This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children.

Listen or discretion is advised.

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

What comes to mind when I say the words pop, six, squish, uh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz.

Well, if you're a movie buff or a musical theater fan, you probably recognize them as the lyrics to Sel Block Tango, one of the many great songs

from the musical Chicago. Chicago was first staged as a play on Broadway way back in

1926, but most will remember the is a play on Broadway way back in 1926.

But most will remember the musical version

that opened on Broadway in 1975

and was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosy

and its revival in 1996.

Chicago would become the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

It's the story of two women in 1920s Chicago accused of murdering their lovers and the sensational trials

that followed.

Roxy Hart and Val McKellie would become the fictional embodiment of the vices and scandals that

plagued that time and place in American history.

Sensational newspaper accounts of the crimes associated with jazz, sex, and the illegal consumption of booze during the time of prohibition

were the equivalent of today's fascination with true crime, but now consumed through podcasts and streaming services.

The real life Velma and Roxy were indeed two women accused of murder in the roaring 20s.

Belva Gartner, a divorced cabaret singer, Ambula Anon, an unfaithful wife, found themselves

locked up on murder charges and facing the hangman's news when their stories were recorded

...