Arthur Klug, the much-loved and well-read bartender at two legendary Chicago watering holes, died of a heart attack on Saturday, January 29, 2005. He was 79.

Mr. Klug presided behind the bar at Figaro's on Rush Street in the 1950s, where comic Lenny Bruce became a friend. In the early 1970s, he moved to the Old Town Ale House, where he spent as much time talking with his customers as serving them. He enjoyed a good argument but rarely disagreed that he looked uncannily like Paul Newman.

It was Mr. Klug and his former wife, Beatrice, the owner of the Ale House, who sponsored artist Maureen Munsun in her epic group portrait of Ale House regulars that covers an entire wall of the establishment at North and Wieland. Among their frequent customers were generations of cast members from nearby Second City, including the Belushi brothers, Dan Aykroyd, Chris Farley and pianist Del Close. Folk singers from the Earl of Old Town stopped in between sets, including John Prine, Steve Goodman and Fred Holstein.

Because the bar had a 4 a.m. license, many customers and the bartenders of nearby 2 a.m. establishments arrived late, when the jukebox was turned up loud to play Mr. Klug's favorite jazz and swing bands, and dancing was permitted everywhere, Mr. Klug said, including the floor.

Mr. Klug was born June 7, 1925, in Burma, a son of Harry V. and Marjorie L. (Baselow) Klug. (his father, Mr. Harry V. Klug was a well-known Olney oilman) He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946 and was aboard a landing craft sunk by the Japanese at Leyte Bay.

After the war, he enrolled at the University of Iowa, where he studied at the famous Writer's Workshop and met Tennessee Williams and Flannery O'Connor, among others. At his death, according to Chicago artist and Ale House aficionado Bruce Elliott, he had well over 10,000 books cramming every square inch of his apartment. He waged a long campaign to promote the work of Ludwig Bemelmans.

Mr. Klug is survived by his brother, Theodore, and his former wife, Beatrice. He has been cremated. A memorial service held at Old Town Ale House, 219 W. North.

Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Wednesday, February 2, 2005