PEORIA MAGAZINE January 2023

O N E M O R E T H I N G

THE NICEST OF NICE GUYS And longtime shoeshine owner George Manias is the hardest working, too, with the documentary to prove it

BY PHIL LUCIANO PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

G eorge Manias likes to chat about most anything, except maybe himself. The 91-year-old dresses himself everyworkday inwhite shirt and black trousers, along with humbleness from head to toe. As the proprietor of George’s Shoeshine & Hatters for a remarkable 76 years, he is the hardest working man in Peoria – though you won’t hear it from his lips. Nor will he utter any cross words or nasty gossip, in part because either would be bad for business, but mostly because he is the nicest of nice guys. And now he is a reluctant film star. The documentary “George” – that’s how his regulars know him, simply as

“At first, I didn't want to do it,” he said with his Greek lilt. “But my brother talked me into it.” Manny Manias, a former cop who often hangs out at the shop, likes to toot his older brother’s horn. “I told him that people want to see a film like this,” Manny said. “They want to get to know George a little more.” As filmmakerMatt Richmond explains, “George” is no mere biography. Its 30 plus minutes are more like a paean to a bygone way of work and life that – like the shoeshine man himself -- seems almost Capraesque. “It’s a fairytale about a man who exists apart from the modern world, toiling ceaselessly, quietly, right under

George -- debuted in December at the Peoria Riverfront Museum and will continued in screenings this year. Not that the unassuming shopkeeper wanted the attention.

96 JANUARY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE