[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11311-S11312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO GEORGE MANIAS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, tomorrow is an historic day in Peoria, IL. 
It was exactly 60 years ago tomorrow--on December 6, 1946--that George 
Manias opened his shoeshine business with one shoeshine chair in the 
corner of a downtown barber shop.
  George has been shining shoes in Peoria ever since--for working 
folks, movie stars, famous athletes, and at least two presidents.
  This evening, the Peoria City Council will honor George Manias with a 
special resolution in his honor. I ask unanimous consent that the text 
of that resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                   Office of the Mayor--Proclamation

 60th Anniversary, George's Shoeshine Parlor, ``World Headquarters'', 
                            Peoria, Illinois

       Whereas, George Manias opened his shoeshine business in 
     1946, and he has been in the heart of Downtown for 60 years 
     and is recognized by the City of Peoria for his genuine 
     concern for people, his traditional work ethic, and his 
     ability to continue to operate a successful small business in 
     a changing environment; and
       Whereas, George Manias has been locally and nationally 
     recognized for many years and has been featured in the U.S.A. 
     Today newspaper and on the Today Show on NBC; and
       Whereas, George Manias has an open door to everyone from 
     all walks of life and has served the citizens of Peoria, as 
     well as local and national celebrities and elected officials, 
     including President Ronald Reagan and Senator Everett 
     Dirksen;
       Now Therefore, I, Jim Ardis, Mayor of the City of Peoria, 
     Illinois, do hereby congratulate
       George Manias in Peoria, Illinois, on the occasion of the 
     60th Anniversary of George's Shoeshine Parlor.
       Dated this 5th day of December 2006 A.D.

     Mayor

  Mr. DURBIN. The resolution notes that George's shoeshine parlor has 
been in the heart of downtown Peoria for 60 years. Some would say that 
George's just flat is the heart of downtown Peoria.
  Located across the street from the Peoria County Courthouse and 
kitty-corner from the world headquarters of the Caterpillar 
Incorporated, George's shoe shine parlor brings together people from 
all walks of life.
  Among his customers are the judges, lawyers, police, politicians and 
other courthouse regulars; business leaders; celebrities; and other 
folks who appreciate the importance of caring for leather and looking 
your best.
  They come in, sit down in one of George's nine shoe shine chairs with 
their shoes scuffed and dirty and five or six minutes later, they stand 
up with their shoes polished to a mirror finish, looking like new 
money. It's like the old 1950 song by Harry Stone and Jack Stapp, 
Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy:

     He makes the oldest kinda' leather look like new
     You feel as though you want to dance when he gets through.

  And it only costs $3 a shine--the same price George has been charging 
for over 15 years.
  George Manias is a master of an almost lost art. He is a shoeshine 
professional. He wears a white dress shirt and a bow tie every day.
  A lot of shoeshine men nowadays apply the polish with a cloth. Not 
George. He's old school. He massages the polish into your shoes with 
his bare hands. He explains: The polish gets into the leather better 
that way. Then he buffs and shines and the next thing you know, your 
shoes look better than when you bought them.
  Let me tell George's story. It is a great American story. George 
Manias was born in Peoria 75 years ago, the son of proud Greek 
immigrants, and he speaks with the accent of his parents' homeland. 
That's because, when he was 3 or 4 years old, his parents took the 
family back to Crete, to see George's grandfather, who was very ill.
  While the family was in Crete, the Nazis invaded and George's father 
was taken prisoner.
  In 1945, when the war ended, the Manias family was finally able to 
return to Peoria. They were practically penniless. Everyone had to work 
to support the family. George had to learn to speak English.
  At 14, he started shining shoes at the old Paris Shoe Shine Parlor on 
Main Street, next to the Palace Theater. He charged 20 cents a shine.
  Within a year, he had saved enough money to buy his own chair. He 
became an entrepreneur, working out of Ed and Roy Gibbs' Barber Shop.
  In 1956, he opened his own 12-seat shoe shine parlor in the Old 
Niagara Building.
  Over the years, George has had four different shops. The last three 
were all torn down to make way for bigger, taller buildings. He moved 
to his current location almost 20 years ago.
  Today, a professional shoeshine might seem like a minor indulgence. 
But back when George started, a man

