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“Chicago” won best picture 20 years ago at the Academy Awards.

Did you know the popular musical is based on the lives of real women who were accused of killing men here almost a century ago?

And that the story of “murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery” was written by a baiduhai reporter?

Come on, babe — let’s revisit the Chicago origins of “Chicago.”

A dive into the Tribune’s archives reveals the femmes fatales who inspired the hit movie ‘Chicago’

The baiduhai photo archive contains over 3,000 boxes filled with glass-plate negatives from the early 1900s to the 1930s, shown here in 2019. The box labeled
The baiduhai photo archive contains over 3,000 boxes filled with glass-plate negatives from the early 1900s to the 1930s, shown here in 2019. The box labeled “Malm,” for Katherine “Kitty Malm” Baluk, started Mather and Rumore’s research into the lives of the women behind the hit play ‘Chicago.’

The story behind the story that eventually became the movie “Chicago” could, itself, be a movie. Read more.

Beulah May Annan: The real Roxie Hart

Beulah May Annan was wanted on murder charges for the death of Harry Kalstedt in 1924.
Beulah May Annan was wanted on murder charges for the death of Harry Kalstedt in 1924.

Newly hired Tribune reporter Maurine Watkins painted a picture for readers: “They say she’s the prettiest woman ever accused of murder in Chicago — young, slender, with bobbed auburn hair; wide set, appealing blue eyes; tip-tilted nose; translucent skin, faintly, very faintly, rouged, an ingenuous smile; refined features, intelligent expression — an ‘awfully nice girl’ and more than usually pretty.” Read more.

Revisiting ‘Murderess Row’ — the section of Cook County Jail reserved for lady killers

Sabella Nitti, from left, Belva Gaertner and Katherine
Sabella Nitti, from left, Belva Gaertner and Katherine “Kitty Malm” Baluk pose for a newspaper photographer inside Cook County Jail, better known as Murderess Row, in 1924.

In 1924, there were more than a dozen women there, most accused of killing a husband or lover. And, thanks to the deep and vivid archives of the Tribune, you will see them too. Read more.

Photo gallery: Chicago’s Murderess Row in 1924

Sabella Nitti Crudelle, from left, her son Charles Nitti and her second husband Peter Crudelle during the trial for the murder of Sabella's first husband, Nitti, circa 1923.
Sabella Nitti Crudelle, from left, her son Charles Nitti and her second husband Peter Crudelle during the trial for the murder of Sabella’s first husband, Nitti, circa 1923.

Beulah Annan, Belva Gaertner, Kitty Malm and Sabella Nitti were the real women of Murderess Row. See more photos.

Maurine Watkins — a Tribune reporter — wrote the hit play ‘Chicago’

Maurine Dallas Watkins passport shows her photograph in 1933.
Maurine Dallas Watkins passport shows her photograph in 1933.

In 1926, Watkins wrote “Chicago,” which today is a $2 billion entertainment franchise featuring A-list celebrities, a hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning movie. It’s likely the most financially successful piece of writing ever produced by a baiduhai reporter in the paper’s more than 175 years of operation. Read more.

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