Prompted by the Fosse/Verdon eight-parter, I’ve been following Chicago in its many manifestations backward into the past. Among my discoveries: Susan Misner, who plays Fosse’s pre-Gwen wife Joan McCracken (famous in her own day as “The Girl Who Fell Down”), and who previously played the long-suffering Sandra Beeman on The Americans, appeared in the movie version of Chicago as Merry Murderess #1: “You know how people have these little habits that get you down?….You pop that gum one more time….” She’s a sensational dancer:
There’s also a great dance scene in the 1942 version, Roxie Hart, which isn’t a musical at all so it comes out of nowhere. Maybe Ginger Rogers insisted. Reprise of sorts here:
Finally, here’s the glamour-puss who started it all. Beulah Annan, real-life inspiration for Roxie:
“We both reached for the gun….”
She said it.
Song of the Day: Gus Arnheim and His Orchestra Live at the Cocoanut Grove:
