Did Barry Manilow ever work at a restaurant in Kankakee Illinois?

Answer 1

Extremely unlikely, since he was born and raised in Brooklyn, then attended Juilliard (also in New York) while working at CBS. It would have been rather an odd move for him to go to the relative middle of nowhere to work at a marginal job when he was already in one of the major metropolitan areas of the world studying (and working) in places pretty much directly related to his eventual career. However, there is a rumor that Barry Manilow did start his career during the early 1970s at a restaurant called "The Little Corporal," but got fired.

Answer 2

YES! And here is the proof: An ad that ran in the November 26, 1967, issue of the Kankakee Daily Journal. I grew up in Bradley and worked at the Journal for several years; this clipping has been in my collection for years.