EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD TRAIN WRECK...

CHICAGO the Musical, much like Maurine Dallas Watkins' CHICAGO is - in no small part - an indictment of the media and their role in creating celebrities out of people who don't really deserve to be celebrities.  But the media would argue that they simply give the public what it clamors for:

                                        Got the bubbleheaded bleach-blonde, comes on at five
                                        She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye.
                                        It's interesting when people die - give us dirty laundry
                                                                                                                               Don Henley - Dirty Laundry

For some, it was seeing Louisville's point guard Kevin Ware who fell and broke his leg in two places - on national TV.  The networks had to stop showing the gruesome injury, but YouTube exploded with traffic as the curious watched the scene over and over.

For others, it was the 9/11 coverage.  Who could be torn away from the TV that day as the networks played the horrific footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers?

For me - and I may be showing my age here - it was that God forsaken slow speed chase with OJ Simpson and AC Cowlings.  It was my birthday, and friends wanted to take me out to dinner, but I declined, citing an illness.  In reality, I was glued to my TV set watching a white Ford Bronco moving up Interstate 405 in my hometown of Los Angeles.  Maybe it was because I felt like I knew OJ - I really didn't - or maybe it was because I couldn't conceive someone being able to drive on the 405 at 5pm and not hit gridlock.  Whatever the reason, I was fixated.


I'm reading a book now from a Wake Forest English professor,  Eric Wilson called Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can’t Look Away. He interviews such subjects as a man who sold the art of serial killers and an obituary collector. he follows what he calls the “dark tourism industry” that exists in places like the 9th Ward of New Orleans, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

“There’s actually a lot of reasons, ranging from expressions of what is worst in us to what is best in us,” he said.  “Our heart rate goes up, our body releases chemicals. We really do get a sick thrill, a cheap titillation,”

But often, the thrill is closely followed by the not-so-moral reasons: relief it wasn’t you in a car accident or a feeling you are better than Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan or one of the Kardashians.

“I think it kind of makes us feel a little better about ourselves when the mighty fall down,” he said.

As we move forward with CHICAGO, think about the dynamic between the media and the public; its almost a Chicken and the Egg conundrum.

Do they cover what we care about, or do we care about what they cover?  The characters in CHICAGO play the media to varying degree of success; consider where you fit into the world...

Cicero, Illinois 60804

"If you smell gunpowder, then you're in Cicero"

Cicero, Illinois - the place where Velma, her sister Veronica, and husband Charlie were "boozin' and having a few laughs" on the night that Velma "blacked out" probably serves as a good focal point for a look at Chicago's colorful history circa 1926.

22nd Street, Cicero, IL 1928

Remember, we're in the middle of Prohibition, the constitutional amendment banning the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol.  Speakeasies, Jazz Clubs, and alcohol made in upstairs bathtubs (hence the name "bathtub Gin") were popular and proliferated during this time.

The Hawthorne Hotel on West 22nd in Cicero 

            Headquarters of "Al" Capone    1926

Cicero Illinois became a hotbed for corruption in the early 1920's; it had been "invaded" by the Capone / Torrio gang from Brooklyn, New York who more or less ruled the town.  There was nominally a mayor, but he was largely under the control of Al Capone who publicly humiliated Klenha by slapping on the steps of town hall.

Chicago crime boss Alphonse "Al" Capone made Cicero his home. When his brother Frank was killed by police, the local speakeasies closed for one day as a sign of respect.

Joseph Z Klenha - mayor in name only

1926, the year CHICAGO by Maurine Dallas Watkins was written, and (more or less) the year our production is set was quite a year in Cicero.  In April of '26 100 machine-guns riddle a Cicero beauty shop in an attempt to murder gangster James Sammon.

Later that month, Assistant State Prosecutor William McSwiggin is killed by machine-gun fire in front of Harry Madigan's Pony Inn on Roosevelt St in Cicero.  Al Capone is rumored to have been brandishing the weapon that killed McSwiggin.

In September of that same year, over 1000 rounds of ammunition pour into the Hawthorne Hotel, in an attempt to assassinate Al Capone, who escapes death with help from his bodyguard Frank Rio.

In November of 1926, gangster William Raggio is murdered with a single bullet to the head and is left in a remote part of Cicero.

What Does This Mean For Us?

Consider that most of the characters in CHICAGO would be familiar with this world, and these people.  The stories of corruption, strong-arming, and murder would be daily topics of discussion and fascination, not unlike the way we follow court trials today.  But as opposed to something that happens 2000 miles away, these events and these people would be much more familiar to you.

