| Maurine Dallas Watkins |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT MAURINE DALLAS WATKINS | |
| 1896 births | |
| watkins, maurine dallas | |
| 1969 deaths | |
| people from chicago | |
| radcliffe college alumni | |
| american journalists | |
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Maurine Dallas Watkins ( July 27 , 1896 - August 10 , 1969 ) was an American Journalist and Playwright . She was born in Louisville , Kentucky and attended Crawfordsville High School, followed by several colleges, including Hamilton College , Transylvania University , and Radcliffe College . After college, she took a job as a reporter with the '' Chicago Tribune ''. On March 11 , 1924 , Belva Gaertner , a twice-divorced Cabaret singer, shot and killed her lover Walter Law (a married man with one child). Law was found sprawled out dead in the front seat of Belva's car, a bottle of gin and a gun with three shots fired lying beside him. Belva, found at her apartment with blood-soaked clothing on the floor, confessed that she was drunk and had been driving with Law, but couldn't remember what happened. She was defended by William Scott Stewart in a trial covered by Watkins. On April 3 , 1924 , Beulah Sheriff Annan shot Harry Kalstedt in the back. She sat drinking cocktails and playing a Foxtrot record, "Hula Lou," repeatedly for about two hours as she sat watching Kalstedt die, then called her husband to say she'd killed a man who "tried to make love" to her. Her version of events changed numerous times. First she claimed she shot Kalstedt in self-defense, fearing Rape ; later, she confessed to the Murder . Then she claimed she had told Kalstedt she was leaving him, and that he reacted angrily and she shot him. Her husband Albert Annan hired noted attorney W.W. O'Brien to defend her and stood by her throughout her trial, again covered by Watkins. In her reporting, Watkins focused on the sensational aspects of the two cases, two "jazz babies" corrupted by men and liquor, characterizing Beulah as "beauty of the cell block" and Belva as "most stylish of Murderess Row." Watkins did some reporting on the Leopold And Loeb case, which quickly overshadowed the coverage of the Belvah Gaertner verdict, but soon after left journalism to take up playwrighting, studying under George Pierce Baker at Yale University . As a class assignment in his famous ''47 Workshop'' playwrighting course, she wrote a fictionalized account of the two murders she had covered as a reporter, calling it first ''The Brave Little Woman'', then ''Chicago, or Play Ball'', and finally ''Chicago''. Beulah Annan became "Roxie Hart", Belva Gaertner became "Velma Kelly", Albert Annan became "Amos Hart", and the two lawyers, William Scott Stewart and W. W. O'Brien, became a composite character, "Billy Flynn". ''Chicago'', directed by George Abbott , was produced on Broadway in 1926 , and ran for a respectable 172 performances. A 1927 Silent Film Version produced by Cecil B. DeMille and starring former Mack Sennett bathing beauty Phyllis Haver as Roxie Hart, was remade as '' Roxie Hart '' in 1942 with Ginger Rogers in the title role. This version eliminated the character of Velma Kelly. Watkins wrote about twenty plays, but ''Chicago'' was her most successful. She journeyed to Hollywood to write Screenplay s, including the 1936 comedy '' Libeled Lady '' with William Powell and Jean Harlow . Watkins faded into obscurity in the 1940s . She developed a disfiguring facial cancer and by 1968 was reclusive, leaving her apartment only when heavily veiled. She became a Christian and left her fortune of over $2,000,000 to found chairs in Biblical Studies at various universities. Late in her life, Watkins was approached by '' with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb . It was first produced in 1975 , revived in 1997 , and Filmed in 2002 . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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