his readers, always remembering that he was one of them.
Royko began his career as a columnist for the Naval Air Station Glenview newspaper and the City News Bureau of Chicago before moving to the ''Chicago Daily News''. He worked for the ''Daily News'' as a political reporter and was an irritant to the city's machine politicians with his penetrating and skeptical questions and reports.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and best-selling author
He covered Cook County politics and government and wrote a weekly political column. He soon supplemented that with another weekly column on Chicago's active folk music scene. These columns were successful, and soon he was given a regular slot writing on all topics for the ''Daily News'', an afternoon paper with a strong liberal slant. Royko was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary while with the ''Daily News'' in 1972.
''Boss'' (1971), Royko's unauthorized biography of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley spent 26 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.
When the ''Daily News'' shut its doors, Royko moved to its allied morning newspaper, the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. In 1984, however, he left the ''Sun-Times'' after it was sold to a group headed by Rupert Murdoch, for whom Royko said he would never work. He famously claimed, "No self-respecting fish would be wrapped in a Murdoch paper" and that, "His goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power." He quickly found employment writing his column at the rival ''Chicago Tribune'', where he wrote until his death of a brain aneurysm at 64 . Royko's columns were syndicated in more than 600 newspapers across the country, and he wrote more than 7500 columns over a four-decade career. He also wrote or compiled dozens of "That's Outrageous!" columns for Reader's Digest.
Many of his columns were collected in book form, although his most famous book remains the best-selling 1971 unauthorized biography of Richard J. Daley, ''Boss''. In the book, Royko portrays Daley as corrupt and racist; it has become one of the principal books regarding the lifetime of Mayor Daley and Chicago under his administration. Mayor Daley forced 200 Chicago bookstores to stop stocking the book, but demand from the public forced them to start stocking them again, after which Mayor Daley's wife was caught vandalizing copies.
As with many columnists, Royko created several fictitious mouthpieces with whom he could hold "conversations." Perhaps the most famous of these was Slats Grobnik, the epitome of a working class Polish-Chicagoan. Royko's Grobnik columns generally took the form of the two men discussing a current issue in a neighborhood Polish bar. In 1973, Royko collected several columns in the book ''Slats Grobnik and Other Friends''. Another of Royko's characters was his pseudo-psychiatrist Dr. I.M. Kookie (title character of the collection ''Dr. Kookie, You're Right!'', 1989). Kookie, purportedly the founder of the religion of Asylumism, according to which Earth was settled by mentally insane individuals rejected by a higher civilization, was used to satirize both pop culture and pop psychology.
16-inch softball and the Cubs
Royko was a lifelong fan and critic of the Chicago Cubs. Just prior to the 1990 World Series he wrote about the findings of another fan, Ron Berler, who had discovered a seemingly spurious correlation called the "Ex-Cubs Factor". He predicted that the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics would lose the Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The accuracy of that unlikely prediction, in stunning fashion (four game sweep) propelled the Ex-Cubs Factor theory into the spotlight.
The book '' (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Royko is prominent in many of these stories.
He was also fervently devoted to 16-inch softball and was inducted into the Chicago 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame shortly after his death, an honor Royko's family insists he would have considered as meaningful as his Pulitzer.
Honors and final resting place
To follow up on his 1972 Pulitzer Prize, Royko won the National Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 and the Damon Runyon Award in 1995.
Mike Royko is entombed in Acacia Mausoleum, Acacia Park Cemetery, Chicago.
Trivia
★ In the 1981 John Belushi film ''Continental Divide'', filmed in part at the Chicago ''Sun-Times'', Belushi's character "Ernie Souchak" is loosely based on Mike Royko. Royko and Belushi were friends.
★ Royko was the source of a derisive nickname for former California Governor Jerry Brown. In 1978, after Brown proposed that California purchase its own satellite to handle emergency communication, Royko referred to him as "Governor Moonbeam", a characterization that, despite Royko's later disavowal, followed Brown long afterward.
Books by Mike Royko
★ Royko, Mike. (1967) ''Up Against It''. H. Regnery. .
★ Royko, Mike. (1968) ''I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It''. H. Regnery. .
★ Royko, Mike. (1972) ''Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago''. Plume reprint edition (1988). ISBN 0-452-26167-8.
★ Royko, Mike. (1973) ''Slats Grobnik and Some Other Friends''. Popular Library. ISBN 9780525204954.
★ Royko, Mike. (1983) ''Sez Who? Sez Me''. Warner Books reprint. ISBN 0-446-30896-X.
★ Royko, Mike. (1985) ''Like I Was Sayin''. Jove Books reprint. ISBN 0-515-08416-6.
★ Royko, Mike. (1989) ''Dr. Kookie, You're Right''. EP Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24813-7.
★ Royko, Mike. (2000) ''One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko.'' (Published posthumously, with a foreword by Studs Terkel) University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73073-5.
★ Royko, Mike. (2001) ''For the Love of Mike: More of the Best of Mike Royko.'' (Published posthumously, with a foreword by Roger Ebert) University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73073-5.
References
★ Ciccone, F. Richard. (2003) ''Royko: A Life in Print'' Public Affairs ISBN 1-58648-172-X
★ Crimmins, Jerry (April 30, 1997). Mike Royko 1932-1997: Newspaper legend Mike Royko dies. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was the voice of Chicago for more than 30 years. ''Chicago Tribune''
★ Moe, Doug. (1999) ''The World of Mike Royko'' University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-16540-X
★ Slate (book review)
★ Terry, Don (April 30, 1997). Mike Royko, the Voice of the Working Class, Dies at 64. ''New York Times''
External links
★ "Royko at The Goat" video interview on 16-inch softball
★ Column examples including ex-Cubs Factor
★ Mike Royko on Find-A-Grave
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