Chuck Connors(1852-1913)
Chuck Connors, the "Mayor of Chinatown" around the turn of the previous
century, was born George Washington Connors, most likely in Providence,
Rhode Island, though he claimed to have been born on Mott Street in
what is now New York City's Little Italy. Connors grew up in New York
City, in proximity to New York's Chinatown, where he eventually learned
to speak some Mandarin Chinese. As a youth, Connors worked odd jobs,
including performing as a clog dancer in the Gaiety Museum. Though a
habitué himself of The Bowery, his ability to speak Chinese and his
familiarity with the neighborhood and his denizens earned him his
nickname.
The press loved Connors, a burly bouncer who worked The Bowery's dives, as he used quite colorful language and did not censor himself for the sake of Victorian propriety. He is credited with inventing the phrases "the real thing," "oh, forget it," and "under the table." His autobiography "Bowery Life" (ghostwritten by "Police Gazette" editor Richard K. Fox.) ensured his reputation.
After Connors became a married man, he settled down and lived an "upstanding life," but that period came to an end when his beloved wife died. He journeyed to London to mourn his loss, and when he returned to New York, he was quite a sport, decked out in bell bottom trousers, a blue-striped shirt, a bright silk scarf, and a pea coat festooned with large pearl buttons. This became known as the Connors look.
Connors also became well known as a tour guide of Chinatown for celebrities, including famous authors, patricians and royalty. Connors' reputation as a friend of the Chinese gave his career as a Chinatown tour guide a certain credence to his slumming clientèle, who believed his tales as when he identified innocuous-looking denizens of the neighborhood as killers.
The entrepreneurial Connors, to boost business, established his own bogus opium dens, where he took the more danger-seeking clientèle. Middle-class New Yorkers who wanted to witness the depravity of the Bowery and Chinatown were taken for a look-see of the "dope-fiends" of an opium den, who would ignore the tour groups passing through, supposedly lost souls who were oblivious to the world outside them due to their addiction to the pipe.
Never one to miss an opportunity to turn a buck, Connors capitalized on his fame by throwing galas for the Chuck Connors Association, a charity benefiting the Mayor himself.
The press loved Connors, a burly bouncer who worked The Bowery's dives, as he used quite colorful language and did not censor himself for the sake of Victorian propriety. He is credited with inventing the phrases "the real thing," "oh, forget it," and "under the table." His autobiography "Bowery Life" (ghostwritten by "Police Gazette" editor Richard K. Fox.) ensured his reputation.
After Connors became a married man, he settled down and lived an "upstanding life," but that period came to an end when his beloved wife died. He journeyed to London to mourn his loss, and when he returned to New York, he was quite a sport, decked out in bell bottom trousers, a blue-striped shirt, a bright silk scarf, and a pea coat festooned with large pearl buttons. This became known as the Connors look.
Connors also became well known as a tour guide of Chinatown for celebrities, including famous authors, patricians and royalty. Connors' reputation as a friend of the Chinese gave his career as a Chinatown tour guide a certain credence to his slumming clientèle, who believed his tales as when he identified innocuous-looking denizens of the neighborhood as killers.
The entrepreneurial Connors, to boost business, established his own bogus opium dens, where he took the more danger-seeking clientèle. Middle-class New Yorkers who wanted to witness the depravity of the Bowery and Chinatown were taken for a look-see of the "dope-fiends" of an opium den, who would ignore the tour groups passing through, supposedly lost souls who were oblivious to the world outside them due to their addiction to the pipe.
Never one to miss an opportunity to turn a buck, Connors capitalized on his fame by throwing galas for the Chuck Connors Association, a charity benefiting the Mayor himself.