Barrooms with a View

Television is not yet available in every Chicago home, but it is literally just around the corner. The city's only television station, WBKB, reports that two-thirds of its audience takes in the show with lifted elbows at the 250 Chicago bars that own television sets.

Al Schlossberg, manager of the King's Palace, a television tavern on North Clark Street, last week analyzed the new drift:

" 'Bout coupla monts ago business started gettin' stinkin'. We was losin' money, but fast. I gotta do somethin' to goose da place up. Now I'm a sport lover, see. So I figure maybe dese guys is goin' to hockey games or fights, an' I say, why not bring hockey or fights here, so guys can see sports and drink atta same time. So I buy dese gadgets. Slump in business stopped."

It was pretty much the same all over.

Neighborhood bars were getting the most benefit from their video sets. Even men who don't frequent saloons would come in to see a hockey game. And free loaders were no problem; most people bought at least a few beers while they watched.

Even in such a cushy mixed-drink temple as the Bal Masque cocktail lounge, a stone's throw from the Loop, business picked up after a set had been installed. The headwaiter reported that he could hardly wait until baseball season opens--the place was sure to get a big afternoon play from the fashionable sporting set.

On one fact, all authorities agreed.

While watching television, customers tend to drink more, but slower. Result: just as many drunks as ever.

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