Last month, I wrote about a contest that Five O'Clock Steakhouse kicked off as part of its 70th anniversary celebrations. That contest ends Friday, April 1 and winners will be announced on April 5.
In the meantime, managing partner Stelio Kalkounos has informed us that the restoration of a mural that was recently uncovered in the restaurant is complete.
The mural, which shows a nude female figure with its arms around the neck of a black winged horse – both rising up from a cloud – had long been rumored to be hidden behind the mirrors on the walls of Five O'Clock bar.
The mural bears the signature of painter H. J. Scharwick in red in the lower right corner.
Little appears to be known about the art career of Harry Scharwick (1914-1981), although some smaller works, including an image of geese over a marsh and a portrait of Abe Lincoln have popped up online in the past.
The artwork must have been a distinctive feature of the place, originally a club before being transformed into a restaurant in 1946. When Jeanne and Ambrose Ricci held their wedding reception at the Five O'Clock Club in 1945, they posed in front of it.
The restoration work was undertaken by Mata Kartsonas of Milwaukee-based Historic Surfaces LLC.
And, yes, despite the photo at the top, the horse does have a head:
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
