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Chicago: With the Chicago Tribune Articles that Inspired It

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"This one's got the makin's: wine, woman, jazz, a lover."

The hugely popular Kander and Ebb musical, CHICAGO, meets its grandparent in Maurine Watkin's 1927 hit, CHICAGO (a.k.a. PLAY BALL).

For fans of the musical, this book provides a fascinating and almost documentary-style look at the real-life inspirations for Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly along with the original CHICAGO script. Also included are copies of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE articles Watkins wrote that not only made celebrities out of the two murderesses, but inspired the writing of CHICAGO itself.

CHICAGO fans will enjoy picking out lines and situations in the script that inspired the songs. But more than just a fun diversion, Watkins' script is a powerful reminder of how often we treat serious trials and news stories as entertainment and how manipulative and influential the media is. When reading the script, one can't help but recall O.J. Simpson's trial when Billy Flynn arranges a media circus for his client, and compare Monica Lewinsky's media make-over to Roxie Hart's.

Watkins leaves us with a scenario that sounds almost familiar. The Jazz Slayer, Roxie Hart, is found not guilty. Gunshots are heard down the hall. Another murder! This one worse than all the others, but what a story! The news reporters rush from the room and Roxie, who plans to use her celebrity status to become a vaudeville star, is instantly yesterdays news. Reporter Jake Callahan drags "Machine-Gun Rosie", as he has dubbed her, into the courtroom and despite her cries that the media leave her alone, ("No! I don't want in the papers!") Jake tells her, "Come on, sister, yuh gotta play ball: this is Chicago!"

This book is amazing if you are looking to find some history on the play. I have seen the non-musical produced in Ashland and will be directing it myself in the next couple of years. This book includes the full original script, which is amazing in itself, but also includes a fantastic introduction my Thomas H. Pauly. The articles are a joy to read because you really get a sense of Watkins' style of writing.

Watkins' days a court reporter inspired her to write the script for what was to become, itself, the inspiration for one of the best musicals of our time. The daily reports from the court trials of the real life muderessess in Chicago were certainly very telling. The fact that the women who escaped death row or life sentences were white women, society women, beautiful women, and most poignantly, women who killed their lovers - not their husbands.This reminded me of how people get caught up in the soap opera of life and love to glamorise all events. If you are a lover of the musical, this is an interesting book to read.

I read this book for my history fair project that I was doing on the true story behind the musical "Chicago." This book was so helpful to me because it gives every bit of information about the crimes and it even has all of Watkins' Tribune articles from the time. The script for the original play is an added bonus, and it is fun for me, as a "Chicago" and Fosse fan, to compare the original play to the musical and movie. This is well worth the price and a must-have for any "Chicago" fan.

I love, love, love this book and re-read it often. First of all, i'm a huge "Chicago" fan - the movie, not the musical play (perhaps the original musical was awesome, but that was before my time and I've only seen the current day touring version of "Chicago" and i was not very impressed). Anyway, I am also a huge fan of anything 1920s, so this book was absolutely perfect for me.

It was great to hear about the stories behind the play and how two horrible murders were turned into entertainment and how the murderesses were turned into glamorous stars. It was also fascinating to see the pictures of the murderesses - there's one of Beulah Annan that is so creepy, considering what she'd just done!

Maurine Dallas Watkins' articles were incredibly entertaining and it was great to read them and then go onto the play. I love that when Rob Marshall made the movie "chicago", he used a bit more of the play than the muscial version did.

It's sad that Watkins didn't go on to even greater things after these articles (although I do love the movie "Libeled Lady" that she collaborated on the screenplay for). But it's awesome that her legacy turned into such a popular musical and movie!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in "Chicago", the 1920s, crime writing, and media sensationalism.

This publication of the play that inspired the hit musical is amazing. Not only is it the original script, it gives wonderful newspaper articles of the time period and gives a real sense of time and place. As an artist, it was amazing to perform this piece. While the musical is a hit, it owes everything to this beautiful and strikingly funny but touching play. I highly recommend it and enjoy!