‘Prettiest woman ever accused of murder in Chicago’
A Chicago reporter gave the world a sinister tale of sex, murder, celebrity — and all that jazz — in the spring of 1924. And the account wasn’t fiction — it really happened.
One hundred years ago, a young, liquored-up woman named Beulah Annan (remember this was during Prohibition) shot her equally inebriated lover to death in the apartment she shared with her husband. Another young woman named Maurine Dallas Watkins reported Annan’s expedited travails through Cook County’s legal system — from inquest to trial — for the Chicago Tribune.
Annan’s exploits became the framework for Watkins’ threeact play “Chicago,” which was staged for the first time in 1926. Roxie Hart, the protagonist, was surrounded by a cast whose words, actions and emotions were pulled directly from newspaper headlines — including many of Watkins’ own.
The story would garner Watkins fame, fortune and a musical and film franchise that continues to delight audiences around the globe today.
Yet, the story behind the story that eventually became the movie “Chicago” could, itself, be a movie. And it is all recorded in the Tribune’s expansive archive. You see, the actual women who inspired these steamy, savvy characters have their own tales to tell — and, quite often, they are not as headstrong and chic as depicted.
Here’s a peek at Annan’s real life — as told in stories and photos from the Tribune’s files.
April 3, 1924: ‘I’ve shot a man!’
Beulah Annan, whose first name means “married” in Hebrew, just couldn’t be true. Already twice wed and a mother by the age of 24, Annan was satisfied by neither.
Through her job at a Chicago laundry, Annan met Harry Kalstedt. Walks together quickly progressed to day-drinking in her apartment while her mechanic husband Albert was at work. A drunken disagreement led Annan to shoot Kalstedt with her husband’s revolver. She sat with the body for hours as her phonograph wailed the jazzy tune “Hula Lou” repeatedly. Ironically, the first phone call Annan made was to her husband: “I’ve shot a man, Albert. He tried to make love to me.”
APRIL 4-5, 1924: ‘Both went for the gun!’
Tribune reporter Maurine Watkins picked up the investigation of Annan for Kalstedt’s murder.
“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,” Watkins wrote.
During the inquest, Annan’s lawyer W.W. O’Brien claimed, “Both went for the gun!” Annan said if she didn’t shoot Kalstedt, then he would have shot her.
After babbling conflicting accounts before a grand jury about what transpired, Watkins interviewed Annan in her jail cell on “Murderess Row.” “Of course I’m sorry! I’d give my life to have Harry Kalstedt alive again!” Annan said.
MAY 8, 1924: Will a jury give death — will a jury send to prison — a mother-to-be?
After her trial was continued several times, Annan made an announcement — she was pregnant. The claim moved her case to the front of the line. But many wondered — could a beautiful woman expecting a baby get a fair trial?
By May 22, a dozen or so potential jurors were excused because they had “fixed opinions” about Annan. ‘Too damned many women gettin’ away with murder!” growled one man.
“I’d have given her the rope, I would!” said another. “Prohibition struck off four or five more, who confessed they might be prejudiced against a modern Salome who killed a man after a drinking party — and then played
jazz while he lay dying,” Watkins wrote in the Tribune.
MAY 24, 1924: Verdict from ‘beauty-proof’ jury — not guilty:
Annan had differing stories about how Kalstedt was killed. First, she told police that she shot him in the back after he threatened to leave her. Second, she claimed they both reached for a gun and she shot Kalstedt in self defense. Both would be admitted as evidence during her trial.
“The verdict is in your hands and you must decide whether you
will permit a woman to commit a crime and let her go because she is good looking,” prosecutor William F. McLaughlin told the jury. “You must decide whether you want to let another pretty woman go out and say, ‘I got away with it!'”
“And they did,” Watkins wrote. Less than two hours into deliberations, the all-male jury came to a not guilty consensus on the third ballot.
Albert Annan, who stood by his wife during the trial, was overcome with joy and gratitude. “I knew my wife would come through all right!” he said proudly.
Beulah Annan then thanked each member of the jury individually and posed for a photo with them.
DEC. 30, 1926: Beulah Annan becomes Roxie Hart: Watkins drew on her access to women accused of murder inside Cook County Jail as the inspiration for a three-act play, “A Brave Little Woman.” It was the first play she wrote at the Yale School of Drama in 1926. It was renamed “Chicago” when it debuted on Broadway months later.
“Chicago” lit up the silver screen as a silent film in 1927, morphed into “Roxie Hart” starring Ginger Rogers in 1942 then won Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones for 2002’s “Chicago.” A musical version of Watkins’ play opened on Broadway in 1975 with Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera in the lead roles. The show ran for 936 performances over almost two years.
NOV. 14, 1996: ‘Chicago’ returns to Broadway:
“Chicago The Musical” was revived on the Great
White Way and continues to thrill audiences. The production has staged more than 10,700 performances on Broadway, which makes it the longest-running active show and the second-longest running show of all time behind “The Phantom of the Opera,” according to Playbill. The musical has also spawned traveling versions in the United Kingdom and Spain.
For more on the real women who inspired “Chicago,” check out “He Had It Coming: Four Murderous Women and the Reporter Who Immortalized Their Stories.” It’s available through the Tribune’s store at a discount this week.