There's always been a fascination with gangsters.  Think of The Sopranos, Bugsy, Scarface, and the like.  As we move through the rehearsal process, consider your familiarity and relationship to these people and events.  

with much thanks to

Mario Gomes

"Myalcaponemuseum.com"

Millie DeLeon "The Woman In Blue"

Millie DeLeon 1873(?) - 1922

To be sure, there are many names from Burlesque that pop up while researching the form, but perhaps none quite so interesting - and relevant to our purposes - as "The Girl in Blue" Millie DeLeon. The lion's share of this information comes from an excellent article by Anne Fliotsos in The Journal Of American Culture (Winter 1998) 

"Gotta Get A Gimmick:  The Burlesque Career of Millie DeLeon".  Its a fascinating look at not only Millie the individual, but the culture of public scandal and celebrity of which Mille DeLeon was a willing participant.

     Arrested numerous times from 1903 to 1915, Mlle. De Leon was a master of stirring public scandal and thereby gaining free publicity at a time when newspapers were clamoring for sensational stories. Over seventy-five newspaper clippings at the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library (NYPL) chronicle De Leon's success at attracting both the press and an audience with her controversial behavior inside and outside of the theatre.

                                                                                                Fliotsos, Anne

                                                                                                                      The Journal of American Culture

Interestingly enough, Ms. DeLeon, who frequently used the title Mademoiselle DeLeon, appears to have undergone a reinvention in her career.  Early publicity pictures show her fully dressed to her ankle and looking quite demure.  Apparently this look wasn't good for the box office, and sometime around 1908 her pictures started showing bare midriffs and legs thrusting toward the camera.  (Oy!)  Also around this time she began to finish her act by throwing her garters into the audience - provocative indeed in 1908.  A recounting of one of many of Ms. DeLeon's arrests states:

     

 ...an officer "arrested Mlle. De Leon in a spectacular manner, rushing from the wings on to the stage, grabbing her by the neck and dragging her off stage" just before she threw her garters to the audience, a maneuver that was to become her decadent trademark.

It was during this time that Millie DeLeon hit the peak of her fame.  Its worth noting for our purposes just how efficiently scandal and controversy propelled her career, and how completely Millie played her part as the "Scandaleuse", determined to keep her name in the papers.  Clearly CHICAGO is much less a work of fiction than we can imagine.

                                                  

La Theate la Rue St Laurent, Montreal, Canada

        One of many Theatres where Millie DeLeon was arrested for public indecency.

Surprisingly well-spoken, Millie was quoted in the New York Telegraph as saying:

Aren't we Americans just a little inconsistent about our morals? Don't you think our modern standards of good and bad values possess a smattering of the "false gods" idea? Can every self-appointed censor determine just what is moral and immoral for his fellow man?

                                                                                                          Millie DeLeon - 1908

In the concluding section of her article, Anne Fliotsos suggests why Millie DeLeon and her mastery of the press deserves a place in our consciousness as we begin to rehearse CHICAGO: 

 ....but there was one thing that Millie De Leon clearly was: a shrewd business woman who used gimmicks, such as    her famous garters, to entice men to the stage to take part in her vice. By employing gimmicks within her act, she got arrested, thereby insuring the ultimate gimmick: free press, and plenty of it.

                                                                                                      

                                                                                                           Anne Fliotsos (ibid)

CHICAGO...and Vaudeville / Burlesque

My father said, "Don't go to a burlesque show,

You'll see things you shouldn't see."

    And he was right,

    For the very next night,

I saw Father in the row in front of me.

Burlesque legend The Fabulous Zorita

When the musical version of Watkins play was created, an additional element was incorporated into the story:  Vaudeville.  John Kander (composer), Fredd Ebb (lyricist) and Bob Fosse (director) intentionally created songs and dance numbers meant to invoke the past legends of Vaudeville and Burlesque as the vehicle to tell this seedy story of murder and glitz.  

Fosse as 1/2 of The Riff Brothers, frequently booked into Vaudeville houses

Fosse as "The Snake"  in The Little Prince.  

     In CHICAGO, the vaudeville is a metaphor for the American justice system in which the best performance wins over the press and the jury.  The ...concept was perfectly wedded to the theme of CHICAGO.  Vaudeville producers willfully featured notorious, even criminal figures and freak acts.  By superimposing a vaudeville framework onto Watkin's comedy, Ebb implicitly linked showbiz to the tawdry...practices of the press and the corruption of the American justice system.

                                                                                                James Leve

                                                                                                              KANDER AND EBB      
   

John Kander and Fred Ebb.  

                                                                                      

Depending on which biography you read, there are differing opinions on the degree which Ebb and Fosse each contributed to the Vaudeville concept.  Ebb had tried it before with 70, GIRLS, 70 so he was no stranger to the milieu.  One thing that is undeniable, however, is Fosse's familiarity with the seedier side of Vaudeville - Burlesque, and how that relationship would shape CHICAGO the musical.


