Chicago Magazine - 09.2019

PHOTOGRAPH: (CCR) COURTESY OF FANTASY RECORDS

A CENTURY OF SEEING GREEN

1920

EDDIE CANTOR’S

“GREEN RIVER”

The multidisciplinary per-

former wrote a ditty about the

soda, with music by vaude-

ville duo Gus Van and Joe

Schenck. Sample lines: “For a

drink that’s fine without a kick,

oh! Green River, it’s the only

drink that does the trick, just

Green River. Has others beat a

mile, makes drinking worth-

while. And if you want to wear

a little smile try Green River.”

1969

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER

REVIVAL’S “GREEN RIVER”

This song on the album of

the same name was written

by John Fogerty, who, in

1993, told Rolling Stone that

the reference came from “a

soda pop syrup label. You

used to be able to go into a

soda fountain, and they had

these bottles of flavored

syrup. My flavor was called

Green River.”

2007

GUY FIERI’S

SICKENING SIPS

“It’s the strangest thing I’ve

ever had,” Fieri proclaimed on

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

after tasting a Green River

at the South Side Soda Shop

Diner in Goshen, Indiana.

Hoping to turn his tongue

green, Fieri also took a shot

of straight green syrup and

regretted it immediately. “It’s

like liquid Life Savers,” he said

in between gags.

2017

A STEALTH APPEARANCE

ON HAWAII FIVE-0

It doesn’t get name-dropped,

but keep your eyes peeled:

It’s unmistakable in a short

scene in season 7 (of the

CBS reboot, not the original).

In episode 21, “Ua Malo’o

Ka Wai” (originally aired on

April 7), ex-Chicago cop Lou

Grover returns to the city and

takes his son to the (fictional)

restaurant Georgie’s, where,

at the bar, a police officer

enjoys a tall glass of the

green stuff.

Richard C. Jones, a retiring confectionery

operator in Davenport, Iowa, sells his recipe

for a popular carbonated drink nicknamed

Green River to the Chicago-based

flavoring company Sethness-Greenleaf,

which then creates a syrup to replicate

the lime flavor and supplies it to

Schoenhofen Brewing Co. in Pilsen to sell.

GREEN RIVER’S GREATEST POP CULTURE MOMENTS

The capsule history of Chicago’s quirkiest drink

With the end of

Prohibition, the brew-

ery is back in the beer

business under the new

moniker Schoenhofen

Edelweiss Co. The

soda continues to sell

across the Midwest.

Prohibition starts,

and Green River

becomes the

brewery’s lifesaver:

The soda is poured

into old beer

bottles and sold as a

refreshing beverage.

1919 slogan

The Snappy
Lime Drink

The evolution of the

brand’s bottling

1920s slogan

All-Ways

Delightful

1919 1920 1933