Maxwell Street-Chicken Man

Thanks for this clip! Chicken man was a regular feature show in Lincoln Park, too. Him and also an old German guy, Karl, who played a wooden flute for the birds there. So many characters of time gone by. Beautiful souls.

Yes, we could use more performers like Chicken Man and the Flute player. Chicago's 'crack-down' on street players makes it impossible.

Jew town gone w/ the quicks. We still got madison and pulaski

I remember this man with his chicken show return to my neighborhood at Cermak and California every summer in the late 30's and early 40's. Once with my father driving through Pasadena CA in about 1949 I saw him with his chickens going through their routine. I remember him saying "No dime, no show."
Life doesn't get any better than that.

Live chicken too. My grandmother used to let it run around her apartment until she was ready to kill it for dinner.

One of the few places in Chicago during that time where you could see people from so many different backgrounds/ethnicities at one place at the same time.

I miss Maxwell Street.

that kid singing towards the end of the video had some soul

I hear someone singing Bo Diddley in the background.

same old same old police stifling freedom of expression. ;-)

Casey Jones the chicken man. he was the best. this really shows the Chicago that was destroyed by time.