Manufacturer: Maddock Pottery
User: Lamb's Cafe, Chicago, Illinois
Distributor: Albert Pick & Co.
Date of examples: Circa 1910 – 1920

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Notes: Lamb's Cafe opened on December 29, 1910, in the basement of Chicago's Ashland Block Building, located at Randolph and Clark streets. William J. "Smiley" Corbett and his business partner, John Wilmes, were the owners, operating as the Ashland Catering Co.

It was named after the Lamb's Club in New York City, which honored siblings Charles and Mary Lamb, who operated a 19th century London saloon catering to actors and theater workers.

In addition to serving meals, the Lamb's Cafe offered live entertainment and dancing. Based on their newspaper ads, the cafe was not open during the summer. In 1915, Corbett's partner Wilmes signed up a group known as Brown's Band for a six-week session, at $105 per week. Corbett was opposed to the deal because he did not like their choice of music. The customers must have liked it, however, because the "Jazz" Brown's Band played packed houses and jazz became the "in" thing.

In 1917, the Juvenile Protective Association and several other groups began a movement to promote an ordinance that would keep dancing and cabaret shows apart from the sale of liquor. Smiley Corbett was not smiling over that proposal, and it was a forerunner to Prohibition, which was the eventual end of the Lamb's Cafe. Corbett died Jan. 5, 1920.

Maddock Pottery produced china crested in green transfer, with a garter belt encircling three prancing lambs. A banner below contains the words Lamb's Cafe." Art Nouveau-style triple flower and scrolled line ornaments, a pattern that Albert Pick sold as "Lorraine," were spaced around the rim and connected with twin pin lines. The Latin within the crest, Floreant Agni, means May the Lambs Flourish. Albert Pick was the supplier of this china to Lamb's Cafe. Some pieces contain San Francisco as part of the Pick mark, which indicates a 1913 – or later – production.

Sources:
Robert Loerzel – Aug. 3, 2023, article with details about the Lamb's Cafe and its music
Chicago Tribune – Sept. 8, 1917, article about proposed liquor ordinance
Chicago Tribune – Jan 5, 1920, page 3, William Corbett obit

Contributor:
Larry Paul: author