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June 16, 1996
Celebrities in Chicago
Few show business types actually live in Chicago since it is quite far from
the entertainment centers of New York and Los Angeles. However, since Chicago
is a popular setting for movies, celebrities are often seen in town when
a film production is on location.
This lack of famous residents results in Chicagoans being quite star-struck. For example, one friend of mine always carried a camera just in case he saw someone famous. Since it took some time for him to get the camera out and take a picture, he ended up with a set of pictures he called "The Backs of Famous People." Looking at his photos, one usually had to guess who the subject of the photo was: we could almost never recognize the backside shown in the photograph as belonging to a famous person!
The whole city seemed agog a few years ago when Madonna was in town to film a movie. The newspaper gossip column regularly reported on her every movement, including where she dined and what she ate. An enterprising Madonna look-a-like was thus given the royal treatment in shops and restaurants. It must have been fun for her to pretend to be famous. One time the real Madonna almost met her twin when she arrived at the same restaurant the pretender had just left.
I must be unlucky. I never saw either Madonna!