[[Page S11312]]

didn't feel properly dressed without a hat and a shoe shine.
  It was a time, as Arthur Miller's legendary Willie Loman said in 
Death of a Salesman, when we were all salesmen, getting along with a 
shoe shine and a smile. For many men, the shine was a weekly ritual.
  Back in the day, you could walk into George's and all nine chairs 
would be occupied with customers--wingtips, next to oxfords, next to 
loafers--and George would be polishing all nine pair at once. It was 
like an assembly line, but there was nothing automated about it.
  At one point, he had four men working for him and he still worked 14- 
and 16-hour days, seven days a week.
  He didn't take a vacation for 29 years, until 1975, when he went back 
to Greece for two weeks with his mother, brother and sister. After 
that, he didn't take another vacation for 25 years.
  He's been to Greece twice in the last three years to visit relatives. 
He says he might take a vacation again someday--but only with family.
  Work and family. Those are the things that matter to George Manias: 
His sister Angie owns a small candy-and-nuts shop in Peoria, and his 
brother Manny is a private detective who used to be the deputy sheriff 
in Peoria County.
  In 1996, his widowed mother suffered a serious stroke that left her 
paralyzed. The siblings cared for her at home for the last 4 years of 
her life.
  Customers come to George's for more than just the spit-polish shines. 
They come to chat and to learn what's happening in town.
  Mike McCuskey, a federal judge, has been a loyal customer for years. 
He calls George's shoe shine parlor pure Americana and vintage Peoria.
  You never know who you'll see there. One day, McCusky said, he looked 
over at the man in the chair next to him and blurted out, You're Gayle 
Sayers, aren't you? That was when the Hall of Famer was still playing 
for the Chicago Bears.
  Over the years, George's Shoe Shine and Hattery--its official name--
has grown from a small business to a legend. It has been featured in 
local newspapers, radio and TV; in the Washington Times and the 
Associated Press; on the Today Show; and on the front page of USA 
Today--twice.
  The walls are covered with news clippings and photographs of famous 
people who have dropped in for a shine: President Gerald Ford, during 
the 1976 presidential campaign; President Ronald Reagan in 1982; 
Everett Dirksen, the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate when LBJ was 
President; Former House Minority Leader Bob Michel; Congressman Ray 
LaHood; Former Illinois governors Bob Edgar and Richard Ogilvie; Peoria 
Mayor Jim Ardis and a string of his predecessors; Barack Obama. Even my 
photograph is there. Democrats and Republicans. In 2004, Congressman 
LaHood brought in then-CIA director George Tenet, a Greek-American, who 
was in Peoria to give a speech. The two Georges chatted in Greek. There 
are photos of movie stars and singers. And judges--lots of judges.
  But you don't have to be famous to feel welcome. George makes 
everyone in Peoria feel special. It doesn't matter if you're a well-
known politician or if the $3 you spend on that shoe shine is the only 
$3 you have, George makes you feel special.
  Another reason people go to George's is because he listens to 
everything, and he knows everything that's going on in the local 
Republican and Democratic parties, and in the Peoria business 
community.
  Says Judge McCuskey: It's like that Merrill Lynch commercial. When 
George speaks, you want to listen. And sometimes when you speak, George 
looks up at you with the slightest smile, and you never know if he's 
smiling because he knows something you don't know--or because you've 
just given him another piece of a puzzle he didn't have. He's the 
keeper of the secrets.
  On Judge McCuskey's desk in the federal courthouse in Urbana sits a 
small scale of justice, a symbol that traces its origins to ancient 
Greece. It's a treasured gift that George Manias brought back from a 
trip to Greece.
  Across Peoria and far beyond, countless other people have been 
blessed with gifts from George, not the least of which is a perfect 
shine and the dignity of being treated with respect no matter who you 
are.
  George Manias is a quintessential American in a quintessentially 
American city, and I am proud to join the city of Peoria in honoring 
him on his 60 years as a successful entrepreneur.

                          ____________________