A legendary wit and beauty, MaeJuel Riley Riccardo Allen, who was always referred to as Jill, was a personality big enough to hold her own as the wife of two of Chicago’s most flamboyant and charismatic characters: the late restaurateur Ric Riccardo Sr. and businessman-nightclub impresario Bill Allen.
A lifelong resident of the Chicago area, Mrs. Allen, 86, died Sunday, June 2, in Lexington, Ky., after a series of strokes.
The daughter of the late Clyde Whitcomb and Mable Reed Riley, Mrs. Allen grew up on Lake Shore Drive and attended the Starrett School. She was married four times and had successful careers as an interior decorator and syndicated newspaper columnist.
“She was an awesome woman,” said her daughter, Jill Riccardo Begley. “She loved to hunt, to have fun, to experience all of life’s adventures. She was so often referred to as the wife of two famous men, but she was certainly their equal and their better in many ways.”
She first met Riccardo in 1940 when she walked in the door of his Riccardo’s Restaurant & Gallery at Rush and Hubbard Streets.
“Where do I sit?” she asked.
“On the floor!” said Riccardo, who opened the restaurant in 1934.
They were married a year later, and in attendance were the 64 waiters and waitresses, cooks and bartenders who worked at the restaurant. The couple had a daughter in 1943 and named her Russia. (One of their dogs was named Stalin).
“The countries were allies then, but by the time I was about 7, I decided to change my name and took my mother’s name as my own,” Begley said.
After divorcing Riccardo in 1949, Mrs. Allen remained a frequent visitor to the restaurant. Indeed, on the night it closed in 1995 (it has since reopened as Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush), she sat in one of the booths with friends and recalled games played on the bocce court that was once in the basement; lion steaks served for selected friends after she and Riccardo returned from a safari; a private room just off the main entrance called The Padded Cell.
Mrs. Allen married William J. Allen in 1964, around the time he was co-founding the Treasure Island chain of grocery stores. From 1983 to 1997, he ran the Gold Star Sardine Bar on Lake Shore Drive, a sliver of a saloon that he made world famous by hiring such big-room acts as Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett and Bobby Short to perform there. One of the place’s special features was a small private box, and it was there that one would often see Mrs. Allen sitting alone, luminous into the late musical nights.
After her husband died in 1997, Mrs. Allen continued to live in their Lake Forest home until ill health necessitated her move to a Lexington hospice near her daughter and family.
In addition to her daughter, survivors include a grandson. Services are private.