February 8 Illinois History Minute

It’s February 8th, the 50th birthday of the musical “Grease”. You know the song “Summer Nights”if you’ve seen “Grease”, unless you only saw its original production at the Kingston Mines Theater in Chicago, which opened on this day in 1971.

In that production, Danny and Sandy sang a different song,“Foster Beach”, named for the beach on Chicago’s lakefront. The original “Grease” was full of Chicago references, drawn from co-authorJim Jacobs’ own high school experiences.  

It’s the birthday of the Boy Scouts of America, launched on this day in 1910 in Ottawa, Illinois, the home town of co-founder William D. Boyce.