    (At 16) Bob had already developed a healthy enthusiasm for striptease dancers and would regularly sneak into Minsky's Burlesque.  It was at Minsky's that he discovered a lower type of comedy act and broader performance values, the pratfalls and and slapstick of burlesque routines.  

                                                                                            Martin Gottfried

                                                                                                                                                                   ALL HIS JAZZ

While I certainly don't want you to do impressions of any of the old vaudeville performers, I do think its interesting and contextually helpful to see and hear the original routines / songs upon which the musical numbers in CHICAGO are based.  

Here are a few, with links...

1.  FUNNY HONEY - Helen Morgan's rendition of "Bill" from SHOWBOAT

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HeasqkO1Ko

2.  MR CELLOPHANE - Black Vaudeville star Bert William's signature song "Nobody"

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cruhh2ikw4A

     This is a contemporary performer doing an impression of Bert - the song starts at 1:29

3.  WHEN YOU'RE GOOD TO MOMMA - Sophie Tucker's "You Got To See Momma Every Night"
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Nhy5tIpPM

4.  ALL I CARE ABOUT - Bandleader Ted Lewis "Is Everybody Happy?"
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WADhw1temyM
     The song starts at .48.  This one's kinda fun - inexplicably, there's a full big band in tuxedos on a
     Pirate ship.

5.  Fan Dance - Sally Rand
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTEIWK9CaEs

6.  A LITTLE BIT OF GOOD - Drag Burlesque star Julian Eltinge
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4e-n_BI8os

7.  ME AND MY BABY - Eddie Cantor "My Baby Says Yes Yes!"
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8LVjm36RNs

CHICAGO - it's origins

"Gin and guns—either one is bad enough, but together they get you in a dickens of a mess, don't they."

                                                                       Accused murderer Belva Gaertner, 1924

Maurine Dallas Watkins

In 1926, Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, crafted a play from articles she had written while covering the sensational murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner in Chicago in the early 1920’s. Entitled simply CHICAGO, the play not only dealt with the murders, but also the underlying theme of the cult of celebrity that follows criminals. 

Beulah Annan (l) Belva Gaertner (r)

Watkins was not new to the idea of the sensational trial and how the media can be used to create sympathy, celebrity, empathy, and even an acquittal. It’s this dynamic that forms the foundation of the musical version of CHICAGO. As we craft the play through the rehearsal process, consider the connection between crime, celebrity, and sensationalism.

Thomas H. Pauly, in the introduction to his book Chicago (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University, 1997) wrote, “Watkins’ play offers a bracing reminder that lurid crimes were as aggressively commercialized seventy years ago as they are today."

Both Watkins' play and the Kander/Ebb musical examines the sensationalism of crime and criminals.  Fortunately for us, this allows us to explore URGENCY, and its effect on the pace of the show.  Think of the hurried race to break the latest trial news and scoop the competition in today's 24 hour news cycle, musical promos that bracket the news coverage of the latest high profile shooting, reporters who quickly clamor for interviews with anyone related to the story.  This is not to suggest that everything is breathlessly fast, least of all the choreography.  But it can create an interesting juxtaposition with the languid, sensual world of Burlesque that can be explored in the dance numbers.

Empowerment seems to be an evident theme as well, with the original playwright being an early example of a woman in a traditionally male role.  Watkins of course played a legit role: that of a reporter covering crime stories which was more often than not reserved for just men..  Velma and Roxie (and the other women in Cook County Jail) take on traditionally masculine roles as well - Murderers.  As you move forward in creating these characters, pay special attention to when characters slip out of and back into the traditional archetypes / stereotypes based on gender.  

...her comic depiction of a woman groping towards liberation and the future foregrounds pressures women still face, but it is downright uncanny in its anticipation of today’s news-as-entertainment culture.  (Pauly)

                                                                                                                    

Welcome from your director...

"We open in a week, people! The set isn’t finished. Mother Abbess just quit because she has shingles. And, every step-ball-change would make Bob Fosse rise from the grave just so he could have a heart attack again!"
                                                                             The Pacifier (2005) 


And with that, let me welcome you all to CHICAGO at Bigfork Playhouse.  This blog will be updated somewhat regularly with pictures, links, lists, musings, reviews, questions, answers all having to do - in some way - with our production.

Because I'm also a Professor of Theatre, I have this overwhelming need to share the research that I'm doing, and an updatable blog seems like a good repository for all of the bits of information that I've found helpful.  Our fantastic choreographer Taavon Gamble has already loaded me up with some excellent material which I'll try to distill over the course of the next several weeks along with things I've collected or am in the process of collecting.  Use what you'd like, ignore what doesn't help, and feel free to send anything that the rest of us may find useful, interesting, or at least amusing.  

I'm aware that CHICAGO is only one part of your summer, and each of you has your own process, but I've always found the research to be an important element for all of the creative team.  It's in the spirit of helping - not assigning you homework - that I offer this blog.