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Oct 10, 2024 · The answer is yes. The musical is inspired by real-life events that took place in 1920s Chicago, where two women accused of murder became media sensations, turning their trials into public spectacles. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the real events behind Chicago. We’ll explore how true crime influenced the ...
- Criminals Ran 1920s Chicago
- What Is 'Chicago' About?
- The True Stories That Inspired 'Chicago'
- Annan & Gaertner's Arrests Prompt A Media Circus
- What Happened to Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner?
- 'Chicago' Created A Lasting Legacy
Chicago is a city with quite the track record regarding crime. While Al Capone most infamously reigned supreme as the king of criminal activity during the Roaring '20s, many scathing and scandalous incidents have filled the tabloids and stoked public interest throughout the Windy City's long history. Particularly during the fraught age of Prohibiti...
Based on Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb, and John Kander's musical that debuted in 1975, Chicago tells the stories of Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger), Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). Roxie, wide-eyed and possessing a vivid imagination, has big dreams for stardom and idolizes women like Velma, who's a glitzy performer regularly...
In 1924, Chicago was the arguably Wild West of the modern era. As the laws of Prohibition sought to quell the ills and moral depravity of civilization, they were ironically met with an uptick in crime and the widespread establishment of underground markets reliant on bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution. Among those who had the misfortune to fin...
One of many journalists who would cover these scandalous crimes was future playwright, Maurine Dallas Watkins. Working for the Chicago Tribune, she would be given a front-row seat to the cynical and seedy side of reporting and the judicial process when she was granted access to interview the accused murderers and cover their subsequent trials. Hopi...
By the time the two women were tried for their crimes, the public's perception of them had been thoroughly manipulated. In addition, women would not be permitted to sit on juries in Illinois for another seven years, and might assume that the all-male juries responsible for deciding Annan and Gaertner's fates had fallen prey to a certain level of im...
Despite the lightning fast speed at which the media operates, with a story or individual ascending to the peak of cultural popularity and then succumbing to irrelevance seemingly overnight, the stories of Annan and Gaertner, while fictionalized, made their way to the stage in 1926 with Maurine Dallas Watkins' play, Chicago. It proved to be a hit wi...
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May 15, 2017 · The movie version of the Broadway hit Chicago finally came to came to Netflix streaming this spring, but not many people know that several of the characters in the famed musical were based on real ...
- Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi
Chicago. (musical) Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the Jazz Age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the ...
Sep 29, 2022 · The American legal system is based on precedent, after all: Previous judgments on cases will be used to determine new judgments. So once a handful of these women walked free, that became the norm. The true story behind Chicago may seem unbelievable, but similarities remain. Look at modern-day celebrity trials of people like O.J. Simpson and ...
Oct 14, 2020 · The real story behind Chicago's Merry Murderesses, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly. Since 1975, Chicago has sung of the glamorous murderesses of the Jazz Age. On the Broadway stage and on the big screen, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly came alive through catchy tunes and sexy dance numbers. But amid the razzle-dazzle of it all, some viewers forget that ...
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Oct 9, 2018 · Based on a true story, Chicago is a musical adaptation of the play of the same name written by reported and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins. Due to the rising interest in women committing homicide, Maurine was sent to cover the trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner in 1924. Beulah and Belva would become the inspiration ...
